SIX YEARS' GAOL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21503, 29 May 1933, Page 11

SIX YEARS' GAOL

ftfllßSE KERR SENTENCED , HIS HONOR-S COMMENT . FAIRNESS OF THE TRIAL CASE OF MUCH GRAVITY Sentence of six years' imprisonment <n-ith hard labour "was passed by Mr. Justice Herdman in the Supreme Court on Saturday morning on Nurse FJspeth Kerr, who had been found guilty the previous evening on three charges of administering poison. The charges were that on April 8, 10. and 16, 1032, she had administered the poison veronal to her eight-year-old f foster-daughter, Betty Kerr, with intent to injure her and so that her life was endangered. In passing sentence His Honor said he entirely agreed with the verdict of the jury, and he took occasion to refer to the fairness of -the police, prosecution and press throughout the trial. The Crown was , represented on Saturday by Mr. McCarthy. ' Before addressing tho Court on prisoner's behalf Mr. Singer, who, with Mr. Meek, conducted tho defence, asked His Honor whether the invoking of the section of tho Evidence Act in the circumstances justified an application to reserve the point for the Court of Appeal. His Honor declined to consider such an application. "A series of long trials, with much labour and thought, anxiety and suspense is over,/" said Mr. Singer. "Whatever may be the thought of others, I myself still cherish an uncomfortable feeling of doubt in this case. I only hope that my personal apprehension and discomfort may be unjustified, and that an irremediable wrong may not have been done. Comment on Trial "The alacrity with which the foreman of the jury delivered his verdict yesterday indicates still to me that rumour rather than judgment may have had somewhat to do with that verdict. I still feel, and always shall, that however demonstrably innocent Mrs. Kerr may be she could never have had a fair chance. She was condemned before ever she put her foot in that dock for the first time. This feeling made the task of the defence all the more difficult, particularly 3s the accused had no means to apply for a change of venue and instruct counsel at a distance.

"I fear, too," continued Mr. Singer, "that I have never been able to place what were to me the very genuine defences in this case in such a light as to meet a recognition in Your Honor's mind at least. However, sir, my last task now is to ask for leniency. A savage sentence could be inflicted by this Court, but the sentence should, I submit, be greatly lightened by circumstances which I desire to place before the Court. Anxieties and Strain "Mrs. Kerr has now been in gaol for very nearly 12 months —in itself a very heavy sentence for a woman, and for a woman of activity of mind and body such as hers. She has undergone the terrible anxieties of three trials —a very great and severe strain which equals a sentence in itself. In addition her character and reputation are of the very highest. No shadow of criminality ha 3 marred her career. Your Honor cannot and will not. I am sure, inflict a sentence affected by considerations as to Mr. Kerr and Mrs. Day, in respect of whom Mrs. Kerr has not been, put upon her trial, and evidence in regard to whom was only admissible in consequence of a unique section here invoked for the first time in its 40 years' existence on the Statute Book, which section I still feel —particularly as a result of this 'trial—is hardly compatible with the principles of British justice. "Xor. will any defect of her advorate weight with the Court. It doubtless is true that the advocacy was lacking in grave respects. It might have been more ingenious, more ingenuous, more subservient; but we are what we are, and criticism is easy after the finale. I at all events do not feel that I have done aught but in the complete desire to serve the interests of my 'client, my paramount and indeed my •only duty."

Sentence Pronounced "Prisoner at the bar," said Hi* Honor, "after a long and careful trial in which in. my opinion every facility for presenting your defence has been given, you have been convicted of at- - tempting to do grave injury to a child •of tender years by administering poison to her. The case is a serious one. All .poisoning cases, of course, are cases of first rate gravity. Had the medical Igentlemen who in the early stages attended the child not insisted that she should go info the hospital the ensuing consequences . might have been serious / 'lor her and perhaps still more serious T °r you. But'when she was beyond your reach she speedily recovered and now happily she appears to bo perfectly Veil. _ "With the verdict of the jury I entirely agree," said F's Honor. "It is "difficult to see how any intelligent jury3nan, who was honest and had any respect, for his oath, could have, after consideration of the evidence laid before the Court, come to any decision °ther than that at which the. jury as ,a whole arrived. Jiut for the fact that -J'o.u have been in custody for the Kreater part of a year I would have imposed a sentence of seven years' imipnsonnient. Punishment and Warning "That, I think, would be a fitting •punislimon t for placing the life of a cn| hl in danger, and such a punishment °"ld serve a's a warning to others. I khall, however, take into account the laot that you have-been in custody for the greater part of a year; and, of course, 1 shall entirely disregard any suggestion that you wore responsible in any way for the deaths of Mrs. Day or of Kerr. The sentence of the Court therefore be six years' imprisonment with hard labour." I do not want to make any do"tailed observations about this case," His Honor in conclusion, "but in justice to others concerned in the performance" of difficult public duty, I think 1 am bound to say that in my ■opinion there was no justification of any kind for the adverse criticisms passed •upon the police, the prosecution and the -press. As far as I am able to judge the prosecution was conducted with scrupulous fairness; and the members of the police.under the direction of Inspector Cummings are deserving of compliment for the ability and efficiency displayed in the preparation for trial in an extremely complicated and unpleasant