Insanity Verdict

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 23, 20 October 1937, Page 7

Insanity Verdict

— Preai AssociationJ

1 1 1 . i 11 ' ■ CHARGE OF MURDER Jury Out Onily Quarter of an Hour MAN WHO SHOT HIS WIFE

(Bj Talegraph

DUNEDIN, Last Nigbt, A verdict of not guilty pn aceount of insanity was returned by the jury today in the trial befora Lthe Supreme Court of Arthur Kichardppn, labourer, of Berwick, for wife murder, Mr. Justice Kennedy presided, Mr. E. B. Adams conducted the case for the Orown and Mr. 0. G. Stevens appeared for thp defence. .The jury retired late in the afternoon and returned with its verdict after barely 15 minutes. The prisoner was ordeied to be detained in strict custody until the pleasure ef the Minister of Justice was nxade known. Giving evidence for tho defence, Dr. Maleolm Brown, acting-superintendent of the Seacliff e mental hospital, said he had had 16 years of experience in mental cases. Two months" after accused'a cpmmittal, he came under witness' control. He was convalescent and under full parole and was wellspoken and conducted. Witness saw Bichardson on August 9 last. He was I still a sick man and no sign of gross ! mental disorder could be seen. With ' knowledge he had of his mental history i he would say it was probable that I accused would be committable if he drank heavily. He had examined him twice weekly sinee. His condition was one of mental enfeeblement following abuse of alcohol over a long period of years. Bichardson had amnesia for crime, in other words loss of memory for that period. It was not a sharpcut loss of memory and it appeared to Jiave cqme on moro or less gradually sinco the afternoon of July 17. Where it ended was very difficuit to say because his mental condition wa# complicated by the fact that after the crime he was suffering from a severe gunshot wopnd. Witness was satisfied that the anmesia was genuine and gave as his opinion that at the time of the erime he was in a condition of disordered consciousness of such a naturo that he would not know the quality of his act. Mr. Adams: Do you consider at the tirae that he knew what he was doing? He would know the physical quality of bia actiqn— that he was putting the gun together and putting cartridges in • it. And he would know what he was doing when he took the kitbag and got his gun? Yes, He would know in a dreamy sort of way. He would not have that knowledge of the act that an ordinary p^rpon would have. After putting the gun together, would he know in the same way that he was taking a cartridge from his pocket and putting it in the gun? He might. In his summing up, his Honour said that the burden of proof of the crime was on the Crown, but that .that was on the assumption that accused was sane at the titne of the alleged pffence. The burden of proving insanity in the legal pense, jf that were the defence, rested ppon the defence. He reviewed the evidence, saying that it had been shown. that accused did kill his wife, but it rerqained to be decided whether or not he did rnean to kill her. The defence was that at that time he was legally insane and the question to be decided by the jury, if it did agree that the crime itself was committed by accused beyond all doubt, was not whether accused was sane or insane in .the medical sense at that time, liot whether he was certifiable or upcertifiable, but whether he was sane or insane in the legal sense. His Honour quoted the law and pointed out that in this case there was no question of natural imbecility. He touched upon. the incidents in accqspd's previous Ufflj which had been produced in evidence, and upon the opinions of medical experts and advised the jury that it had three findings open to it; Gujlty, not guilty, or not guilty pn account of insanity. After a retirement of bayfely 15 ^ minutes the jury returned with a verdict of not guilty on account of insanity. It had found that accused was insane at the time of .the tragedy and declared that it acquitted him on the grounds of insanity. His Honour ordered that the prisoner should be kept in stfict custody at Paparoa prison until the pleasure of the Minister of Justice waB mado known.