ALLEGED MURDER

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 9 March 1927, Page 5

ALLEGED MURDER

THE OPOTIKI CASE. ACCUSED’S MENTAL CONDITION. EVIDENCE FOR THE DEFENCE. (by telegraph—prebs association.) GISBORNE, March 8. Opening the case for the defence in the Opotiki murder case, counsel said that evidence would be called- to show that the accused was ’always subject to recurring fits and mania. He had suffered from hereditary mental unsoundness since boyhood, and this markedhim for some such final tragedy as now confronted him. A combination of this hereditary taint and excessive indulgence in liquor caused him to become unbalanced- and unable to appreciate what he was doing.

A surprise was sprung when the first witness for the defence, Arthur O’Keefe, identified the accused, who was charged under the name of John Sullivan, as the brother of Joseph O’Keefe. The accused is the youngest of a family of seven. Prior to her death, the mother was Slightly troubled mentally. The accused was never intelligent -and was poorly educated. As a youth the accused had /been struck on the head by a. brother. The result was that he was in- the New Plymouth Hospital for several weeks. Another brother was in the Avondale Asylum. Howard- Stockdule Hip kin, a station hand, said he knew the accused, as Sullivan, well. The two men, then engaged on , the Hoata, station, gave witness the impression that they were recovering from a drinking hoiit. Sullivan was always fidgety and Highly strung. His talk was rambling and irrational. The two were always the best, of friends. *

Julius Claude McGregor, manager of the Hoata station, gave evidence on somewhat similar lines, and added, that he held grave doubts as to the prisoner’s mentality. His methods of work were irregular and so was his talk. He would rum Where another man would walk, even on steep- bush country.

Dr. Bbwie (Gisborne) said he examined the accused in gaol, and formed a poor opinion of his mental condition. The accused was of a highly erratic type and uneducated. In reply to questions, witness said -he thought- that at the time of the tragedy the accused did not know what he was doing. He would have no power of judgment or control: A man of his mental calibre, once heavily undier the influence of liquor, would, be a raving maniac for the time ,being. Dr. R. M. Beattie, late superintendent of the Avondale Mental Hospital, stated that Charles O’Keefe, who was a brother of Sullivan, had bepn an inmate of the institution, suffering from chronic mania, and at the slightest provocation became dangerous. His case was an hereditary one, his mother being a. mental case -for some years before she died. Witness had examined Sullivan in the Mount Eden gaol, and in witness’s opinion Sullivan was fighting drunk at the time of the tragedy. Sullivan had told witness that he drank heavily after the others left the locality, and lie bad no recollection of events until consciousness began to awaken in him. Witness had come to the conclusion that when Sullivan attacked Williamson he did net know the act was wrong. He could not have been insane at the time, or his recovery would- not h-ave been so rapid. It was due to- the mania of alcoholism, which was eloselv allied to D.T.’s. The Crown called in rebuttal Dr. C. Teu-sley, medical officer at the Mount Eden gaol. Witness said he had examined Sullivan on many occasions, and found his conduct that of _ the average man. Sullivan was a highly excitable and unstable individual, but under ordinary conditions normal, though of low grade intellectually. In cross-examination witness said it was possible there was an hereditary . taint in Sullivan, and. considering these circumstances, if Sullivan consumed a large quantity of alcohol it would 1 practically make him a very dangerous man. He thought that for a 1 short time the man had no control over himself.

Counsel will address the jury tomorrow morning.