BRIEF MURDER TRIAL
INSANE PERSON NOT GUILTY (By Telegraph.—Press Association) NELSON, Tuesday A murder trial was disposed of in under an hour and a half before Mr Justice Northcroft today. The jury, without retiring, returned a verdict of not guilty, the reason being that accused was insane. The charge of murder w-as made against a patient of the Ngawhatu Mental Hospital, who was alleged to have killed another patient by striking him on the head and arms with the spoke of a cart wheel. The evidence showed that accused became annoyed by the noise made by other patients on the morning of September 1. He entered the room of the deceased, by the window, inflicting injuries which resulted in death three days later. Evidence was given by the medical superintendent of the hospital and the assistant medical officer that accused was ir sane on September 1 and was still insane, being unlikely to recover.
Summing up, His Honour said the medical evidence was clear that accused did the act but did not know he was doing wrong. He ordered that accused be kept in custody at the pleasure of the Minister of Justice.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT19431124.2.53.3
Bibliographic details
Waikato Times, Volume 193, Issue 22203, 24 November 1943, Page 4
Word Count
193BRIEF MURDER TRIAL Waikato Times, Volume 193, Issue 22203, 24 November 1943, Page 4
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Waikato Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in