SANE OR INSANE?

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 33, 2 November 1933, Page 12

SANE OR INSANE?

Auckland Murder Trial CASE FOR DEFENCE Evidence in Rebuttal Given By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, November 1. When the trial of John Hubert Edwards for alleged murder was resumed to-day two daughters of the deceased, Mrs. Cunningham, were recalled at the jury’s request. One said that the accused had fixed ideas and sometimes seemed morbid. The other said she noticed nothing unusual about his conversation, but his manner at times was unusual for a visitor. Medical evidence was then heard. Dr. T. G. Short said he was convinced that the accused was insane and probably had been insane for a long time. He would at times have a violent tendency to suicide or homicide. The accused said he did not remember his act, and, of course, witness could not say if that was true, but he did not think the accused was malingering. The witness Short, cross-examined by the Crown Prosecutor, said be knew several people in Auckland suffering from the same mental disease as the accused, but he was not proposing to certify any of them as insane. It might be necessary some day. To his Honour: The accused when he committed the act did not know what he was doing. Crown Prosecutor’s Questions. The Crown Prosecutor: Was his action in going to the bathroom and getting a razor to cut the woman’s throat not compatible with knowledge that blows on the head might not cause death? Witness: Yes. The Crown Prosecutor commented on the fact that the accused wrote a note after attacking the woman,, but there was no sign of blood on the writing pad, and said that the weapon used (which has never been found) must have been either washed by the accused or secreted. “Isn’t that compatible with knowledge that he knew what he had done?” he asked. Witness: Yes, after the act, but not at the time. Cross-examined by Mr. Hall Skelton (for accused): What is the actual disease accused is suffering from? Witness: I would say he is suffering , from schizophrenia. Patients of this kind sometimes have episodes of blind impulsiveness, resulting from mental disease, during which they may be violently homicidal and suicidal.’ It is probable at these times they do not fully realise what they are doing and have no sense of right or wrong. Mr. Meredith (for the Crown) : How many cases of this type have you seen? “I have seen hundreds of them. There are many men walking about - Auckland to-day with this disease.”. His Honour: Would you certify them or any one of them as being insane? “No, your Honour. The persons I am referring to are not so bad that they are Incapable of managing their own affairs.” - His Honour: They must be a menace walking about the streets. No Dividing Line. “Well, probably so, but there is no dividing line between sanity and insanity, and in some cases you have to give a man the benefit of the doubt. If apathy or irrascibility is of suiii.-ient intensity you may call it insanity. There are people who are schizophrenics who are leading more or less normal lives to-day but who may some day have to be certified.” His Honour: In your opinion did accused at the time he was committing this act understand its nature and quality? “In my opinion he did not.” “And that was because at the time he was suffering from disease of mind?” —Yes. Dr. W. H. Horton said he had examined accused in prison. “As a resu.t of my own observations and tlie conclusions I have drawn from the evidence, I consider accused is, and has been for a number of years, certifialny insane,” said witness. “It is probable that accused has been subject to periodic attacks of mental excitement and exaltation, with periodic states of mental depression lasting for variable periods of time, and with lucid intervals during which he was apparently reasonably sane. It is my opinion this man has suffered from manic depressive psychosis, which is a disease of the mind characterised by outbursts of mania and melancholia with intervals of more or less sanity. This concluded the ease for the defence. ’ ' ‘ Evidence in Rebuttal. Called by the Crown to give evidence in rebuttal, Dr. H. M. Buchanan, superintendent of the Avondale Mental Hospital, said he had examined accused on eight different occasions. I •am of opinion,” he said, “that accused <<ld know the nature and quality of the act, and that he knew he was doing wrong. He is distinctly of a neurasthenic type. He enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in 1917, but he was classified as unfit for active service, and did not go to the front. He was then suffering from stammering and increased action of the heart which is too rapid beating and a very alarming symptom to people suffering from it. In some cases they even think they are going to die. In my opinion he is not of the schizophrenic type, because I have never seen any signs of apathy or indifference, nor. when I questioned him, was I able to elicit any hallucinations or delusions. He always had a sense of his own personality.” His Honour: What are the symptoms of a person suffering from this disease with the unpronouncable name Witness: They go into a dream state and live in a world of phantasy so that to all intents and purposes they are very impracticable. In advanced cases they will laugh when they are very sad and cry when they are very happy. , The witness did not agree that accused suffered from manic depressive psychosis. He had a degree of emotional instability and alternating states of apathy and exuberance, but those were properties pertaining to many otherwise sane people. Judging from the evidence accused showed no signs of abnormality on the morning of the crime, and afterward he had a full realisation of what he had done. That was indicated by the fact that he attempted to take his own life. The hearing was adjourned.