END OF TRIAL

Southland Times, Issue 22008, 6 May 1933, Page 10

END OF TRIAL

MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE GIBSON FOUND NOT GUILTY RELIEF WORKER’S DEATH (Per United Press Association.) Christchurch, May 5. At the Supreme Court the trial concluded of Clarence George Gibson, a relief worker, who was charged with committing manslaughter by unlawfully killing George Johan Christopher Bank, another relief worker, on Summit road on April 18. There was a further charge of assault. The evidence was on the lines of that in the lower Court. Mr Justice MacGregor, in summing up, said the jury should consider the assault charge first. He thought the jury would find that the accused when called a name he resented lost his temper and struck a blow. It was not ,a case for severe punishment, but it was a case where justice must be done between the parties. It was then necessary to consider whether the assault was the cause of Bank’s death. There was no doubt the blow was the cause of Bank falling over a wall. The loose nature of the brink might be a contributing factor, but the fundamental cause of the fall was the blow struck by accused. Accused admitted he was quick-tempered. That was the probable explanation of the whole occurrence. The jury found Gibson not guilty of manslaughter, but guilty under provocation on the charge of assault.