A CURIOUS CASE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 22 January 1926, Page 4

A CURIOUS CASE

KITS OF AMNESIA REI'ORMATIVE DETENTION ORDERED The curious ease of a man wlio did strange things in fits of amnesia was considered by Mr Justice Stringer at the Auckland Supreme Court, says.the Star, when Ernest William Gibbs appeared lor sentence on a charge of arson, and four ol breaking, entering and theft. Mr Nortlicroft, who said Jie had been instructed by the brother whom prisoner had robbed, told the judge that the relatives did not ask thai Uibbs be released. Tiiey appreciated the fact that u was- dangerous for him to be at large. It was a curious fact that, after returning fro,n the war, the man bad wandered away, apparently in a iit of amnesia.. On many occasions when lie was working as a coal and firewood carrier, limbs 101 l (lie horse and cart .standing in a citv street and went home in a fit of absent-mindedness. The least amount ol drink affected him. Since August be had been out of employment, idling about, and had got into a desperate frame of mind. All the offences committed bore evidence of eccentricity. On a mantelshelf from which he stole tilings he left untouched a box containing money, and, though he took some articles from a box of jewellery, he left other valuables m the box. Mr .Justice Stringer said the, whole thing .seemed to be irrational. I'lie Crown Prosecutor said he had In en iiiformeiT that the man suffered Irom post epileptic automatism, which was most dangerous. Mr Nortlicroft slated that Dr. Murray could not say thai epilepsy would make him commit these acts. In passing sentence of three years' reformative detention, bis Honour recommended the gaol authorities to ascertain the best institution to- which lo send (iibbs, having regard to the state of his health.