THE GREY LYNNE TRAGEDY.
NORGROVE CHARGED WITH MURDER. Auckland, May 14. The Supreme Court was crowded to-day when Allan George Norgrove (aged 27) stood his trial on a charge of wilfully murdering his sister-in-law, Ernestina Mary Norgrove, in her house in Cardwell Street, New Lynn, on March 7th.
A crowd gathered early, but under 200 people were allowed to enter. The women’s gallery was tilled, all the occupants being well dressed.
Mr Justice MacGregor is hearing the case. Mr. V. R. Meredith is conducting the Crown’s ease, and Mr. A. Moody and Mr. D. R. Reed are defending. The case for the Crown and evidence for the prosecution was on similar lines to that submitted in the lower court.
The defence sought to prove that the accused had been abnormal ever since he was a child.
David Norgrove, brother of ae cused, was the first witness called by the defence. Accused was moody and depressed at times, and absolutely melancholy, said witness. He had always been like that as a boy. When he lost his temper he was very violent and uncon trollable. During- the last seven years he had been very depressed and melancholy. Often he could not sleep at night, and his light had to he left on. When a boy witness often had to carry him to school. A pathetic figure in the witness box was Mrs. Martha Norgrove, mother of accused, who gave similar evidence, adding that a niece of his was in a mental hospital. There was a dramatic incident when Mr. Meredith cross-examined Mrs. Norgrove. Accused half rose to his feet and said: “You leave my mother alone.” He was obviously distressed, and sobbed bitterly. As his mother left the box and passed accused, the latter said: “Are you all right, Mum?" She replied “Yes.” At this stage His Honour briefly adjourned the Court.
Dr. 1L M. Beattie said he examined accused and kept him under observation, visiting the gaol five times. Physically he was run down, and mentally he was depressed, and emotional, and had what appeared to be groundless suspicions concerning two or three different persons. Accused was suffering from congenital mental instability. Witness found that accused’s mother had a nephew and a niece in mental hospitals. His Honour: You mean the mother told you so? Witness: Yes.
Continuing, Dr. Beattie said both sisters were neurotic, and a brother was unquestionably epileptie. To Mr. Moody witness said he concluded that after slight provocation accused would develop a frenzy which was maniacal in character, and during which he was irresponsible, and did not fully comprehend what he was doing. He was satisfied accused’s act was due to mental disease, which prevented him having sufficient control over himself.
The hearing was adjourned
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19280515.2.11
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3792, 15 May 1928, Page 2
Word count
Tapeke kupu
458THE GREY LYNNE TRAGEDY. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3792, 15 May 1928, Page 2
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Manawatu Herald. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.