KAIPAKI MURDER CASE

Otago Witness, Issue 4031, 16 June 1931, Page 50

KAIPAKI MURDER CASE

TRIAL OF THOMAS RICKARDS. PRISONER’S MENTALITY. HAMILTON, June 9. In the Supreme Court the trial of Reginald Norman Thomas Rickards for the alleged murder of Arthur Rossiter, aged 72, at Kaipaki, on April 10, was con’mued to-day before Mr Justice Herdman. Medical evidence, which did not agree on the prisoner’s mental condition, oecu t ied the major portion of the day. For the defence,. Mr J. J. Sullivan said it was impossible for him to deny that the prisoner shot Rossiter. He put forward the legitimate legal defence, however, that at the time the accused fired the shot he was sufficiently insane to render him incapable of understanding fully the nature or quality of the act. Medical evidence would be called to show that tnc prisoner was an epileptic. The man had made numerous statements to doctors ana others. Through them all ran the same story. It went to show that he was born at Dawson City, Alaska, 37 years apo. He went to the war with the Canadian forces, and was badly wounded in France. One of the wounds was in the neck. He was definitely suffering from epilepsy, and while in custody awaiting his trial, he had actually been seized with an epileptic fit. The medical evidence would show that the prisoner was suffering from sinusitis, a disease affecting the tissues and cavities at the back of the nose. It wag a disease which definitely led to insanity. Counsel said that the present was the first case he knew of in New Zealand during the past 30 years that actual disease of the brain had been advanced as a defence in a criminal prosecution. Mr Sullivan referred to other well-known murder trials, including those of Lionel Terry, Dr Cook, and Higgins, the Waikino murderer, in which it was proved that the accused had suffered from hallucinations, under the impression they were being persecuted. In the present case it was submitted that the prisoner suffered from mental disease. Behind the nose was a fine tissue through which passed a series of nerves. An X-ray photograph of the prisoner’s head showed that this tissue and the cavities behind it, known as sinuses, were all diseased, that in consequence of this diseased condition his brain was likely to be affected and that it might render him unaccountable for his actions. Mr Sullivan went on to review the evidence and traced into the prisoner’s conduct over a period of years strangeness of action, irresponsibility, moodiness, and an absence of appreciation of his acts. He quoted cases where epileptics had committed assaults about which, when they became normal again, they knew nothing. The assault on Miss Rossiter with a spanner, Mr Sullivan said, was a typical act of an epileptic. Counsel held that Rickards’s mental condition was such that he was incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of his act.

RICKARDS SENTENCED TO DEATH. After a four hours’ retirement, the jury found Rickards guilty. The verdict carried a recommendation of mercy, which his Honor (Mr Justice Herdman) said* he would see was forwarded to the proper quarter. Donning the black cap, his Honor passed sentence of death. Rickards heard the sentence calmly, and turning to Miss Rossiter, who was in court, said: “ Good-bye Olive; God bless you.” Miss Rossiter replied: “Good-bye.” In his summing up, Mr Justice Herdman said it was the duty of the accused to prove that he was suffering from disease of the mind to such an extent as to render him incapable of understand ing the nature and quality of his act and knowing that his act was wrong If the jury were satisfied that this proof had been established, then a verdict of not guilty on account of insanity should be returned.