CHARGE OF MURDER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 8688, 11 January 1889, Page 5

CHARGE OF MURDER.

THE BALCLT7THA CASE. AN ACQUITTAL. [Pxb Purse Association,] Jan. 10. . Joseph Valentine, a young, roan, $ ploughman by occupation, was charged at the Supreme Court to-day with,, on (jot. 28, murdering his illegitimate child near Balolutha. Sir Robert Stout defended the accused. The Crown Prosecutor, in opening, said the prisoner had a strong motive for desiring to get rid of the child, as its maintenance was a burden on him. The evidence would sho rr that when the infant was eight days old, he called at the house where the . mother, Jane Porter, resided, between - eight and nine o'clock at night, and took the child away oh horseback, after a alight remonstrance, saying he, would carry it to - his .sister, four or five miles off; ..with whom he had arranged to keep it. It. would be, 1 proved that no such arrangement had bees ■ . made, that the prisoner; instead of going to his sister’s, went , in the direction .of the river, having—he afterwards said— , made up his mind to,, go, to. a .MrSloper, thirteen miles off, an.d , ask for some money, due, When he reached the banks - of ,the Clutha, prisoner said - be got off and led his horse, that -.he ■ stumbled, the horse jumped beck, and the , child accidentally fell into the river; that - he waded in and recovered what,.hie, thought to he the child, but it proved to be only a shawl. The prisoner did not -i returner go to SloperVbut travelled all .j night to his father’s, thirty-six miles off. Here he was, or pretended to be, in great grief and a dazed condition,; and only i some days after gave an account of the occurrence. The police, after, investiga- . tion, concluded that the child's death . could not have been accidental, and arrested the accused. , Sir Eobert Stout raised the point that , there was no case to go to the Jury* on the ground that the death of the child had not been proved, and that, if the prisoner’s account—which was the only evidence of death—was accepted as true, the occur- . renca was accidental. ’ The Judge said he would reserve the ' point if necessary, and the case went to the ; Jury. Sir E. Stout, in his address for the defence, admitted that the prisoner acted in a very stupid manner, hut the evidence « showed that ho was a particularly stupid man, and had been subject to fits. Ho, - elaborated the point as to there being no evidence of death.

His Honor said as no body had been recovered, it was a case in which the Jury must proceed with caution. In the first place, the Crown should prove that the . prisoner’s story not only might be, but must from the necessity of the case, be ; untrue. If they failed in that the prisoner - was entitled to be acquitted ; but if they succeeded it was then for the Jury to take the fact of the untrue story in conjunction with the other circumstances of the case, and all the acta of the accused, and consider whether they were sufficient to prove j beyond all reasonable doubt that he moot have intentionally killed the child. The Jury, after an hour and a half's retirement, returned a verdict of " Not Guilty.” '