MUNN FOUND GUILTY

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 124, 28 May 1930, Page 12

MUNN FOUND GUILTY

SENTENCED TO DEATH

DOCTOR COMMENDED

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, 27th May.

Found guilty of the murder of his wife, Millie May Munn, at Northcote on 11th February,' Arthur Thomas Munn was sentenced to death by Mr. Justice Herdman in the Supremo Court to-niglit. The jury retired at 4.47 p.m. and returned at 8.22 p.m. with a verdict of guilty.

In' the course of his summing up, his Honour said that no one who had observed the jury could come to any conclusion other than that it had taken a deep and earnest interest in the evidence tendered both by the Crown and the defence. It had been properly pointed out that the responsibility of tho Crown in a case of the present description was to prove its case.

"If you think the Crown case is inherently weak, that there is something lacking, that some links in the case are not present, that tho Crown has not discharged the duty placed on it, it will be your injunction to acquit the accused," said his Honour. "You have been properly enjoined 'to discharge from your mind anything you may have heard outside this Court. .

"The Crown had to 'prove its case. It had to show first that Mrs. Munn died on 11th February, which was beyond all question. It had then to show that Mrs. Munn died as the result of taking or being given strychnine. It had further to show how the strychnine was administered. The charge being against Mnnn it was for the Crown to prove by clear evidence that he and no one else administered the poison. Tho Crown might have to prove malice or motive. Malice in law was not necessarily a feeling of malevolence or ill-will, but general propensity to do an ill deed. The Grown was entitled to prove a general feeling of ill-will, so that an examination of the relations existing between accused and his wife was permissible. SIMPLE MATTER AT ISSUE. Dealing with motive, his Honour referred to a statement made by Lord Chief Justice Campbell in tho Palmer poisoning ease many years ago. The Lord Chief Justice had said: "It is of great importance to see if there was a motive to commit crime or not. If there bo any motivo I, am bound to toll you the adequacy of motive is of little importance." There was a vast amount of evidence to show how the woman died, continued his Honour, but- when more or less superfluous material was cut away the matters at issue were simple, and the evidence was not difficult to understand. The jury would have no difficulty in deciding that Mrs. Munndied from strychnine poisoning. After the bottle had been found in his own drawer Munn said the only conclusion he could come to was that his wife had taken poison and so died. In a statement to the 'police Munn said he purchased the poison to destroy rats; he also said that besides himself Mrs. Munn was the "'only person who knew the poison was in the pantry, and it must have been 'Mrs. Munn who had used it. "I desire to mention that in a case of poisoning rarely does it happen that it is possible to produce a witness who was actually a spectator of its administration," continued his Honour.

■■ There were two kinds of evidence, direct and circumstantial, said his Honour. Sometimes in a case of the present. description an attempt was made to belittle circumstantial evidence, but it was well known that circumstantial evidence might be just as cogent a,s direct evidence. However,, the jury was first bound to conclude that- the facts and circumstances were coincident only with the guilt of Munn. If the facts and circumstances were consistent with some hypothesis other than the guilt of accused, the jury was bound to acquit Muiin. His Honour then reviewed the evidence at length. After the jury had returned and given its verdict,of "Guilty," the foreman added that the jury had the following rider to add:— Thatthe members of the jury put on record Dr. Dud*ding's high sense of public duty. MUNN DECLARES HIS INNOCENCE. Asked if he had anything to say, Munn made the following statement in a firm, clear voice, without a trace of emotion: — . > I have only to say I am innocent of the crime of which I have been convicted. My innocent acts- havebeen slightly altered so that they have been made to appear against me. lam in the unfortunate position that I know most about my wife's illness, and through my acts being mis-stated they have- appeared as acts against me. Tho crier then enjoined silence while his Honour pronounced sentence. Donning tho black cap, his Honour then1 * passed sentence of death as follows: — Arthur Thomas Muiin, you have been convicted of murder. The sentence of tho Court is that you be taken to tho place whence you tame, and thence to the place of lawful execution, and that there you be hanged by the nock until you are dead. Several calls for silence had to be made by the officials while his Honour was speaking. Munn was then led away. His Honour thanked the jury for their services. Bemarking that the trial had been a long and arduous one, his Honour excused tho jurors from further service for a period of five years. When the cell door was opened to enablo Munn to leave the Courthouse and enter the gaol van, tho condemned man was observed to bo calmly smoking a cigarette. .»