TAIHAPE TRAGEDY

Southland Times, Issue 19172, 16 February 1924, Page 5

TAIHAPE TRAGEDY

VERDICT OF MANSLAUGHTER END OF MOGHAN’S TRIAL SENTENCE DEFERRED PENDING INQUIRIES. \ (Per United Press Association.) WANGANUI, February 15. The case in which Anthony Moghan was charged with the murder of Gordon Gemmell, near Taihape, on January 2 was concluded at the Supreme Court to-day, when the jury, after a twenty minutes’ retirement, returned a verdict of manslaughter. At Mr Wilford’s request sentence was deferred to Wellington on March 11. Continuation of the evidence for the prosecution occupied the whole of the morning. It was practically a repetition of that given in the Lower Court. Dr McDirmid, of Taihape, was sure Gemmell’s injuries could not have been caused by fists alone, though it was possible the cuts on the head w4re due to falling against a door or a shovel. Professor Hurley, Government bacteriologist, could not say there was blood on the clothing or boots submitted to him for examination. Cecil Nicholls, mail contractor; Sergeant Matthews, of Taihape, and Constable Geraghty related the occasions on which Moghan admitted having killed Gemmell in self-defence. No evidence was called for the defence. Mr Wilford, in the course of a seventy minutes’ address to the jury, contended that there was no evidence as to how Gemmell met his death. There was only the statements by a man who had been in such a state of intoxication that they could not be expected to give any coherent evidence. Even if Moghan had killed Gemmell during a quarrel and fight he was so under the influence of liquor as not to be aware of what he had done till the shock of finding the dead body restored him to sanity. When he said: “Take me, I killed him”—the expression heard by Banks—it showed that Moghan did not intend to kill Gemmell. Moghan did not know Gemmell was dead, though death had at that time occurred. Had Moghan desired to murder Gemmell there were in the room a loaded and unloaded gun, two shovels and two bars. His Honour, in summing up, said there was no doubt that bad blood existed between Gemmell and Moghan. There was no evidence or suggestion of trouble between Gemmell and the others in the house. There had occurred repeated assertions that he had killed Gemmell, although that did not necessarily mean that he had murdered him. There was no doubt the evidence of Riley and “Maori Jack” was unreliable to some extent on account of their drunken state. There appeared to be no doubt that the man whom Moghan picked up and asked to shake hands and be friends was Gemmell. The only question to cause the jury any difficulty was whether Moghan was guilty of murder or manslaughter. In asking the Judge to postpone sentence, Mr Wilford said he wished to make inquiries regarding Moghan’s committal to an asylum years ago. The Crown Prosecutor stated that records showed that Moghan had been in the asylum twice suffering from delirium tremens. Officially, he was stated as “a religious maniac caused by drink.”