Was Rameka Irresponsible When He Killed Mrs Johnson ?

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6621, 6 August 1931, Page 7

Was Rameka Irresponsible When He Killed Mrs Johnson ?

Per Press Association.

AUCKLAND, Last Night. Tho hearing of evidence in defence of George Ramcka, who is on trial on a charge of murdering Mrs Gwendoline Johnson, was continued to-daj. Manenc Brown, a Maori ganger, said deceased had come to his lodgings wi<J Ramcka, and he often went to her flat. They seemed to behave like man and wife.” He saw Ramcka give her £-4, his winnings at the races. The ambulance driver who took Ramcka to hospital said his symptoms were similar to the after-effects of an epileptic fit. George Graham, an authority on the Maori race, said they were very D eaffiu, of their racial pedigree. A maon who was called a “nigger” would receive a mental shock and would sec equivalent to a European feeing red. Accused gave evidence through an interpreter He said he had three sisters and 13 brothers. Only he and one sister were now alive. A first cousin of his had killed her baby, and anothei cousin at Waitara had killed her adopted chidl. Ho went to the v.ar at the age of 15 and was there over two years. He was digging trenches and also looking after wire entanglements in noman’s land.” He was gassed at Me* «ines and when he returned to New Zealand received hospital treatment for war wounds. Sometimes ho suffered from a depression which seemed to darken his outlook. He knew deceased as Miss DnscoL. She told him She was a well-to-do woman from England, that sho came from Wellington and that she was engaged while there. On tho first night he met her she told him that Mrs. Keesing, her landlady, was her aunt. After he and she had been together awhile he loved her and sho responded. When he gave her £24 it was arranged that tne tact should not be made known to her family. Sho told him she was waiting for money from her family’s estate in Wellington, and -would ropay him in three months. . . , r Accused said he used to visit Mrs. Johnson every night when she was sick. He went to Ellerslie races and Epsom trots with deceased and her daughter. Tho beginning of the trouble between them was at the trots when she asked him to get a taxi. He told her he was broke. Next day, in a fit of depression, he had bought tho poison, contemplating suicide. That night she told him she did not want him any more. Ho asked why, and sho said because he showed her up at the trots. He was “full of jealousy and temper, ’ ami threatened suicide. She said she did not care, and anyway he would not bo game. Then the thought of His child came to him and he decided to defer tho act. Accused said that next morning he bought a knifo because he thought the poison would not be enough to take his life. He intended to tako tho poison in Mrs. Johnson’s presence to prove he was game enough to commit suicide. Ho drank some poison beforo he opened tho

Mental Experts in Conflict

Accused Tells His Story of .Terrible Deed

door of her room. His throat and stomach were burning. Then, speaking in good English, accused said: “She looked at mo and said: ‘What do you want here, you black nigger?’ At that instant 1 didii t. know what I was doing; I just simply went off my head. That is all Cross-examined by Mr* Meredith, Crown Prosecutor, accused said that after he first met Mrs. Johnson he used to see her every night. He did not know how strong the poison was, nor how many people the contents ot the bottle he bought would kill. He thought of the knife after he reached home on the night before the tragedy. If the poison was not sufficient, lie intended to stab himself with the knife in tho taxi cab. He drank part of the poison at Mrs Keesing’s outside Mrs. Johnson s door, fully intending to drink tho rest after ho had had it out with her. Mrs. Johnson was awake when lie went into her room, and she spoke first- He did not remember seeing the knifo after he put it in his pocket at tho door. He did not remember driving back to Hepburn street, or the other incidents which witnesses had sworn to. Ho aid not remember anything from the he was at Mrs. Johnson’s door until ho was in hospital. Mental Experts Differ

Dr. R. M. Boattie, who for 29 years was in charge of the Auckland mental hospital, said ho had formed the conclusion that there was a probability of a minor epileptic condition, in accused. Witness had gained the impression that there was a certain amount of mental instability. Ho found Maoris, as a rule emotional and intensely sensitive. I regard this man as of unstable mental condition,” continued witness. For years he has been suffering . from strange sensations in his head, -with attacks of giddiness aud disturbance. of his eyes. The man had been suffering from abnormal depression and was actively suicidal. When, he went into the .room -where deceased was the depression became intense, and he was suffering a burning pain in tho mouth, throat and stomach from the poison he had taken. He was called by a name that all Maoris resent, and he got into an irresponsible maniacal Icondition. If lie was in such a maniacal state, he could not know the nature and quality of his act.” _ _

This elosod the case for tho defence, and tho Crown then called Dr. H. M. Buchanan, superintendent of the Auckland mental hospital, who said Rameka had not given him any symptoms of loss of memory or giddiness. In his opinion there was no justification for the theory that accused was epileptic. He did not think Rameka had tho loss of memory at the time of the tragedy that he claimed to have. In witness’s opinion the act in the bedroom was a conscious act.

Corroborative evidence was given by other mental experts. Tho evidence was concluded to-night, and the case will bo finished to-mor-row.