MURDER CHARGE

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11831, 22 August 1931, Page 2

MURDER CHARGE

The finding of the Grand Jury in respect" to the capital charge preferred against Walter Tinsley at Netv Plymouth is unique in tlie history of crime :n the Dominion. After a Magistrate has decided that there is a

prima facie case t. 6 answer, it as rare, indeed, that a Grand Jury takes tns responsibility of withdrawing a case from the common ji r v. In 1 lie present case, says the Woodville Examiner, it has done so, and has practically decided that there was insufficient evidence* upon which to pl.t the accused upon his trial. Tinsley has been restored to the. world and his triends as an innocent nan, apparently without a stain upon his character. But what tremendous mental suffering he and his family must have endured between the time o': his an est and his discharge from vhe Supreme Court! Apparently rhere is no redress against the police or anybody else for the making of hat appears to have been a tragic mistake. Surely, however, the person who -was charged with the most rrihie crime in the criminal code, i who was held in custody and suspense for months, has a right to expret s' me sort r,| c-■ mi pens* 1 Go’ from a c entry which prides itself upon an unsullied reputation for even-handed justice. The Taranaki Herald says: “The 'I ’’d ,ts precincts was crowded with Interested spectators, arid as he left the building Tinsley was the incipient of congratulations from "•us friends. ’ CASE AT DUNEDIN IN 1901. Electric Telegrapn—.Press Association mhu'iiliO, August sk) The returning of no bill in a murder charge by the grand jury at New Plymouth on Tuesday is not an unprecedented occurrence in the. judicial history of New Zealand When the subject was mentioned to Mr A C. Hr. nlor., K.C., he stated I Imt a case occurred at Dunedin ill 1901 in which two successive, grand mries threw cut a charge of murder against a, seaman After the first grand jury had returned no hill accused was arrested again and re-irt-diotrd. but the second grand jurv adopted a similar course, accused f' »*n being discharged.