SEVEN YEARS' DETENTION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20898, 13 June 1931, Page 11

SEVEN YEARS' DETENTION

SENTENCE ON NUNN. WOUNDING OF MISS SMITH. infatuation for girl, lack of intention pleaded. [F.Y TEtEGHArH.—TREPS ASSOCIATION.] NAPIER, Friday. The trial of Hubert- Frederick Nunn on ,i charge of having attempted to murder Mavis Steele Smith at Hastings on April 7 was concluded in the Supreme Court, tndnv, before the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers. Accused was found guilty and sentenced fo seven years' reformative detention. Mr. I[allott, for accused, said tho evidence he proposed to call would indicato Nunn "as suffering from moral insanity and not- intellectual insanity. J [is Honor: I fear I do not. seo the difference. / Accused continued his evidence, and was then cross-examined by Mr. Lusk, who appeared for the Crown. "Did Not Mean to Harm Her." Mr. Lusk: When did you first, realise you had shot Mavis? Accused: When I reached homo. Did you say to her that if you could not have her no one else would ?—Yes. What did you mean by that?—l did not mean to harm her. Did you intend to kill her or to kill any man who separated you ?—No. I did not mean it that way. His Honor: But what did you mean? Accused: Well, I loved Mavis with all niv heart, and it. hurt mo to know any other man should have her if I didn t. I never intended to harm her. Mr. Lusk/ You remember all the details of the conversation but you do not remember the actual shooting?— That is so. Why did you take the gun from tho car'.'—l intended to frighten her. His Honor: But how frighten her? Accused: Not Miss Smith, sir. His Honor;/Then whom did you intend to frighten ?—I thought, she was coming home with another man. .Mr. Lusk: What, were you going to do to him ?—I don't know. Writicg the Letter. His Honor: You realised when you got home you had shot the girl ?—Yes. Did you not hear her call out, "Dad, dad" ?—I don't remember. You did not take long to get away 1 — No, it. would /Seem I did not. take long. When did you write the letter?— About half an hour after I got home. When did you put it in the uphostery of the settee?— When the police arrived. Did you put it there to conceal it from them? —Yes. They had told me Mavis was not dead. Then the police questioned you ?—Yes. "And you said: 'T did not shoot her. I may have been instrumental in doing to"?—I must have said so. I was dazed a' ihe time. Did you say you did not shoot Miss Smith, and you could say who did, but would not do so just then?— Yes. That is also what you tcld the doctor some time later ?—Yes. This is the first time you have admitted shooting the girl ?—That is so. The girl says you bluntly asked her to marrv you that night, and when she said • \o " you said, " Then 111 shoot von"?—I don't remember saying that to her. No Intention of Wrong. Why did you have the gun ?—Not to tthoot Mavis, sir. But why have the gun ?—At- the. very worst to frighten somebody. Who?— Not Mavis. I thought she had come home with another man. _ t Did you intend to shoot him?—No, just frighten him perhaps. * Addressing the jury, Mr. Hallett- said the act was not premeditated until midnight. Accused had no intention of committing any Vrong. Nunn was infatuated with the girl, and for a considerable period the affection was mutual. Miss Smith was a-.vnv from Hastings for some time Hid accused heard she had returned. He went : imply to see the girl he was in love with and whom" he had not seen for some months. There was nothing sinister about ' "le suspected Miss Smith of going out with another man. It was quite probable U intended to frighten not. Miss emitn but the other man. That probably was whv he took the gun from the car He was madly in love with her and it- was highly improbable he would delibeiately I-ill her. Counsel entreated the jurv to believe Nunn's story, in which he said he had no intention of injuring and he did not recollect what had hap i.ened until afterwards. _ His Honor outlined a simple illustration of a man who had a debt owl "5 him, and after making r fP re f for payment, threatened to shoot til debtor if it was not paid. When < r-nunt was later presented for ,nd the debtor refused to mal ; e y ™ e " ]i ; he was shot at. Subsequently the crecn tor slid ho shot, his debtor, but did not ' " to rlo it His Honor contended the "SU'cS tactically Identical with , his illustration. If a defence of that kind ' to be accepted. His Honor remarked, he was thankful the responsibility was thnt of the jury and not his. jury Retires for 40 Minutes. There was no doubt accused wasi infatuated/with the girl and had a threat which he. had carried into effect. It was true there was nothing sinister in having a gun in his car so long as he left it there. Nunn evidently thought she was dead and had cleared out. Shortlv afterwards he had written a letter in which he stated he had always vowed no other man would have th. -,,1 When questioned by the police, there was time for him to have said he did not intend to shoot the girl, and no merely to have said lie did not do it, but j ripu* v.*ho did. . >ii The jury returned a verdict, of gui y after 40 minutes' retirement. In sentencing Nunn, His Honor said he did not regard him as of stable men-•t-ilit" but he was very far from being insane as laid down bv legal definition. At the fame time, His Honor said human life must be protected and offences of this type could not be allowed to be commH,sdHonor added lie did not intend to inflict, a term of imprisonment with hard lihour but would sentence Nunn to a lr., 1K period of reformative detention, during which time he would be under observation. He. was ordered to be, detained for a period of seven years.