TEARS IN JURY BOX

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 530, 6 December 1928, Page 13

TEARS IN JURY BOX

WIDOW’S TRAGIC STORY Scenes unprecedented in Glasgow were witnessed at the High Court, when Mrs. Christina Baillee was acquitted on a charge of culpable homicide in connection with the death of her husband. While Mrs. Baillee, who is 2S years of age, was telling her story in Court women jurors wept and other women broke down and sobbed. Her husband, she said, was a wild man when in drink. On June 30 he came home drunk and asked for a meal. She had nothing ready, and she needed every penny she had for food for the four children. Her husband snatched up an armchair, which struck the wall, breaking off an arm. He brandished the arm and she picked up a knife and struck him. He died on the way to hospital. Mrs. Baillee added that her husband was a dangerous man to live with. On several occasions she had thought he was going to kill her. When the forewoman of the jury announced the unanimous verdict of not guilty, there was a scene of wild enthusiasm both in the Court and outside, where over a thousand people had gathered. The crowd broke through the police cordon and surrounded the released woman until she was taken away by friends in a motor-car.