THE MOUAT CASE.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 May 1925, Page 3

THE MOUAT CASE.

THE JURY” DISAGREED

[by TELEGRAPH—PER PRESS ASSOCIATION

CM It ISTCII I’KCIT, .May ].;. -Mr (. ,S. Thomas, addressing the jury, at the outset .said lie wish to thank the Crown Erosecutor for the Wat in which he had eonduited the

brown’s (use. and lor his utmost fairness. He had helped in many ways, and had been frank and candid. Jn all things, din-et evidence was stronger than circumstantial evidence. Air T lionuis went on to say the Crow n had no direct evidence in the present ease. There were two avenues ol mistake in

circumstantial’ evidence that a witness was mistaken in what he thought he -aw. and that he drew a wrong deduction Irom what he saw. There was no evidence that Airs .Mount was dead, and no dire: t evidence that she was

murdered. \ chain of circumstantial evidence had been forged around .Mount. A chain wa- as strong as it- weakest link, and no stronger. The banes, obviously, were human hones, hut they took the i use not one inch further. It (Ould not he said. that, became they were found on the section, that there had been murder. The place where they were found was a rubbish dump. The age of the holies could not he slated by the experts. Further than that they Wen not fossil. Maori fumes. I’apohi was close to the seen,-. At Kaipi. there had been another large Maori pa. The hones might have been left hy Maoris, who. in the late sixties nr seventies, trekked between the two | as. and li.shed fur cols in the Ibatheot.e River, which ran nen .Mount’s section. The half skull was lotiud in a rubbish diiui'i on a section in the district. Could it lie said that Cue hones in the Court, like the skull, had belonged to a medical student? Ole* witness had said the section was full of bones. ANOTHER CASK CITED. Counsel piloted a ease in which a

woman's hones were found. A man wCs tried for murder, he said, hut further digging revealed a man's skeleton close to tin* woman's and the man was acquitted. The onus was on the Crown to prove that the hones in Court were .Mrs .Mount's, and it had not done so. Mr Thomas continued that the Crown Erosecutor had suggested that", if Alt's Alouat wa- alive, she w'ould have come hack f'i protect .Mount in his terrible position, hut what if she had gone away with another iuc.ii ? Everv statement made hv Alouat tallied. line and

cry was not raised until loui'toen days after her disappearniue. If she went ill' in that wav, she probably was not

in this isiintry. and wa- not in tench with what wa- happening here. The Crown Ero-c liter had said that h<T 1; la-La nd. sl.nvo .anybody else, should know where she was; hut if she had cleared out in that way. her husband would he the la.-t reason to know where die had gone. All's Eros.ser had said [bat Alls Alouat had suffered from a

'ecurrenee of fever in South Africa, am 'as deore-s'-d and melancholy how

could it I," said that sh" did not commit siiieid" ? She was in that stun of mind in which she might have got off a tram on Friday morning, and goim a To-- to Snnait-i, To the bloodstains, the whole of the evidence as far as the blood was concerned. was consistent with a cut or bleeding Lose, hut it was absolutely in-consi-teni with the (titling up of a hm.lv. Hlo.od that ’.void.l explain r. murder -mb as was alleged was absent. The linoleum had been ,■ on tor examination. and there v a-, no Ira o et blood on it. line of the si roneest pieces of et idenec of Monet’- innoeeie-e vs.- that .Mrs Mount had a se-end -el of lak e tooth. which could not he found. It was not likelv that a guiliv man would go t> a pawnbroker with ids dead wife’s trinket.' and say "My name is Alouat.” The jury must he snC-ikd that there was sufficient lire on .Monel’- premises la burn tie’ holy in tic 1 short time available. It wa- difficult lo hum a human body with a large proportion of blood and water in it. Could they believe that a small, smouldering rubbish lire would destroy a body in a few hours? Could .Mount have walked out of the house with pieces of hi- v under his arm, and have | herd them on that small lire’s Where were the animal fat. and tic animal pieces. They were not present, because the fire in the grate.- did not burn Mr-- Alouat. No body could have lit on burnt cither inside or outside. AIOFAT AND Till'. I’DLH'E. Air Thomas (onlinuod that when the jurv considered .Mount s movements after Mrs .Mount's disappearance, they should remember that sin l had left him on a previous occasion. He gave his cxlanatiun to the polio', and lor live or six hours lie was kept at the police station, and was examined. Me probably was told that his story was not believed.

His Honour said there was nothing in the evidence in support ol that

Air Thomas said that on that night Aloiiai nuisl have realised that, a net was being woven around him. on ae--11111111 of his wife’s disappearance, he would realise then that lie was suspected of murder. He did what, any innocent man would do in a panic—he rushed oil'. He did not, leave the country, but he went near his house, and actually slept on the verandah ol his house-. A\ as this the a-turn ol a pian 'fleeing from justice ? On the Grown ease alone, it would he along to convict.

