MAORI ON MURDER CHARGE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 97, 11 May 1937, Page 7

MAORI ON MURDER CHARGE

-PreM Agsociatlon-}

Question of Sanity Is Raised DEATH OF FATHER

By Telegraph-

/ . AUCKLAND, Last Night. . i V&i©e Johnny Toka, a !Maori laboufftr, *aged 24, charged with ihe muxder of his fatlier at Patumahoe on February 22, pleaded not gUilty when charged 6t tbe Supreme Cdurt. A few aeconds afterwards Toka repehted: "I plead not guilty." % The chatge |g thfe eutCCfiid ' ©f the ihootihg of an iidiflf M&ofi, Toka Whakaia, afs he sat ifoahd his fit&eide With his family. The ihOt was fired through a ifi&lthoid wsal t>i his whare. "The facts are simple and I do not anticipate any dispute about them. The real aaatter you will have to considfer, gubjeet to correction from the leafned judge, S» the rftsponsibility of accUsed for his ictioas, taking into considera- *' - tioa hii i&etital stabillty," said Mr Metedith, Crown Prosecutor. AftCUsed h&& bgCft an iniflate of, the TekMLoi Mental Hospital from May, IQSBj tO February, 1936, ahd had thiis b~S6a fSleSSed for praetiCally a year. After his diseharge Toka had lived With his parents and other members of the faiqily at Batttffi&h6e. There had been ' k ttiw qbarrels among them. AccUsed had qnarrelled with his f ather when the lattef eomplaifiOd Of his disihfilmati&n tb Wofk. On the flay of the tfagedy there had been a dispute about accused 's desire to go to the Pukekohe Showv Aceused had been advised tO go to the hospitai for the eomplaiut he was ■Utfiring from and apparently did notwant to go. He Was apparently harboufiflg s&m© tegentmeftt about the&e tWo tbings. Mr Meredith then explained how the oid man, when sitting ifOUUd ihe firfc at night, waS shot througk the wall and how accused immediately aftefWafdS caffl© into the Whare with a gun in his hand. His moth&f took ifc from him. Then Toka attaeked his feiStCr and fetrUCk her With a keltie. She I&y ofi the fibOt feigfiing death. Accused then took the keltie and strnCk his father, who was lying On the floor. AcSUsed afterwards rode over to sdtae nsighboUfing Maoris and tdld thein. he had killed his father and his sister. He asked these Maoris to gO ovfer to the whare With hiih. On the way biek accused was overtaken by the poiice and to them he admitted he had shot his father. Accused had been examined by Ulie&isfs After the shootiUg and on various oceasions sincfe. The dpiaieu they Would express in . evidence wouhi he to the effeet that * though accused knew he was shooting, > his mental cofiditkm mad© him incapable of appreciating that what he Was ,r -doing Wlt wrdUg. After fevefal witUeisSs had beeh heard thi heitring wfts AdjdUrned.