PLEA OF INSANITY

Chronicle (Levin), 13 February 1947, Page 4

PLEA OF INSANITY

-Press Association

Doctors' Opiniorts Differ At Murder Trial

By Telegraph-

AUCKLAND, Feb. 12. Evidence of the • moody and morose nature of aecused was ealled for the det'enee today when the trial was resunied of R^ginald Alexander Drnaldson on a murder charge. Mrs. Ellen Just, sister o± aecused, said that when Donaldsoh Avas in the Air Fofee he whs obsessed with Rona, later Mrs. Peachey, and was most faetidious about his dress. Wheu aecused visited witness in July last she was shocked by his untidy appearahce, laeh of interest in himself and moody rnaiiner. He took no notiee of other girls. When witness asked him who Rona had married, he repliedl "Just some silly looldng b from Whangarei." To the Judge witness said her brother didn't appear able to take any interest in other girls after Rona had refused him. Robert E. Hare, farmer, Opotiki, said that when in the Air Eorce aecused 's usefulness was dependent on letters he got from Rona. Ap'art frrtm that he was generally quiet and moody. The iirst witness called by the defence to give medical evidence of aecused 's conditions, was Dr, Frederick Russell Chisholm, assistant physi.:ian Of the neurological unit at Auckland Hospital and fornxerly Director of \.edicai Serviees in the ' R.N.Z.A.F. Erom Ihe evidence of the erime and details which had been given of aecused 's hfe, ;e had formed the opinion aceuse 1 was incapable of coping with the ordinary problems of lifc without assistanee and guidance. He said he had seen aecusCd on three occasions in Mt. Edeii prison and had formed the opinion he was physieally normal, his condition being one of mind rather than of bod,y. His whole existence had apparently rjsvolved round his attachment to the girl Rona which he would call a morbid and abnormal pathological attachment-. Wit- • ness read from a report prepared by an Air Force medical offieer giving reasons why aecused was boarded out of the servie'es and stated that during an Interrogation with an Air Force psycholOgical officev, aecused wept when Rona was discussed. Mr. Trimmer: What value do you attaeh to the Air Force reports? Witness: They eonfirm ray opinion that aecused was constitutionally inadequate and incapable of carrying on an unassisted life. His mind which had previously been weak, beeame dLsordered when he was jilted. He ehanged from being tidy, cleau and self respecting to become untidy, dirty and dishevelled. Where he had had a certain atnount of interest in his work he lost it completely. He presented a picture of a depressed man withdrawing into his own misery. CI think that on the reading of the wedding in the clrurch magazine, something gave in aecused 's mind," witness continued. "I think the two names Rona and Peachey stood out in front of him and excluded all other thoughts. He went to read RonaJs letters, particularlv the part where she had told him she hoped to make things up with him. At this stage T believe silly and disordered thoughts were runniug through his mind and he came to the insane decision to kill Peachey-. Tt is not my opinion that he was thinking rationally at the time and it follows that he "was nnable to distinguish between right and wrong. From the moment he had read the churcli magazine l\e retained little or no degree of composure. IMr. Trimmer: Do you think he underwood what he was doing? Witness: I think he hiust liave. Mr. Trimmer: In your opinion has aecused at any time been e.ertifiable for admission to a mental hospital? Witness: I am not certain but he might have been while in his depressed state at horpe before the crime. Mr. Trimmer: Was he or was he not certifiable at the time of the crime? Witness; I think I would have to say that he was. To Mr. Meredith Dr. Chisholm admitted that in some cases murders were committed by persons who were insane with jealousy. Mr. Meredith: WTasn't aecused 's act of testing the pistol clear headed deliberation? Witness: I don't believe he was capable of clear headed deliberation. To a further question by Mr. Meredith witness said he considered aecused, in his queer disordered way, felt justified in shooting Peachey. Dr. Thomas Gordon Short, psychiatrist at Auckland Hospital, said he was satisfied at the time of the shooting aecused was definitely insane. From the evidence and an ex'amination of aecused, he would say the man had been abnormal sinee birth. He was a person of considerable nervous and mental instability and on matters concerning Rona was incapable of reasoning properly. Tt was .apparerct, said witness, that when aecused shot Peachey he' was in such a state emotionally he was incapable of weighing the moral cousequeuees and did not know the "orightness or wrongness" of what he had done. His thoughts had been in a turmoil and after the shooting he became frightened and threw the gun away. "Witness admitted to Mr. Meredith that aecused had used deliberation and cunning and the things he had done were acts of which he had been conscious. Asked about his examination of aecused Dr. Short said he was physieally sound but meutally depressed. He spoke with long pauses and had difhculty in even thiiiking. . A thifd medical witness for the defence was Dr. Joseph Cecil' Douglas Mackay, former medical superintendent of the Mental Hospitals Department. He also had examined aecused while in custody waiting trial. Aecused, he said, would, in his opinionj be cbuipletely in eapable of reasoning whether it was right or wrong to kill Peachey-. The effect of the br-eak with Rona had been that his poOr store of stability ulti-

mately rau out, leaving him with no power of restraint. Mr. Meredith: Are you going to say that this man did not know what he was doing when he killed Peachey? Witness: It depends whether or hot he did it automatieally. If it was hot automatic he knew v.uat he was doing and did it deliberately. His llonour: Do you think that at Ihe moment he pulled the trigger accriSed knew that what he was doing was Condemned and forbidden and punishhble by the law of this eountry? Witness: Yes. Dr. Mackay 's evidence eoncluded the evidence for the defence. Mr. Meredith then said tjie Crown proposed to call evidence in rebuttal. The medical offieer of the prison, Df*. C. - Tewesley; superinendent of the Avon.dale Alental Hospital, Dr. H. M~Buchanan; and his assistant, Dr. Palmer, would say that aecused not ohly knew the nature of his act but knew that it was wrong. Dr. Cyril Tewesley said from exam* inations he made of aecused in prison he found no 'evidence of any mental defeet. Mr. McCarthy: Are you a psvchiat;. rist: — ^No. Dr. Henrv Meredith Buchanan sai'u that irrom the evidence of his acti'ons he was of opinion that aecused kiiew what he was doing and knew that it was wrong. All his aetiohs had shbwn deliberation. • To. Mr. McCarthy witnbss said he Saw no indication of real mental sieknesS iu aecused. Mr. McCarthy: Would you say then .that this man is perfectly sane and normal? Witness: It depends what norma! is. It is liard to determine. At the conclusion of Dr. Buehanhn's evidence the hearing wa^ adjourned.-