THE WAIKIVI TRAGEDY.

Evening Star, Issue 3048, 25 November 1872, Page 3

THE WAIKIVI TRAGEDY.

The trial of Caioline Witting for the murder of her three youngest children at Waikivi, on Oct. 19, took place at Invercargill before Mr Justice Chapman, on the f ns t The prisoner being undefended, the task of watching the case on her bchall: was assumed by bis Honor to Mr Justice « art.. The” witnesses examined for the prosecu ion were Anne Witting, r _ prisoners eldest daughter: Augusta Witting, another ' her daughters ; Albert VV ittuig, mi eldest son: -John Sinclair, the _ wood splitter who found the bodies ot the murdered children ; Sub-Inspector /ox ; and Samuel Morton, who found the prisoner after she sought refuge in the bush. Morton stated in his evidence that / she then looked wild, like a wild animal, with a glare m her eves Her superior faculties appeared to be suspended. She appeared as if she had lost herreason. She always broke the conversation and turned it to something else. She said she would get into trouble with her husband for staying away so long; that he would beat her. Thought she was mad, ami treated her somewhat like a lunatic, speakin" in a soothing manner. ~ • Idr Wade, in addressing the Court, said the actual defence-which was meant by not guilty— was not that the prisoner had not committed the act with which she was charged, but that at the time she was not in a state of mind to be hcid accountable for what she was aomg. ihe Sue was not whether the prisoner was insane at the present time, but whether the death of the children was the aet o the prisoner, and whether, if satisfied of that, the fury held that the prisoner, at the time of the act, was of sound mind, and i capon - sible for what she was doing. Four witnesses were called for the defence. Dr Grigor attended the prisoner at her con (inement tv, elve months before, when she was very much depressed, dull and desponding, but he suspected nothing wrong with her intellect. Mrs Harrop, matron at the Invercargill hospital, said when prisoner was there sho complained of her head, and general low spiritedness. bhe said more than once that “her head would bring her to something that she was not aware of A Mr Thomas Perkins said he and his tv lie often called on the prisoner at the time oi her confinement, that she evidently had areat trouble on her mind just then ami that he came to the conclusion that her mind was not properly balanced. In the hospital afterwards, he observed the same flightiness and inability to connect two Judge, in a most elaborate and lucid manner, summarised the evidence as to the facts of the occurrence, and also as to the defence, on the ground of the alleged insanity of the prisoner. The acts attributed to the prisoner he held had been conclusively proved. The law, he explained, required that to justify a verdict of aoqmtal on the ground of insanity, it should be shown to the satisfaction of the jury that the prisoner was at the time of the act, either m such a state of mind as to be incapable of understanding the nature of tho act itself or of knowing whether it was right or wrong. If the jury were satisfied that sufficient evidence had been adduced to prove that the prisoner’s state of mind at the time justified either of these suppositions, it was their duty to return a verdict of aoqmtal, on the ground of insanity. H not there was no middle course. '1 he crime attributed to the prisoner could not be designated as othei than wilful murder. The jury retired to consider their verdict. After the lapse of an hour and a half, the i ury returned to Court. Great interest was manifested in the result, and before, the Judge took bis seat on the bench, every available portion of the building was crowded; and perfect silence prevailed throughout the numerous audience when the loremau, after the usual formalities had been gone through, returned a verdict of “ Guilty. The prisoner (who appeared for the hrsu time to realise her position), exhibited mamfestations of great nervousness, and in reply to the usual question, said that she remembered going ont in the afternoon with the children, but that after that she remembered nothing morp. . , His Honor, who seemed much anccteu, then addrt ssed the prisoner, in scarcely articulate tones, as follows -.-Caroline W ittmg, the jury have found you guilty of the inmdei of your three youngest children. Concurring as 1 do in the verdict, I have to say that the f|iiestion was raised as to whethei you were in a sound state- of muul at the tunc vou committed the act. The jury have negatived that defence, and, I think, propelly. They could hardly have come to the conclusion that you were so deranged as not to know what you were doing ; or knowing it, not to know that it was wrong. L have to pass upon you the sentence of the law, which !s that you be taken to the place from whence VOU came, and thence to the place of execution, and there be hanged by the neck until you be dead, and that your body be buried within the precincts of the gaol. May tne Lord have mercy on your soul ! The prisoner was removed m a hysterical Miami ?•;-«-« of tlio 22ml luatant says a memorial of the inhabitants of Invercargill and the vicinity, for the commutation of the sentence of death passed upon Caroline Witting for the murder of her three children, is being prepared by Mr \\ ade.