MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 10, 12 January 1912, Page 2

MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE.

CASE DISMISSED. |[BX TBLEQHAPH— SPECIAL TO TBB POBX.'J CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Two country justices of the peace dismissed a charge of manslaughter at Amberley yesterday under rather • unnsual circumstahces. On 29th December a slight fracas in the Leithfield Hotel resulted in the death of George Henry Shaw, the immediate cause being a ruptured Vein in the neck. James Russell was arrested in connection with the affair, and the evidence called showed that he had pushed and shaken deceased •with a certain amount of violence. Dr. R. L. Hannan stated that death was due to a ruptured blood-vessel. He had examined deceased, and noticed that there was s, mark, on the chin, another at the angle of the jaw, and a third not so -distinct behind the ear. He thought deceased had been grasped by the neck violently, and a considerable squeeze and a twist or tweak had been given. Considerable violence must have been used to break a blood-vessel in the nock ; it was a very unusual accident. He had concluded that a thumb had been placed on the chin end and fingers on the jaw and neck. He mado a post-mortem examination the following morning. * Death was due to pressure of the mass of blood causing suffocation. There was no trace of any disease in the ne<:k. The examination confirmed his opinion ' that considerable violence musk have been used, and that he had been seized by the throat. After a retirement of twenty minutes, the bench dismissed /the case. The presiding justice (Mr. A. Greig) said that the case presented difficulties, and should not have been left to two justices to adjudicate upon. > They had to rely on the doctor's evidence, and this was altogether inconclusive. . It did not lead them to one side or the other, ancl they could not come to any agreement. Under tlie circumstances they had determined to give the aocused,,the benefit of a doubt that existed, and discharge, him.