VAQUIER TRIAL

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 8 July 1924, Page 5

VAQUIER TRIAL

SENTENCE OF DEATH. ACCUSED BECOMES VIOLENT. n GABLl —PBJ3BB ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT Received July 8, 8.5 a.m. LONDON, July 6. There was a remarkable scene at the close of the trial of Vaquier at Guildford. The jury, after ninety minutes retirement, returned a verdict of guilty. Asked why the death sentence should" not be passed, Vaquier exclaimed excitedly : “I protest. It is an iniquitous verdict. I swear on the graves of my father and mother that I am innocent.” Mr. Justice Avory, in passing the death sentence, described it as a wicked and detestable crime. Vaquier began cal my to address the court, but quickly lost his self control and screamed out protests against the English methods in the trial of a foreigner. Turning round in a frenzy he struck the warder and struggled violently when others seized him. He was carried out protesting shrilly and declaring this his counsel had let him down. Mr. Justice Avory, in summing up, insisted that it did not- follow' because the woman had been unfaithful to her husband that her evidence never thereafter was to be believed. If she had been in any way responsible for Jones’ death, was it likely that she would have so rapidly adlninistered an emetic and summoned a doctor. . The former relations between Vaquier and Mrs. Jones, particularly to a member of the Latin races, might be a most powerful motive for his desire for Jones’ death. In response to Vaquier’s request to postpone sentence, Mr. Justice Avory said -he had been tried in accordance with the law, which, was more favourable to foreigner interests than any other country’s.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.