CORONER’S COMMENT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 137, 10 May 1940, Page 2

CORONER’S COMMENT.

REMARKS AT INQUEST. Per Press Association. NAPIER, May 8. - Reference to the silly rumours in town was made by the Coroner (Mr J. Miller) at the conclusion of the inquest into the death of Arthur Ernest Coe, a retired manager, in the hospital on April 13. The rumours referred to by the Coroner concerned the possibility of charges arising from the inquest The Coroner dealt at length with the sections in the Crimes Act concerning the hastening of a person’6 death and the amount of force an assaulted person was justified in using in resisting further assault. Medical evidence showed that deceased was suffering from brain disease which with drink caused him to be troublesome and quarrelsome. “Had we not had this condition the trouble would not have arisen,” added the Coroner. "I mention this to show that there will not be another prosecution on this evidence. It is exhaustive and absolute.” A verdict was returned that death was due to multiple injuries, the most serious of which were a fractured rib occurring in an elderly man already suffering from arteriosclerosis, cerebellar softening, and'thrombosis of the posterior cerebellar artery, the injuries being received during a struggle between Arthur Ernest Coe and Edwin Horrobin when the latter was resisting Coe from further assaulting him.