SON SHOOTS FATHER

Evening Star, Issue 22684, 25 June 1937, Page 15

SON SHOOTS FATHER

ACCUSED WEEPS IN C&URT SENTENCED FOR MANSLAUGHTER Charged with the murder of his father, Arthur Clarke Evans, aged 71, Edgar Arthur Evans (31) was found guilty of manslaughter, and was sentenced to three years’ penal servitude in a Sydney criminal court last week. The jury had added a strong recommendation to mercy. The Crown Prosecutor' said that the defence would bo that the shooting was accidental. It appeared that the accased worked with his father in an orchard. On May 29, according to the evidence of one witness, named Arentz, the accused wont over to Arcutz and asked him what he thought of a certain property, and would it be suitable for growing potatoes? Accused said that he thought of leaving, as he could not get on with his father, as ho (accused) got the blame for everything. Some time later Arentz heard a gun go off, and the accused came to him, and asked him to go for the police as he (accused) had shot his father. STATEMENT FROM DOCK. The accused, in a statement from the dock, described a quarrel he had with his father concerning the accused’s decision to leave his fatheFs property. He said that ho told his father that ho intended to sue him for the maintenance of his mother. His father then passed some remarks, and threw a hammer at him. “I was standing at the door of the packing shed at the time,” said the accused. “ I was holding up a bag at tho door with my left hand and the shotgun was in tho right hand. 1 stepped hack to ward off the hammer. The. gun went off. My father fell, and I stood horrified. 1 blame myself for having quarrelled with him. I did not intend to harm him. I did not murder my father.’’ '

At the close of his statement tho accused broke down and wept. The accused, when found guilty of manslaughter, appealed to tho judge for leniency. He said that he was sorry for what had happened. He had a wife, a child, and an aged mother depending on him. His Honour, in sentencing tho accused to three years’ penal servitude, said that in view of the accused’s good character, and if his conduct was exemplary, application at the end of two years could bo made for his release on bond. The application would probably have His Honour’s support.