FIFTEEN YEARS!

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 438, 24 September 1908, Page 4

FIFTEEN YEARS!

Sentence for Sensational Shooting.

The Girl to be Safe for Some Time.

Gisborne, September) iß

In the Supreme Court this morning before Mr Justice Edwards, Walter Symonds was charged with feloniously shooting at Mary Agnes Petersen, at Pakare, on June 9 with intent to kill her. The prisoner pleaded not guilty. The evidence was similar to that given in the lower court.

New evidence was called for the defence. Mr Stock, counsel for the prisoner, urged that the prisoner had not fired with intent but had acted upon the impulse of the moment in a fit of jealousy, being muddled with drink. The fact of his going to town the day before and purchasing a revolver was explained that he required it in connection with breaking in horses to accustom them to the sound of firing. His Honour, in summing up, said there was nothing to show that the shooting had been done under an uncontrollable impulse. He shot off after repeating the request he had been making for a fortnight, “ marry me, or give me back my money.” It was not only one shot but three and the position of the wounds inflicted indicated that the shots were meant to kill. Then he was found on the ground with the revolver in his mouth. A man, acting on an uncontrollable impulse would have put the revolver into his mouth and blown his brains out, but accused laid himself out on the ground and waited for someone to come. His subsequent statements were not those of a man acting in a fit of frenzy. The jury jetired at noon. The jury returned at 1 o’clock a verdict of “Guilty” with a recommendation to mercy. His Honour said it was one of the most deliberate cold blooded attempts at murder he had ever had the illluck to try. Taking the most favourable view of the jury’s recommendation, he must put the prisoner where he would be unable to attempt murder on this girl again, for a considerable period. Accused was sentenced to fifteen years’ imprisonment at Auckland.