SAVAGE SENTENCE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11451, 27 February 1931, Page 7

SAVAGE SENTENCE

ENGLISHWOMAN’S CRIME IN • .i.: * FRANCE. . . / YtJVP.A. by Elec. Tel. Cowriaht) ; , . -LONDON, Feb/ 25. There is considerable comment upon-'. -the';efratio character of French justice. ' ‘ . "■' ' , : . . At the-Versailles court, Lady Owen, the (bbyear-old French widow of ail' English’ knight, Sir Theodore, wlio left her a substantial fortune, was ;sc4 fenced to five years’ solitary confinement for grounding with a revolver, ishot the wife of a former lover, . Dr. Gastaud, in a fit of insano jealousy,;-when Gastaud refused to ieaVo; her.v , -

The three days’ trial was more in the nature of a comic ouora in which it was shown that Lady Owou paid the expenses of Gastaud on his visits to London and the Riveira, and showered him with presents. Even .■the,: French press attacks the savage hatur*. of the sentence, and instances a whole string of actual murder in similar circumstances where the accused people have been acquitted. There is a-distinct, feeling that the court was influenced by the fact that Lady Owen is English. Solitary confinement in France is most strictly carried out. A i>risonor does not speak tp or seo--anyone.