INQUEST.

Otago Witness, Issue 3197, 23 June 1915, Page 55

INQUEST.

FATAL RESULT OF DEPRESSION. Mr FI. Y. Widdowson, S.M., concluded at Port Chalmers on Friday the inquest into the circumstances of the death of John Robert Hawkins, who was found shot dead in his room last Saturday night. Dr Borrie spoke very highly of the deceased, and said he had attended him medically. He was quite robust. He came back from Trcntham early in March. He told witness he had fallen from the limber of a gun and bruised the lower part of his back. ° File left log was also affected, but it recovered under treatment. His one desire was to get back to 'Trcntham. Week after week he would come and ask if he was fit; but witness had to put him off, knowing he was unfit. At last witness referred him to the Defence Department to bo examined. They told him that anyone sent back medically unfit was unlikely to be accepted again. He fretted because ho could not get back again, and was depressed, although he tried to hide it, and made out that he was perfectly well. If he had been in a normal state of mind he would have realised he was unfit to return. Jane Hawkins, the mother of the deceased, said she had not noticed any fits of depression in her son. Fie used to s;t with his head on his hands, as if thinking. She had not noticed anything peculiar about her son last Saturday, and had never had any ‘•indication of what was going to happen. Mr Widdowson said that the evidence was quite sufficient to show that this young fellow was unfortunaelv in a depressed state of mind. Flo was a fine, robust young man, and had boon accepted for military service. Unfortunately, ho had mot with an accident. and had had to bo sent back. He seemed from the evidence to have been fretting, and ho did not realise that he was unfit to return to military service. The doctor said that ho was depressed, and the whole of the circumstances showed that. It was a particularly sad and unfortunate case. The verdict stated that the cause of death was injuries to the head from a rifle fired by the deceased, who was at the time in a depvess’ed state of mind.