CHEMIST ACQUITTED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23103, 30 July 1938, Page 13

CHEMIST ACQUITTED

MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE DEATH OF TWO BROTHERS SYDNEY, July 2!) At the quarter sessions Walter Peck, chemist and dispenser, of the Burwood Friendly Societies' dispensary, was acquitted of the manslaughter of two brothers, .James Fdward Cobban, aged l"), and James Cobban, aged 13. The jury returned its verdict of not guilty without hearing counsel's addresses or the .1 udge's summing-up. The two hoys died in a private hospital in Burwood on May 10 and May ] 1 respectively. The verdict at the inquest was that the deaths were due to the effects of a deadly drug known as paraldehyde, administered to an excessive amount. The evidence at the trial to-day disclosed that Peck dispensed ounces instead of drachms. I'eck admitted he made a mistake in reading the doctor's prescription. Ho told the jury he would regret il all his life. He deeply deplored the bovs' death and their parents' anguish. Accused attributed his mistake to worry and fear of a. recurrence of cancer in tho throat from which he had supposedly been cured.

Both hoys became ill after taking medicine as a preliminary to an operation for the removal of their tonsils. A doctor gave tJio parents a prescription which contained paraldehyde. The medicine was made up by a chemist, and was given to the boys by a nurse at the hospital.