SOLEMN RITUAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 29 May 1930, Page 9

SOLEMN RITUAL

PASSING OF DEATH SENTENCE CONCLUSION OF MUNN TRIAL (By Telegraph—Special to' "Tho Mail") AUCKLAND, 28th May. Awed and perhaps humbled crowds heard the: solemn ritual attending the sentence of death passed on Arthur Thomas Munn in the Supreme Conn, last evening. They heard the steady avowal of innocence' from the lips of cue guilty man and'clung lo the significance of every one of the stern words of the formula accompanying a verdict in a murder case.

' A few minutes before the court reassembled for the dramatic last moments, the public in the galleries had been shuffling and chattering. Perhaps they were hiding their knowledge of the' grim march of justice under a show of unconcern.. Yet those crowds talking and moving ceaselessly in a court emptied of its' prominent' legal figures and police officials surely sensed the impending drama. Some of these watchers had retained their places in the galleries since the jury retired at 4.47 p.m. Then at 8.15 o'clock the hush fell on the crowds—a hush which was actually oppressive.

JURY'S DECISION Through the door out of which tho jurymen had passed to make their judgment, paced the Crier of the Court. He conversed in low tones with the senior officials. The jury had reached a decision and the crowds, uninitiated perhaps in' judicial procedure, instantly sensed the meaning of these actions. The crier walked towards tho barristers' robing room. Tho moments until the jurymen, filed to their benches simply flew. The atmosphere of the court became intense, fraught with the deepest possibilities in the imaginings of all those people. Mr Justice Herdman took his place above the assembled Court.

The silence was pregnant when Munn was escorted up the stairway into tho dock. No sound was heard, although it was patently clear from the faces of the jurvmen. tiiat the verdict was one of guilty." Munn stood erect. No inkling of his thoughts was given in his expression. Steadfastly he awaited the fateful questioning of the foreman of the jury. The questioning came. '''Gentleman of the jury have you agreed upon your verdict?" The words of the registrar of tho Court spoken briskly rapped through the stilled court.

"We have," came the answer of the foreman. "How find ye, guilty or not guilty?"

"Guilty." The single word rang in the cars of everyone in the Court. All eyes turned to Munn. His figure swayed slightly, but his expression did not alter as tho word which meant the termination of his life reached him. He looked straight ahead, his attention riveted on the Judge. Gasps and smothered exclamations could be heard from the galleries which gazed down, wide eyed at the erect unflinching form of the guilty man. The foreman of the jury could ho heard speaking again. All attention was on Munn and the jury's appreciation of Dr. Dudding's high sense of public duty, intoned by the grave-voiced foreman seemed to come from a tremendous distance.

"Oyez! Oyez!" The crier's voice rang through 'the room with the clarity of a gong—"Oyez!"

MUNN PROTESTS HIS INNOCENCE

The the registrar asked—" Arthur Thomas ,Munn, have you anything to say why the judgment of death should not be passed upon you ?" Munn braced himself. He placed his hands on the barrier of the dock and without hesitation addressed himself to his Honour, mechanically it seemed, with no tremor in his voice. He protested his innocence, simply and deliberately. Then followed moments of the most profound silence. Mr Justice Herdman was preparing to don the Black Cap, prior to passing tho sentence of death. It was on his head in. a moment, a square of black cloth in appearance. Then the portentous words of the death sentence were being uttered and it was over. The few moments which meant the passing of the greatest punishment on Munn and the crumbling of his hopes had seemed an age. Munn was still looking fixedly at the Judge, the knuckles of his hands showing white as he gripped the dock. When the warder touched his arm, without faltering Munn turned about and passed down the stairway out of the sight of the prying crowds in the upper gallery. A woman crossed herself. One or two of the women were deeply affected and left the court with bowed heads. The reaction had come. The tension, was broken. Many hurried from the room relieved that the terrific strain was ended. Others stood in groups discussing the sentence in low tones.

PETITIONS FOR REPRIEVE There is a possibility that the question of the admissibility of certain evidence called in the Munn trial will be referred to the Court of Appeal. Objection, was made by counsel for the defence, Mr E. H. Northcroft, to the evidence of the children of the first^ marriage, bearing on the relations existing between Munn and his wife twelve months before the dale of the offence.

The judge was asked to reserve the question for the Court of Appeal. Nq decision has been reached yet as to whether the Court'of Appeal will be asked to consider it. In most cases where sentence of death has been passed, petitions asking for a reprieve and the commuting of the sentence to that of life imprisonment have been circulated and presented to the Executive Council. Inquiries made this morning show that at present no move is being made in this direction by those entrusted with Mann's defence, although petitions may be circulated by friends or sympathisers of the condemned man. The last execution that occurred at Mount Eden Gaol was that of Robert Scott, who was hanged in 1924 for the murder of ;i young girl in the Gisborne district.