MURDER TRIAL

Southland Times, Issue 20487, 15 May 1928, Page 5

MURDER TRIAL

THE NEW LYNN CASE NORGROVE BEFORE THE COURT DEFENCE PLEADS INSANITY (Per United Press Association.) Auckland, May 14. At the Supreme Court Allan George Nor- ( grove, aged 27, was charged with wilfully j murdering his sister-in-law Ernestina May , Norgrove in her house at New Lynn on , March 7. The Court was crowded and ‘ many spectators were unable to obtain ad- , mittance. The women’s gallery was filled { by well-dressed occupants. Norgrove looked ( much better than at the Police Court hear- [ ing and seemed in excellent health. To the , charge of wilful rtiurder he made a low ( but' firm reply of “Not Guilty.” ( Mr Justice Macgregor is hearing the case, j while Mr Meredith is conducting the case , for.the Crown. Messrs Allan Moody and | Reed are defending. ( Mr Meredith's opening occupied about ( half an hour. , Accused stood erect, his features being , immobile, and it was not until a full hour ( had elapsed and Mavis Firth, a daughter of ; the dead woman, was giving evidence that j accused showed any sign of emotion when ] he passed one hand across his brow in a , gesture of weariness. One of the witnesses for the prosecution j was Mavis Firth, daughter of the dead ( woman. She gave her evidence in a voice j so low as to be only faintly audible, and i several times Mr Meredith had to ask her i to speak up. Questioned as to the events | leading up to the tragedy, she said that ( Norgrove asked her if there waygoing to i be a wedding party. “I replied yes,” said | witness, “and he asked if my mother was ■ going.” Mr Meredith: What did you say? i Witness: I said “Yes.” Mr Meredith: And what did he say? Witness: He said she was not going, i Witness said that when she first became i engaged to Firth, Norgrove expressed no < objection to Firth, but later he did so, and i just before Christmas he told Firth never to come inside the gate again. It was her i intention to live at home with her mother, after her marriage, but Norgrove told her he would not allow that. Witness had often heard quarrels between Norgrove and her 1 mother: On the afternoon of February 26, 1 Norgrove asked witness where she was going to live when married, and she replied that her mother said she could live at home. Norgrove said he would not allow it and her mother replied that she paid the rent. Norgrove said they would only come there over his dead body, and when her mother again said she would allow her ' (laughter and her husband to live in the house, Norgrove said, “I will run a knife through you.” Witness mentioned other occasions when there were quarrels and said that once Norgrove threw her mother down, breaking some of her teeth. Norgrove told witness to get out of the place and not come back again. She left and did not return till just after Christmas, when she remained till the day of her marriage. There were two gas irons and a flat iron in the home. Mr Moody produced a letter written by witness to her grandmother on December 15 in which witness said among other things that her mother had forbidden Firth to come to the house. Witness: It isn’t true. My mother never said anything. Mr Moody: But you wrote the letter. Witness: Yes, but mother never forbade him coming Io the house. Francis William George Postlewaight, a labourer, said that he remembered the boy David coming over to him one evening. Witness went across and saw the daughter Mavis hanging out of a window. On looking into one of the rooms, witness saw Mrs Norgrove getting up from the floor and accused who was in the same room trying to bash the door in. Witness went round to the side of the house where he met Norgrove who was chasing the boy David. Norgrove said to the boy, “I’ll kill you.” Witness asked Norgrove what the trouble was and tried to reason with him. Norgrove said, “I’ll fix her yet.” (When giving his evidence the witness became faint, but a glass of water revived him.) Mr Moody: You swear that you saw Norgrove trying to bash the door in? Witness: Yes. Mr Moody: You just had a fainting turn? Witness; Yes. Mr Moody: You were not given to fainting ? Witness: No. Mr. Moody: Now wasn’t it because you were wondering how you were going to get in that statement that you heard Norgrove say “I’ll fix her yet.” Witness: Yes. Mr. Meredith: D?d you tell the Police in your first statement to them that Norgrove said “I’ll fix her yet?” Witness: Yes. Constable James Victor Leslie said that on the afternoon of March 7, Norgrove called at the Ponsonby station and said: “Mr. Leslie, I want to give myself up. I have murdered a woman.” Asked who the woman was, Norgrove said, “Christina Norgrove, my sister-in-law.” At his request, Norgrove was allowed to have a wash and then witness took a statement on a typewriter. This was read by Norgrove who said it was true and signed it. Norgrove handed witness a key which he said belonged to Mrs Norgrove’s house. Witness then read the lengthy statement made and signed by accused in which he admitted striking Mrs Norgrove. Constable Newlands said that he heard accused say at the Ponsonby Police Station, “I have come to give myself up, I have killed Mrs Norgrove of New Lynn.” Constable Holt said that accused appeared to be in full possession of his faculties, perfectly sober and rational. “He was certainly agitated,’ said the officer, “but not more than one would expect a man to be who had done a thing like that.” Opening for the defence, Mr. Moody said that the defence would be one of insanity at the time of the offence. Evidence would be called to show that Norgrove had been abnormal ever since he was a child. David Norgrove, a brother of accused, was the first witness. “Accused was moody and depressed at times and absolutely melancholy,” said witness. He had always been like that. As a boy when he lost his temper he was very violent and years he had been very’ depressed and melancholy. Often he could not sleep at night and his light had to be left on. A pathetic figure in the witness box was Mrs Martha Norgrove, mother of the accused, who gave similar evidence, adding that a niece of accused was in a mental hospital. There was a dramatic incident where Mr. Meredith cross-examined Mrs .Norgrove. Accused half rose to his feet and said, “You leave my mother alone.” He was obviously distressed and sobbed bitterly ‘as his mother left the box and passed accused. The latter said, “Are you all right, mum?” and she replied “Yes.” At this stage His Honour briefly adjourned the court. On resuming, Doctor Beatty, formerly superintendent of the Auckland Mental Hospital, said that he examined accused some time after the crime. He visited the gaol five times. Witness had formed the opinion that at the time of the offence accused did not possess the power of forming his own rational judgment. His inability was due to a mental disease. He was satisfied that accused’s act was due to the disease which prevented him having sufficient control over himself.