CHARGE OF MURDER
CASE OF YOUNG MAORI
ADDRESS TO GRAND JURY
(By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, This Day.
"There is a possibility that the defence may raise the question of sanity, but that is not for you gentlemen to consider," said his Honour Mr. Justice Fair addressing the Grand Jury respecting a charge of murder against a young Maori, Johnny Toka, arising out of the death of the accused's father, who, it is alleged, was shot through the wall of a whare at Patumahoe on the night of February 21.
Toka is also charged with attempting to murder his sister by striking her on the head with a kettle.
Dealing with the subject of insanity, his Honour said that the law presumed a person to be sane until he was proved to be insane. Twelve months previously the accused was confined in a mental hospital, but at the time of the alleged offences he was living with his family. However, that need not concern the Grand Jury. The legal definition of insanity would be explained to the trial jury.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19370504.2.129
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 104, 4 May 1937, Page 13
Word Count
178CHARGE OF MURDER Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 104, 4 May 1937, Page 13
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Evening Post. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.