GREY LYNN TRAGEDY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22100, 2 November 1933, Page 10

GREY LYNN TRAGEDY

TRIAL OF J. H. EDWARDS EVIDENCE OF INSANITY (Per United Press Association.) AUCKLAND, November 1. The trial was continued to-day of John Herbert Edwards, aged 41, on a charge of murdering Mrs-Christian Cunningham at Grey Lynn on August 16. The two daughters of the deceased Mrs Cunningham were recalled at the jury’s request. One said that the accused had fixed ideas, and sometimes seemed morbid. The other said she had noticed nothing unusual about his conversation, but his manner at times was unusual for a visitor. Medical evidence was then heard. Dr T. G. Short said he was convinced that the accused was insane, and probably had been insane for a long time. He would at times have a violent tendency to suicide or homicide. The accused said he did not remember his act, and, of course, witness could not say if that was true; but he did not think that the accused was malingering. Witness, cross-examined by the Crown Prosecutor, said he knew of several people in Auckland suffering from the same mental disease as the accused, but he was not proposing to certify any of them as insane. It might be necessary some day to do so. The Crown Prosecutor: Was the accused’s action in going to the bathroom and getting a razor to cut the woman’s throat not compatible with the know: ledge that blows on the head might not cause death?

Witness: Yes. The Crown Prosecutor commented on the fact that the accused wrote a note after attacking the woman, but there was no sign of blood on the writing pad, and that the weapon used (which-has never been found) must have been either washed by the accused or secreted. “Is that not compatible with the knowledge that he knew what he had done ? ” Witness: Yes; after the act, but not at the time.

Mr Hall Skelton (for the accused): What is the actual disease the accused is suffering from? Witness: I would say he is suffering from schizophrenia. Patients of this kind sometimes have episodes of blind impulsiveness resulting from mental disease during which they may be violently homicidal and suicidal. It is probable at these times they do not fully realise what they are doing and have no sense of right or wrong. Mr Meredith (for the Crown); How many cases of this type have you seen?— I have seen hundreds of them. There are many men walking about Auckland to-day with this disease. His Honor: Would you certify them or any one of them as being insane? — No, your Honor, The persons lam referring to are not so bad that they are incapable of managing their own affairs. „

His Honor: They must be a menace walking about the streets. —Well, probably so, but there is no dividing line between sanity and insanity, and in some cases you have to give a man the benefit of the doubt. If the apathy or irascibility is of ■ sufficient intensity you may call it insanity. There are people who are schizophrenics who are leading more or less normal lives to-day, but who may some day have to be certified.

His Honor: In your opinion did the accused at the time he was committing this act understand its nature and quality?—ln my opinion he did not. And that was because at that time he was suffering from disease of the mind? -Yes. -

Dr W. H. Horton said he had examined the accused in prison. “As a result of my own observations and the conclusions I have drawn from the evidence,” he said, “ I consider the accused is, and has been for a number of years, certifiably insane. It is probable that the accused has been subject to periodic attacks of mental excitement and exaltation with periodic states of mental depression lasting for variable periods of time and with lucid intervals during which he was apparently reasonably sane. It is my opinion that this man has suffered from manic-depressive psychosis, which is a disease of the mind characterised by outbursts of mania and melancholia with intervals of more or less sanity. This concluded the case for the defence.

Called by the Crown to give evidence in rebuttal, Dr H. M. Buchanan, superintendent of the Avondale Mental Hospital, said he had examined the accused .on eight different occasions. “ I am of the opinion,” he said, “ that the accused did know the nature and quality of his act and that he knew he was doing wrong. He is distinctly of a neurasthenic type. He enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in 1917, but was classified as unfit for active service, and did not go to the front. He was then suffering from stammering and increased action of the heart, which is too rapid in its beating, a very alarming symptom to people suffering from it. In some cases they even think they are going to die. In my opinion he is not of a schizophrenic type, because 1 have never seen any signs of apathy or indifference nor when I questioned him was I able to elicit any hallucinations or delusions. He always had a sense of his own personality.” His Honor: What are the symptoms of a person suffering from this disease with the unpronounceable name? Witness: They go into a dream state and live in a world of fantasy so that to all intents and purposes they are very impracticable. In advanced cases they will laugh when they are very sad and cry when they are very happy. Witness did not agree that the accused suffered from manic depressive psychosis. He had a degree of emotional instability and alternating states of apathy and ex üborance, but those were properties pertaining to many otherwise sane people. Judging from the evidence the accused showed no signs of abnormality on the morning of the crime and afterwards he had a full realisation of what he had done. That was indicated by the fact that he attempted to take his own life. The hearing was adjourned.