NOT GUILTY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19985, 18 December 1934, Page 11

NOT GUILTY

TONY MANCINI ACQUITTED OF TRUNK MURDER

United Press Association— By Electric Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, December 4. Jack Notyre, alias Tony Mnncini, was acquitted by the jury on the charge of murdering the dancer, Violette Kaye, the victim of what has become known as the Brighton Trunk Crime. His immediate discharge ended the squalid panorama of the underworld. Mr Norman Birkett, K.C., defending counsel, contended that the absence of any suggestion of motive was a vital omission which destroyed the Crown case. Notyre, when the foreman of the jury spoke the words implying his freedom, seemed dazed and overcome and placed a hand to his head. His Honour, in summing up, had ordered accused’s acquittal if the jury were not satisfied that the blow on Miss Kaye’s bead caused her death. He emphasised the absence of bloodstained clothes which were identifiable as having been worn by Notyre when Miss Kaye died. He added that the jury must be satisfied that Notyre’s hand had struck the fatal blow, but he asked, was it the action of an innocent man to nail up in a cupboard the corpse of a woman whom he loved, though her body was not then cold, instead of summoning a doctor to try to resuscitate her. “You are discharged,” said Mr Justice Branson. Only then did Notyre seem to realise his situation. He lifted his head, gave a slight nod and left the dock. The Judge, In the presence of the huge crowd striving to set a glimpse of Notyre, drove off two minutes after the delivery of the verdict, amid the customary fanfare of trumpets.