MANSLAUGHTER

Grey River Argus, 28 April 1932, Page 5

MANSLAUGHTER

TOMAHAWK TRAGEDY Verdict of Jury (For Press Association). DUNEDIN, April 27. The hearing was continued to-day. John Kenneth Begg, gunsmith, said that the gun produced was quite safe, and not likely to go off accidentally. It would not be possible to discharge it without pressure on the trigger. He had made tests to See if it would go off accidentally, but could not. discharge it. The cartridges, produced, fitted the gun. Cross-examined, witness said that if the trigger caught in the button of a coat, it might go off. It was possible when the hammers were up, for it to go off if the trigger caught in the loose strands of a sweater. Constable Parkes gave evidence that when handed the gun, the right hammer was cocked, and the left hammer down. The gun was open at the breech. Later, he found a discharged cartridge lying in. a watertable. The case for the Crown is proceeding. DUNEDIN, April 27. The hearing was concluded in the Supreme Court'to-day of the charge against Lewis William O’Connor of murdering Findlay Douglas Buchanan at Tomahawk on March 30. Counsel for the accused urged that when O’Connor admitted that he had committed the crime, he was in such a condition, through drink, that he did not know what he was saying. Under these circumstances the killing of Buchanan was not murder. Counsel referred at length to the evidence showing that O’Connor was so drunk that he was behaving like a madman. He submitted that O’Connor .was maddened by drink, and that lie had lost his sound reasoning quality by reason of the quantity of liquor he had consumed. He was in such a condition that he was incapable of forming any intention.

Counsel said he could not plead insanity, but he did plead drunkenness to such an extent as to dethrone the accused’s reason. The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter. The accused, was remanded for sentence until to-morrow morning.