DEATH OF RELIEF WORKER

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 236, 6 May 1933, Page 6

DEATH OF RELIEF WORKER

Manslaughter Charge ._ GUILTY oFaSSAULT Press Association— Copyright Christchurch, May 4. In the Supreme Court the trial was concluded ~of Clarence George Gibson, relief worker, on a charge of committing manslaughter by unlawfully killing, George Johan Christopher Bank, another relief worker, on Summit Road on April 18. Gibson was found not guilty of manslaughter but was guilty on a further charge of assault under provocation. Evidence on the lines of that in the lower court was given. Mr. Justice McGregor in summing up said that the jury should consider the assault charge first. He thought that the jury would find that Gibson when. called a name he resented lost his temper and struck the blow. It was not a case for severe punishment, but it was a case where justice must be done be-. tween the parties. . It was then necessary to consider whether the assault was the cause of Bank's death. There was no doubt that the blow was the cause of Bank falling over the wall. The loose nature of the brink may have been a contributing factor, but the fundamental cause of the fall was the blow struck by Gibson. Gibson admitted he was quick-tempered and that was the probable explanation of the whole occurrence.