SAMOAN CHARGED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20259, 29 May 1940, Page 4

SAMOAN CHARGED

ALLEGED MANSLAUGHTER LABOURER’S DEATH FATAL STREET FALL (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. Charged with committing manslaughter by killing Keith Francis Joseph Sisson, a labourer, aged 35, Tomson Yandall, a carpenter, aged 39, a native of Samoa, appeared in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday afternoon. The hearing of the police evidence occupied the whole afternoon, the court adjourning till 10 a.m. to-day. Dr. P. P. Lynch, pathologist, who conducted the post-mortem examination, of Sisson, said that his findings indicated that the deceased, at the time he received the fatal injuries, was on the verge of alcoholic coma. Death was due to a fracture of the skull and laceration of the brain. John Joseph Darroch, a barman, described how Sisson and a companion named Sharp became involved in a fight in the bar of the Imperial Hotel on May 18. Witness put out Sharp, who returned, but was ejected by another barmtn. He was pushing Sisson backward through the door of the hotel when something happened which caused Sisson to fall backward on to the pavement. He believed that someone behind him had struck Sisson. After falling, Sisson lay inert. He was still unconscious when taken to the hospital by the Free Ambulance. Yandall was not involved in the fight in the bar. Witnessed From Car Frederick William Roffe, superintendent of the Wellington Free Ambulance, said he was sitting in a cm- parked opposite the Imperial Hotel and saw Sharp and Sisson ejected from the hotel. As the barman who had ejected Sisson reentered the hotel, he saw Yandall and another man standing in the doorway. Sisson rushed at Yandall, who punched him in the face. He staggered back and fell with terrific force on the footpath. Constable F. S. Tuck said he went to the Imperial Hotel with Sergeant G. E. Callaghan. When they saw Yandall, he said: “I’m the man you’re looking for. I hit him. I thought he was going to attack me, but the barman will tell you all about it.*’ Yandall was arrested and charged with assault causing actual bodily harm. He was quite sober at the time. As far as he knew, Yandall was a quiet, inoffensive man without previous convictions.