UNABLE TO PLEAD
CHARGE OF MURDER
(P.A.) NAPIER, February 15. Before the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers) in the Supreme Court, David John Campbell was charged with murdering .his mother, Mavis Esther Campbell, and his grandmother, Maud Campbell.
Benjamin David Hart, medical superintendent of the Porirua Mental Hospital, stated that the accused suffered from an acute mental disorder. He was discharged from hospital in July, 1942. After the tragedy he was returned. His disease was well established and he was quite unable to understand his position. Gilbert Mortimer Tohill, medical superintendent of the Te Awamutu Hospital, said there was no question of malingering.
The jury, without retiring, returned a verdict that the accused was not sufficiently sane to plead. The Judge ordered that the prisoner be kept at Porirua until the pleasure of the Minister of Justice was known.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19430216.2.23
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 39, 16 February 1943, Page 3
Word Count
139UNABLE TO PLEAD Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 39, 16 February 1943, Page 3
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