IMPRISONMENT FOR LIFE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 107, 11 June 1914, Page 8

IMPRISONMENT FOR LIFE.

THE GERALDINE TRAGEDY.

VERDICT OF MANSLAUGHTER.. Press Association. TIMAEU, June ; 10. The Supreme Court was occupied all' day hearing the charges against Harry Cripps of having murdered an old man named Adam Stevenson at Geraldine. The evidence for the prosecution was the same as that given at the inquest. The defence was that the blows were struck under provocation, and also that Cripps was an imbecile. Accused swore that Stevenson struck him first. Four doctors were called. Two said they considered that Cripps was an imbecile, and two described him as a degenerate, but a man who knew right from wrong. Other witnesses stated that Cripps was stupid as a boy and a youth, and that Stevenson was a cantankerous man, and difficult to get on with. After two and a-quarter hours' retirement, the jury found Cripps guilty of manslaughter.

Mr Justice Sim said a man lika Cripps should not be allowed at large again. He sentenced him to imprisonment for life, with hard labour.