Youth given life
PA Hamilton A Hamilton youth. John Frederick Dixon, aged 16, has been found guilty of murder, and was sentenced to life imprisonment by Mr Justice Mills in the Supreme Court at Hamilton. The Crown established that Dixon kicked a nightwatchman, Joseph Hishon, aged 51, to death in the grounds of the Ruakura Agricultural Research Centre early on August 25.
The defence did not dispute the facts of the killing, but asserted that a personality disorder, which it described as a disease of the mind, produced fits of anger in Dixon. While there was no ground of insanity put forward, it was alleged these fits caused temporary loss of self-control, to the extent that Dixon did not realise the fatal consequences of his act at the time.
For the Crown, Mr V. R. Jamieson submitted that the very violence of the attack indicated deliberation and intention to kill. Dixon had been wearing suede" dress boots, not steel-capped boots, and the severity of Mr Hishon’s injuries indicated a “mighty violent attack.”
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Press, 9 November 1978, Page 5
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172Youth given life Press, 9 November 1978, Page 5
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