TRIAL FOR MURDER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23850, 28 December 1940, Page 9

TRIAL FOR MURDER

"GUILTY BUT INSANE'' NEW ZEALAND SOLDIER VERDICT AT SECOND TRIAL [from or a own cour ksponihsntJ LONDON, Dpi-. 1 "Guilty but insane'' was the verdict I of the jury at Old Bailey when Private! Eric Andrew ( lark, ol Oisborne, was! retried, on the charge of the wilful murder of Private Alexander Lindsav j Meikle, of Timaru. The jury retired I foi half an hour. C lark will be detained j at the King's pleasure. hen the ease was heard in October, medical opinion clashed as to whether Clark suffered from lack of thyroid and whether he was normally developed, both mentally and physically. The jury disagreed. and a new trial was ordered. ' I his diflereneo ot medical opinion was heard by a new jury, which was eon- i vinced that ( lark was insane. Ihe case was taken by Mr. Justice i rot tcsley. 1 lie evidence given at tliei first trial was repeated. Did Not Appreciate Act Captain 0. It. Palmer, of Auckland, j said that ( lark did not fully under- I stand the nature and quality of his | act. He did not think that", at the I time, Clark hilly appreciated that what he was doing was wrong. Dr. X. G. Harris said that Tie did not' think that Clark appreciated the whole j wrongfulness of his act. Clark knew ' vaguely that to strike a man even with ! the fist or anything at all would be I | considered a wrong action, but he did | j not consider that Clark appreciated, as I a normal person would, that to strike! a man with a knife was a wrong act j that might lead to very serious results, i Within the meaning of the legal j rules, he thought that Clark was insane | at the time. Irritated and Annoyed Counsel: What is there about this | man that makes him a lunatic? Dr. Harris: I can only explain it in ! j this way-—that I believe there is some | • lack of cellular development of the I ! brain. j "So far as I can possibly say,'' con- ! tinned the_ doctor, "J feel that the I state of bis mind was this: lie was I irritated and annoyed with the de-j ceased and he wanted to show him that j he was annoyed and in some way repay j —'get his own back,' to use his own j words —but I think lie had not the slightest desire even to injure him i seriously, let alone kill him." i Dr. II ugh Arrowsmith Grierson, j i senior medical officer at Brixton .Prison, j said: "1 do not think Clark is insane.' In my opinion, Clark is not suffering < from defective reason because of a j diseased mind." Counsel Addresses Jury Lieutenant R. L. Haines, of Wanga- | nui. said that the prisoner was No. 1 ; man in a machine-gun team. He was) very keen and quick to pick up any- ; thing that was told to him. Addressing the jury, counsel for the defence said: "It is admitted that Clark went to the public house; that he was thrown out, no doubt for his own benefit; that he went back to the camp under the influence of drink; that he woke people up, and finally stabbed this man with a knife." No sane and sensible man bent on murder would have wakened his own sergeant and his own brother, as Clark had done, to ask where Meikle was. "He may be No. 1 man of the team. That does not impress me. There is a man at the head of the German nation who would he better shut up." The Judge summed up on the second day. He drew the attention of the jury to the fact that Clark was No. I man in the gun team, saying that they might think that was a position which required intelligence. But, he said, there was no reason to disbelieve that he was suffering from lack of thyroid. It was for the jury to decide whether he was suffering from such defect of reason as not to be responsible for his act.