MANSLAUGHTER CASE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24414, 27 September 1940, Page 3

MANSLAUGHTER CASE

APPEAL FROM SENTENCE UNUSUAL COURT PROCEDURE SOLICITOR-GENERAL'S DUAL ROLE (Per United Press Association) WELLINGTON, Sept. 26. The hearing by the Full Court today of the appeal of Te Araia Masters, a native of Avatiu in the Cook group from a sentence of 15 years' imprisonment imposed for the manslaughter of his wife, produced the unusual spectacle of the Sqlicitor-general, who appeared for the Crown, advancing arguments on behalf of the prisoner for a reduction of his sentence. The prisoner, who is 41 years of age was manied in April. 1939. •to Tarai aged 23. at Rarotonga Tarai was the mother of a child, about six years old who lived with the prisoner and larai at Avatiu The prisoner was formerly employed on a trading schooner and from December. 1938 had been unwell from the results of carbon-monoxide poisoning contracted in the engine room of the schooner He entered hospital at Rarotonga for treatment early in June. 1939 and was discharged on July 13. A Fatal QuarreH On Sunday, July 16. he was at home with his wife when other members of the family left to go to church. When they returned home they found the prisoner acting strangely, but no trace of Tarai. Later, her dead body was found under a bed on which the prisoner was sitting. Subsequently, the prisoner made a statement to the police that an argument had arisen over the church to which Tarai's child was to go. and he had seized his wife by the throat and accidentally throttled her. The medical evidence established at the trial before Chief Judge Ayson at Rarotonga that the prisoner was suffering from carbon-monoxide poisoning which produced melancholia and nervous debility. He was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment to be served in New Zealand The Chief Judge, however, remarked that if the prisoner proved satisfactory and the circumstances were favourable he might, after five years, be sent back to the Cook Islands to serve the balance of the sentence. From that sentence the prisoner appealed to the Full Court of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, which is the appellant tribunal for appeals from the Cook Islands. Evidence of Mental State The prisoner was not represented b.v counsel, so the Solicitor-general made submissions of his behalf as well as submissions for the Crown. For the prisoner, he submitted that sentence was excessive, as the evidence established that the prisoner, was in a very indefinite state of health when the offence was committed. The effect of carbon-monoxide poisoning was .to create small haemorrhages in the brain, putting portions of the brain out of action. Dr Gray, of the Mental Hospitals Department, had examined the prisoner since his arrival in New Zealand and had given a report that, although the prisoner was not- insane, 'there was definite mental deterioration. On the morning of the tragedy Tarai had been provoking her husband, and it seemed from the evidence that he temporarily lost control of ■himself On the other hand, the Solicitorgeneral pointed out as counsel for the Crown, that the Chief Judge was a man of great exnerience with Natives and that he had given every, consideration to the matter. His summing-up at the trial was.a model of fairness Moreover, imprisonment in the Cook Islands was more technical than actual as prisoners .there, were allowed a considerable amount of liberty. The court reserved its decision.