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Timaru Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 3625, 21 August 1901, Page 2

The trial in Wellington of the man Robert Douglas, who was charged with the.murder of Mrs Pain at Mikimiki several-years ago, resulted in a; verdict ' of acquittal. The case" is remarkable for several reasons, ■ but principally because the prosecution had been initiated in consequence of the prisoner having made a full circumstantial confession of the crime to - the gaoler at Lyttelton, where the prisoner was undergoing a lengthy sentence of hard labour for another offence of a very atrocious character. It does not appear that at the time when Mrs Pain was murdered, prisoner was suspected of being the perpetrator of the crime. They were out together on the farril', and' the ' prisoner returned without the woman, b.ut gave a reasonable account of where and . how they had parted company. He was. one of those who searched for her when her continued absence had begun to excite alarm. Subsequently her body was found in a creek, and it was supposed that she had had a fit, and had rolled down the bank and fallen in and been suffocated.' With one small exception, a slight bruise on the head, which according to the medical evidence did not account for death, there were no marks of violence on the body. The verdict of the Coroner's jurydid not point to the crime of murder. Why tl|en should Robert Douglas, several years after Mrs Pain's death, have denounced himself as her murderer? Why, that is to say, unless he was guilty, and either could not stand the reproaches of his conscience, or found his almost hopeless life in Lyttelton gaol unbearable. It was not shown that he was subject to delusions or was insane in any other way. The defence-raised by counsel for the prisoner was: thatthe confession was the hysterical accusation of one in whom hope was dead, and who desired any change, •iSven- though it might-be from a prison to a lunatic asylum." .There were several small circumstances given .-in evidence at. the. trial -which .might- .tetid t« aaise'a suspicion that- prisoner knew more about the death of Mrs Pain . than ..was ..disclosed at the inquest: Judging by the Vbrief reference which the Press Association made to; the summing up. by the Chief Justice, His Honour's opinion was not favourable \ to the prisoner, yet it cannot be described as unduly unfavourable; and it must never be lost sight of that there was the straightforward confession of the prisoner, which contained not a single point which was inconsistent .with the known facts. However, the jury thought that it would be unsafe to convict ; and the case remains shrouded in mystery. It should be added that the records of courts of criminal jurisdiction in various countries furnish not a few instances in which apparently sane prisoners have declared themselves guilty of crimes, which it has been conclusively proved that they could not have com- ' mitted. Sometimes a motive for such false confession has been proved, and sometimes it has apparently been made without any motive whatever. No doubt the case against Douglas depended almost entirely on his, confession, and British courts of- justice regard 'it as thoroughly ;unsafe to conyict.on a.confession standing- alone, ,