OPOTIKI MURDER TRIAL

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3611, 10 March 1927, Page 3

OPOTIKI MURDER TRIAL

SULLIVAN BROTHER. OP O’KEEFE.

GETS SEVEN YEAR’S HARD LABOUR, Gisborne, Alarcb 8. A surprise was sprung during the Opotiki murder trial when the first witness for the defence, Arthur O’Keefe, identified 1 accused, who was charged under the name of John Sullivan, as his brother, Joseph O’Keefe. Accused is the youngest of a family of seven. Prior to her death the mother was slightly troubled mentally, and accused was never intelligent, and was poorly educated. When a youth accused had been struck on the head: by his brother, and as a result was in the New Plymouth Hospital for several weeks. Another brother was in the Avondale Asylum. Counsel for the defence said that the evidence would show accused was always subject to recurring fits and! mania. He suffered hereditary unsoundness since boyhood, and this marked him for some such final tragedy as now confronted him. A combination of this hereditary taint and excessive indulgence in liquor caused! him to become unbalanced and unable to appreciate what he was doing. Howard Stockdalc Hipkin, station hand, said he knew accused as Sullivan well. Sullivan was always fidgety and highly strung. His talk was rambling and 1 irrational. The two were always the best of friends. Julius Claude Me Gregor, manager of Ho aba Station, gave evidence on somewhat similar lines, and added that ho had held grave doubts as to prisoner’s mentality. His methods of work were irregular, and so was his talk. He would run where another man would walk, even on steep hush country. Dr. Bowie, of Gisborne, said lie examined accused in gaol, and bad formed a poor opinion of bis mental condition. Accused was a highly erotic type, and uneducated. In reply to questions, witness said he thought that at the time of the tragedy accused did not know what he was doing. He would have no power of judgment or control. A man of his mental calibre, . once heavily under the influence ofjiquor, would be a raving maniac for the time being. Dr. R, M. Beattie, late Superintendent of the Avondale Mental Hospital, staled that Charles O’Keefe, who was a brother of Sullivan, bad been an inmate of the institution, suffering from chronic mania, and at the slightest provocation became dangerous. His case was a hereditary one, his mother being a. mental case for some years before she diedj Witness had examined Sullivan in Mount Eden gaol, and in witness’s opinion Sullivan was lighting drunk at the time of the tragedy. Sullivan told AVilness that he had drunk heavily after the others left the locality, and lie had no recollection of events until his consciousness began to aAvaken him. Witness had come to the conclusion that when Sullivan attacked Williamson he did not know the act was wrong. He could not have been insane, at the time as the recovery would not have been so rapid. It was due to a mania of alcoholism, which is closely allied lo D.T.’s.

The Crown called in rebuttal Dr.C. Teusley, medical officer of Mount Eden gaol. Witness said he had examined Sullivan on many occasions, and found his conduct that of an average man. Sullivan was a highly excitable and unstable individual, but under ordinary conditions normal though a low grade intellectually. In cross-examina-tion, witness said it was possible there was a hereditary taint in Sullivan, and considering these circumstances, if Sullivan consumed a large quantity of alcohol it would practically make him a very dangerous man. He thought that for a short time the man had no control over himself. The trial was concluded at the Supreme Court to-day. After a retirement of under two hours the jury returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter. The prisoner was sentenced to seven years’ har labour. Mr. Justice Ostler commented upon the capable defence, and remarked that the protection which the law throws round citizens must be held sacred, and a serious crime against life must carry a lengthly sentence. ’