A STRANGE CASE.

Gisborne Times, Volume LVI, Issue 6318, 22 February 1922, Page 5

A STRANGE CASE.

WOMAN STATES . SHE GAVE FALSE EVIDENCE.

COUNSEL ASKS FOR RE-TRIAL

AUCKLAND Feb. 21

Thomas Fearon was found guilty of stealing £35 from the person of Alfred William McLuire.

A sensational development arose. Maude Isabella Brooks, a divorced woman living with Fearoi>, statca that her evidence in the lower court and her statement to the police, were a mistake. She had been drinking and a certain amount cf jealousy caused her to accuse Fearon of making a statement to her to the effect; that a man at the Soldiers’ Club was ill and they had arranged to get his money and divide it. The Judge in summing up, said the jury would lndve to consider why the woman’s first statement coincidecF with the facts related by other Counsel for the defence asked for a case to be stated for the Appeal Court to determine whether the depositions made by 7 Brooks 1 and her statement to the polic'e. should have been admitted. The third point was that the witness, had bee* improperly treated as hostile. Counsel also asked leave to apply to the Appeal Court for a new trial on the ground that the verdict was against the weight of evidence. . . His Honor said he would give a decision on the first two points tomorrow. —P.A.'