Guilty of Assault

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21173, 24 July 1940, Page 10

Guilty of Assault

MAORI LABOURER HINDU’S DEATH NEAR HUNTLY FINDING OF JURY (By Telegraph.—Special to Times) AUCKLAND, Tuesday After a retirement of four hours, the jury in the Supreme Court found j John Kite, a Maori labourer, aged | 23, guilty of assaulting Rama Khushal, an Indian, who died at Huntly on May 18, and causing him actual bodily harm. Mr Justice Cal lan presided. The alternative count against accused was one of manslaughter. Mr G. S. R. Meredith appeared for the Crown and Mr Hall Skelton for accused. No evidence was called by the defence, but Mr Hall Skelton submitted a motion for the withdrawal of the manslaughter charge, leaving only the alternative charge against accused that he assaulted Khushal and caused actual bodily harm. There was nothing to prove, he said, that accused, either directly or indirectly, | was responsible for the Indian’s death on the night of May 18. Question of Cause of Death Several grounds were advanced by counsel for the withdrawal of the manslaughter charge. There was no evidence, he said, that Khushal was killed. Dr. W. Gilmour, pathologist at the Auckland Hospital, had said the Indian died of drowning. How that came about was a matter of guesswork. There was no proof that accused threw Khushal into the swamp, or that Khushal stumbled into the swamp while trying to escape from the Maori, or was so dazed from the assault that he fell over the bank into the swamp. There was no proof that a wrongful act of the accused, who in his statement said only that he had punched the Indian, was the cause of death. “The Crown has not established that the deceased did not die by misadventure unconnected with the assault,” counsel continued. “One hypothesis, not unlikely, is that some third party might have thrown the Indian into the swamp. There is a hiatus between the time of the punch in the jaw from Kite, and the time when the Indian met his death from drowning in the swamp at some time between 11 o’clock at night and three o’clock in the morning. There is no evidence that he was killed. There is evidence only that he was drowned.” Counsel Accept Verdict When the jury returned, the foreman said they were agreed upon the assault charge, but on the manj slaughter count they had nothing ! before them to show how the Indian’s body reached the water, and they wished the Judge to advise them upon the proper course to take. His Honour said it was not for him to make any suggestion, but he could ask counsel whether they wished to take any course of action. Both counsel said they accepted the jury’s verdict, and the accused was then remanded for sentence on Monday morning.