MURDER OF HERBERT KNIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 90, 16 April 1923, Page 8

MURDER OF HERBERT KNIGHT

REPORT OF MENTAL EXPERTS

■ TUHI RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS ACTS. "The Post" has received a number of letters from correspondents raising the. question of whether the young Maori, John Tuhi—who was convicted of the murder of Herbert Henry Knight, at Johnsonville, and who was sentenced to death—was responsible for his actions. Communications have also been received from writers -raising the question of whether capital punishment should be j carried out. . • 'J-,.<. j

■ The following statement in regard to the matter was made to-day by Sir Francis Bell, Minister of Justice:—

. There were two petitions suggesting deficient mentality. They were carefully considered; and the InspectorGeneral of Mental Ho|pitals, together with the doctor in charge of the Porirua Asylum, had an interview with the prisoner and spent a considerable time with, him, and then reported to the Government that there was no ground for suggesting that Tuhi was not responsible for his acts. Both petitions and the report were laid before the Governor-General, as well aa before Cabinet, and were considered by both. With regard to the statement which the prisoner made at the trial that someone else was the murderer, Tuhi has been twice interviewed by the detectives, under instruction from the Department of Justice, and informed that if. he would give information the police would make every invostigation, but he declined to make any further statement or give any name. , I