LIVERMORE GUILTY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 298, 11 August 1932, Page 5

LIVERMORE GUILTY

(Press. Assn.-

trial concludes LISTENS UNMOVEP TO PRONOUNCEMENT OF PENALTY RECOMMENDATION TO MERCY

— By Telegraph — CopjTightq.

After a retirement of under two hotsrs, the jury found Horace Llverrnore guilty of the murder of Vera Forster (4£) at Upper Hutt. A strong recommendation to mercy was made, in view of the accused's "youth and mental instability." The was received by the prisoner with death sentence was pronounced and unmoved demeanour. Onus on Defence The Crown Prosecutor said that if Livermore murdered the girl the question was whether he was at the time suffering from a mental disease of mind which prevented him from realising either the quality of tho act, or whether it was right or wrong. On the question of sanity, the Crown Prosecutor reminded the jury that every person was • presumed to be sane until the contrary was proved. The onus was on the defence to satisfy the jury that Livermore was suffering from a mental disease. The Crown Prosecutor quoted extensively from a judgment of.the late Chief Justice, Sir Robert Stout, who ' acquainted a jury with the legal definition of insanity. Medical witnesses for the defence had said that Liver-

more was suffering from dementia draecox or schizophoreina, which meant really early insanity, or premature insanity. Medical v/itnesses for the Crown, however, had said that the boy was not suffering from that disease, but that his condition was due to an exaggeration of his temperament, which could be attributed, no doubt, to hereditry and was an outcome of adolescent instability. Knew What He Was Doing There was the strongest possrble evidence according to the boy's own account of the affair, that he had known at the time what he was do cg. The fact that he had led the

l' chtld a^vay and that, having murdered her, he should throw her down the bank, pointed only in one direction that he had fully known at the time what he was doing. Livermore's subsequent behaviour when. he returned to the house and took part in the search was not the i behaviour of one suffering from ! dementia draecox. i His Honour discussed matters bearI ing on the duty of the jury. When considering the question of sanity, : the position was, he said, that if the jury found Livermore guilty of murS der, and came to the conclusion that | he was sane at the time he committed | the act, it became his Ilonour's duty to sentence him to the extreme penalty. If they found him guilty with qualifications that he was insane, then formally the death sentence would i have to be pronounced. It then became a question for the Governor- | General in Council. Divergence of Evidence [ There was a great divergence between the evidence of the doctors, said his Honour; the doctors for the defence said that a mental disease existed, whereas the doctors from the mental hospital said that this did not exist. Crown medical witnesses said that accused was a youth who had been in v'ery unfortunate circum- ; stances. He had not had much of a chance. His mother had died early and , his father was dead, also he had been in a home. They said the trouble with Livermore was that he had a precoeious form of what was referred to as adolescent instability, and that had probably been increased by the fact that he had had many things to contend with in his early life. All the jury had to conssder, said his Honour, was whether the evidence was that he did not anderstand the quality of his act, and d'd not Icnow that it was wrong. If they decided he did, they had no option other than to return the verdict of guilty. The possible verdicts were, free, not guilty, guilty, but insane, or not guilty on the grounds of insanity, and guilty. The jury retired at 3.50 p.m. and returned at 5.22 with a verdict of | guilty with a strong recommendation } to mercy in view of- accused's youth and mental weakness. Asked if he had anything to say, Livermore said in a firm voice, "I have nothing to say." His Honour then donned the black cap and pronounced the death sentence. Beyond a slight frown, which has often been noticeable during the trial, Livermore listened to the sentence unmoved. He then turned and disappeared from the dock. The jury was excused from further jury service for a period of two years.