CRIMINAL APPEAL

Evening Star, Issue 23699, 5 October 1940, Page 8

CRIMINAL APPEAL

COCK ISLANDS MANSLAUGHTER CASE SENTENCE REDUCED TO FIVE YEARS [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, October 4. The Full Court delivered its reserved decision in the appeal of Tearaia Marsters from the sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment imposed for the manslaughter of his wife. The sentence was imposed by Chief Judge Ayson at Rarotonga on August 21, 193 D. The court to-day, after holding that it had jurisdiction to hear the appeal as a proper appellate tribunal for appeals from Cook Islands, referred to the fact that, following sentence, the Rarotonga case had been submitted by the Court of Appeal to the DirectorGeneral of Mental Hospitals in New Zealand for consideration and report. That report bad been received, and the court stated that it desired to express its indebtedness to the director-general. The report confirmed and amplified the medical testimony given at the trial that the prisoner was suffering from mental deterioration following on carbon monoxide poisoning.

In view of this report and the facts surrounding the commission of the crime, tho Court stated that, after giving the matter careful consideration, it considered tho sentence imposed excessive, and reduced it to five years’ imprisonment, the whole of which sentence will he served in New Zealand.