CANADIAN OFFICER ON TRIAL

Horowhenua Chronicle, 1 May 1916, Page 3

CANADIAN OFFICER ON TRIAL

. —♦ s THE DEATH bi'INIENCE. (I 1 rom the Loiul .ii '1 lines Cones- J pondent.) Winchester, Jb'eb. 5. ' At tlie Winchester Assizes to-day Liontenant Georges Codere, a -French Canadian, assistant adjutant of 'he '■ 41st Canadian Regiment was round 1 Guilty, u,f the minder ot Sorgant Henry Marquis Ozannc, of the 9th -Canadian Mounted It if let;, at Greyshott, on December 8. "All I have to say is that I am not the man who ' done" declared Corderc in reply to the usual question after the verdict. "Georgos Codore," said Mr Justice Dm ling, in passing sentence of death, "You havo said you are not tho mail, Tlie only ground upon which you could have heeu defended was that which the .jury have cousiderodi and rejected, it was that yon were not sano when you killed Ozannc." The evidence for the prosecution w.u such tliiat it e tildhardly be disputed tliaf •Ozannc was killed by Cod;"'o, and; the defence concentrated upon tho plea of unsound mind. M. fCmilo ,

IJioux, of Sherbrook. Quebec, a. King'-* Counsel and Lieuteiian t-Colonel of Militia. who had come from Canada to give evidence, said ho had known Codore since he was a child and had never found him to he in full possession of his sense. Before the war considering (him to be incompetent mentally. he hod determined to ask him to resign his commission, but on .isconnt of his familv had not asked him to do so.' Ho hadi refused to recommend Oodere for a. commission in the Canadian Contingent and had been very much surprised when he got ono. The sister ef Cod ore's father, who diie'l fifteen years ago, was an idiot, ind he had heard that several ot the relatives of Codere's mother were insane, though ho hnd no personal knowledge of them. The reason why none of Codere's relatives had com© from Canada to give evidence was that they had been informed that their evidence could he taken on commission. They had heard in time to cotno to this country that that course could not be taken, hut hadl stfl' hoped it Would be found possible. Ho Ind boon told that Codere had been sent away from an agricultural college when ho was 15 or 17? years of aw. because he was non compos mentis. He noverfchought Codere was dangerous, reKard'ug: bin merely as a harmless. weak-mind"d v.iung man'. THK EXPER T KVIDEiNCE.

~Pr \V. IT. Stoddnnt. Lecturer on Mental Diseases at St. Thomas's flnipital, g.ive it as his opinion that C'.idere was of u.n.soun 1 mind. He wtboastful of hie brilliant intellect and had expressed surprise that" the officers of his regiment had given evidence ol' his incapacity for be claimed; to be the most capable organizer in the regiment. He suffered from deli isininfc, and "seemed to think he was under hypnotic influence when he committed the act, though lie did not agree that had committed it." He ' had spoken of ft civilian who came to the camp and offered to give him 'essons in hypnotism, but "he did not know what the civilian had done to him though he left thnt something had been done. Since the opening of the case lie had developed ideas ot conspiracy and persecution on the par l ; of his brother officers, even insinuatiag they were after "graft." Br Maurice Craig, Lecturer oil Mental Diseases at Guy's Hospital, was called by the prosecution to give rebutting evidence. He said he formed the opinion that while, like persons charged with crime of this kind. Codere could not be classed as an absolutely normal person ne was in possession of absolute control himself, came within the normal limits o understanding, and fcnew the difference between right and wrong. He would not be prepared to cert'fy that Codere was insane. Mr Foote, addressing the jury, urged that the mere circumstances of ihe case provedt that Codere was insane. The openness with which he had talked of what he intended to do, and afterwards of what he had done, showed that he did not realize the serious nature of the act. Mr Clavell Salter, K. C,, for ihc prosecution, reminded the jury that there was no absence of motive. '"Jorlere was in financial difficulties. He had evidently wanted £150 urgently for some purpose they had been ur able to discover. The fact thnt CJn dlere went to some pains to manufacture evidence which, if the body was discovered, would cnat suspicion upon Keller, the servant, indicated that, r.e wan aware ol the gravity of the crime he had committed. Mr Justice Darling, in summing up, paid tJiat tlie only question rcallv -before the jury was whether Codere was i when he committed the crime,, and ho advised them to ngte the words —words they might wish to reme.nlier—in which their verdict must, bp returned if they found that the prisoner was insane. After an absence of twenty miivnes the jury returned and; the forem.in pronounced their verdict "'Guilty." "Simply?" inquired the Judr»e. ''Guilty, my lord," repeated the fore man.