WOMEN AT THE BAR.

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17586, 27 March 1929, Page 7

WOMEN AT THE BAR.

"LEAD" IN MURDER TRIAL. ABLE SPEECH FOR DEFENCE. JUDGE'S HIGH COMPLIMENT. The first murder trial in which a woman barrister appeared as leading counsel ended at the Old Bailey on January 16, when William John Holmyard, aged 24, a musician, was sentenced to death for the murder of his grandfather, William Holmyard, aged 72. a commission agent. The defence was that accused's grandfather threatened, to strike him with a chair, and that in self-defence he struck him with a pair of tongs. Miss Venetia Stephenson, who led for the defence, in her address to the jury said: "I am fighting for this young man's'life, and if words fail me it is because I appreciate the responsibility that rests on me in defending Kim on this serious charge." "Are not the .salient features in a murder charge absent here?" Miss Stephenson asked. "What is the motive for murdering his grandfather? What is the evidence of .intent to murder?" The statement of the accused man, on which the prosecution relied, Miss Stephenson said, was made at 11 o'clock at night, when the man had had no food since half-past one, and when he did not know the serious condition of his grandfather. She suggested that it was not a free statement, although she accepted it as far as it went. Miss Stephenson held the court with her description of the .{struggle between the two men, raising her hands, over her head to illustrate the okl man's attack with the chair. She asked the jury what they would have done in such a position. The young man, she -suggested, ,ducked to avoid the blow, and she drew back her head to emphasise her words. "Ho picked up the first thing to his hand, which happened to be the tongs," counsel said. "What else could he have done? Youth has as much right to protect itself as old age-. Would you have said, 'The man is mv grandfather. I must let him hit me?' No. The strongest instinct in man is self-pro-on.*H "I know," Miss Stephenson ■• concluded, "that you will not let sympathy for the dead over-ride justice fior the living. This is the most solemn moment in my life, and I leave this young man's life in youn" hands with a prayer that God may lead you to a right conclusion." Mr. Justice Humphreys prefaced his summing up with a tribute to the "learned counsel for the defence." "This case," he said, "has been defended with conspicuous ability!. I am sure you will agree that a serious responsibility lies on her shoulders, hilt at least she may feel she has discharged her duty to her client in a manner that reflects the highest possible credit on her carefulness and her ability. "It is a satisfaction to know that everything possible that could be said for this young man or. done for him by advocacy, has been said and clone." It was difficult, the Judge added, to take very seriously the suggestion that the assault which. caused death was committed in self-defence. The jury, on which there were three women, found Holmyard giiilty of murder. Holmvard, who shiook his head when asked if he had anything to say. seemed dazed when he heard the verdict.