GUILTY OF ASSAULT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19483, 6 May 1933, Page 21

GUILTY OF ASSAULT

MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE FAILS. RELIEF WORKER’S TRIAL. By Telegraph—Press Association CHRISTCHURCH. May 5. In the Supreme Court, the trial was concluded of Clarence George Gibson, a relief worker on a charge of committing manslaughter by unlawfully killing George Johan Christopher Bank, another relief worker on the Summit Road on April 18th. There was a further charge of assault. Mr Justice MacGregor, 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 may have been a contributing factor, but the fundamental cause of the fall was the blow struck by the accused. Accused admitted that he was quick tempered, and that was the probable explanation that whole occurrence.

The jury found Gibson not guilty of manslaughter, but guilty, under provocation, of assault.