TRIAL OF WOMAN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23262, 3 February 1939, Page 12

TRIAL OF WOMAN

MANSLAUGHTER VERDICT MERCY RECOMMENDED 18 MONTHS' SENTENCE REFORMATIVE DETENTION [BT TELEGRAPH —PKESS ASSOCIATION'] DUNEDIN, Thursday A verdict of manslaughter, with a recommendation to mercy, was brought, in by the jury in the Supreme Court this afternoon in the case in which Jessie Eva Dickson, aged SO, was chax-ged with the murder of her husband, William Dickson. The accused was sentenced to 18 months' reformative detention. Addressing the jury on behalf of accused, Mr, J. G. Warrington said there was no dispute as to the facts. Counsel proceeded to draw a pathetic picture of a wife and mother who had been endeavouring to hold tho husband she loved, and who in desperation she had struck. Three Courses Open Counsel said thre.e courses were open to the jury—to find the accused guilty of murder, guilty of manslaughter, or to acquit her. The Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers: If the jury are to accept the second statement a£ its full value I will instruct them that the third alternative is not open and will direct the jury to that end as a matter of law. Counsel said the jury would take the law from the Judge, but they were the judges of the facts. Counsel invited the jury to bring in a verdict of manslaughter, as the act did not constitute premeditated homicide. The Chief Justice, summing up, said he did not draw from the accused's first statement the inference that the Crown invited the jury to draw. Impulses of Human Nature " 1 hope I show no injustiee to the Crown Prosecutor when I say his address showed some lack of appreciation of the ordinary impulses of human nature," said His Honor. The question was whether what was said and done before the offence was sufficient to try the patience of the accused. The jury must not forget that a number of blows were struck. If the jury accepted the accused's statement as substantially correct, he thought they should find a verdict of manslaughter. The jury retired at 12.12 p.m., returning at 12.55 with a verdict of manslaughter and a recommendation to mercy. When the jury returned with its verdict, the Chief Justice asked Mr. Warrington if he could tell him anything further of what sort of life the deceased had led. Deceased's Weakness Counsel said that for the whole four years of the accused's married life she had trouble caused by his laziness during the depression, and his weakness for other women. Pronouncing sentence, Sir Michael Myers said there must be some punishment. It must never be thought that human life could be taken. "Nevertheless," he added, "your life with this man was the reverse of happy. You seem to have been very badly treated." The Chief Justice approved the recommendation and sentenced the accused to 18 months' reformative detention.