As to motive, .Mount was described* as a gentleman. He had been superhit ivelv good to Airs Alouat. - 11

Crown had failed to prove any motive whatever. How could Monel turn suddenly from a decent citizen into the callous criminal that the Crown made him out to be: There was not the slightest sign ol the catting up that must have been done it the'body were cut up. where were the implements used! Blood si nek to metal. hut there was no blood on any of the tools found on the premises. Mount could not have sawn up his wife’s body without leaving trains <>t blood on tile saw. Tl-re tva- no Mood on the tomahawk. There were se-v-ral places on the bayonet in which blood c.mld rest. The knife- another sinister nrtielo--had no b.o.x stains. If there haul been any. would not an expert like Hr Alilliken have discovered them h AH those tmp.e-

ments were clean, bright and unstained. Alore important still, where wn« Mrs Alouat cut up. ami the chopper .... saw must have gone through the )„,„o and flesh into some other substance. Even if it was done in the hath there would ho scratches. It n." not done on the bed. because Air Bickertot, (the analyst) had said there was not sufficient blood to show that any person was murdered on the Led. Act the whole house had been examined by the police miserescopically. I hat part of the Crown’s ease was in the air.

Mount, who was accused or committing a foul murder with a peculiar • ■cuius, actually went out of the house and left it open. Tf the Crown's ease was time. Afouat. after the deed, sang and laughed and ehatted with neighbours. On the Crown’s theory he was a fiend incarnate. Yet all the evidence showed his disposition " ; is quite the reverse. His whole behaviour was incompatible with his behaving in the way alleged if he was guilty.

Air Thomas claimed that he had explained away every point the Crown had raised. In addition lie had dealt with points that the Crown could not explain. Circumstantial evidence that

seemed conclusive sometimes was absolutely unreliable. It must not be forgotten that, the Crown had found it impossible to reconstruct the (-rime. Mow then (ould .Mount he found guilty of it?

"If this man is hanged." Air Thomas concluded, "and six months later Airs Alouat returns from South Africa, what will your feelings be? Sir John Deiiniston. in this Court, often said that it was much bdter for JtK) guilty

men to escape Mian for one innocent person tu he declared guilty. Surely that is common justice. Remember that if you find Miami gutUy. you find him pes-e-sed of an anatomical skill and dexterity of whieti there ino evidence whatever. You hud much further: you find that he committed a shocking. brutal murder. perhaps without parallel ill the annals of New Zealand. I put it to you that higuilt is impossible, and you know it as | cannot put i: .-Lronger. Air Thomas's addle-- to the jury occupied three boms. .JI'DGE SC.AIS IT. Summing up, Mr .just he Adam, said the lir-t ipte-t inn to he decided was: Was Airs Alouat dead? The second one was: Mad she met her death at the hands of her husband? A good deal had h en heard during tee hearing of the ease on the pne.-l ion ol oiretuiisl a lit ial evidence. In this einineetion. Mi- Honour read the op-iuion of an eminent Kngli-h .Inri-t. showing Iha i such evidenc * had a a import ant bearing w hen direct e\ hb'niv was not forthcoming. The Crown Erosecutor had admitted that i: was impossible to reconstruct the < a-e. and Mr Thomas had said this woe. a big weakness in the ease for the Crown, tout a little consideration would -how that such was not the ea-e. The (Town Erc.se-

cutor put it that Mo crime had I " en committed at a time when Alouat and his wife had been alone in the house. In such cireiim-tances, only circumstantial evidence could he offered. T Ce making of deductions Irom the evidence given was a matter lor the jury. After reviewing the evidence, Air Justice Adams said it was a rule that a man was innocent until proved guilty, and the jury had to he .satisfied that such was the ease l.eloiv l lie.v found the nc ais d guilty. A statement had been made by Alouat that his wife had. on one i ■.•eas.inu lei I him tor allot her man. hut- it was the duly ol HbMouotir lo point out that there was no evidence iha t such was the i use. It laid been suggest cd that .Mi's Atonal suffered Iron, low -pin! . and had threatened lo commit suicide : but , ii had lo he remembered that the I evening before, she was. aeeordii.g to witnesses, in her usual spirits. Mie was also, according to Alouat hiim-elf. tn i'i-e as usual in the morning and leave the house with a view to meeting her Irieiid. it was tor tin* jury to determine the suicide theory. Respect ing the ’dis-overy oi the bone-.’ Mis Honour -aid ihe Crown claimed that the discovery of the

hones ill the i ireiinisl a news in which they had been found, amount d lo a demon-1 ra I ion of conclusive .'guilt. The puesttnn oi the ili.-po al of ti .* h :d \ was not solved, nor was that oi whether or not a lethal weapon was used. The Crown di I not elain: t hat (he whole of the body had been destroyed by lire, but that portion o; it had been burnt. The jury retired at pm. on! t hey had tea hefoie culcring upon Ibe consideration of If.eir verdim at oip.hi pi"* .IE I! A' MISAGRFF. CM HIS I'l M' RCM . M"> Eh .; n-t h "fore mi'luighi. tlie • 1 11 •A’ r*’turned, and announce.l that f ",’ wen* unable to agree. A new trial ha- bcni Tod for August.