AN ECCENTRIC PRISONER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19632, 10 May 1927, Page 13

AN ECCENTRIC PRISONER.

TWELVE MONTHS' IN PRISON.

"THE MOST MERCIFUL THING."

A rambling statement possessing some extraordinary features was made by William Murray Aitken, a prisoner convicted of the use of obscene language, when he appeared for sentence before Mr. Justice Herdman at the Supreme Court yesterday.

Nervously twitching some sheets cl notes, prisoner commenced his address to the Court. He said he suffered from mental trouble and attributed his earlier appearances before the Court iargely to domestic difficulties; but he had always been honest, and had held positions of trust. He considered he had been hardly dealt with by one magistrate and had written to the Minister of Justice in respect to a sentence imposed, but without avail.

Prisoner's concluding remarks were a protest against being kept in confinement in a semi-dark cell for some weeks while awaiting trial. On one occasion, said prisoner, he had not seen daylight from 11.30 on Saturday morning to 9.30 on Sunday morning. The Judge expressed agreement with the jury that prisoner should be under medical observation. Clearly he was eccentric and the most merciful f'hing to do with this man, who had 14 previous convictions, and who had threatened to kill his wife, was to sentence him to imprisonment. His E'onor sentenced Aitken to 12 months' imprisonment, and directed that he be kept under medical observation.