DRAMATIC COURT PLEA

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 516, 20 November 1928, Page 9

DRAMATIC COURT PLEA

CHINESE SENTENCED TO DEATH MURDER OF HIS WIFE (United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 12.24 p.m. LONDON, Monday. The Chinese law student, Chung Yi Miao, who was sentenced to death for killing his wife, made a dramatic three and a-half hours' speech in the Court of Criminal Appeal against the sentence, after calling two new witnesses, who stated that they had seen an Oriental near the scene of the murder on June 19. Addressing the Court, Chung said it was the Chinese custom, when a woman was married, that her property went to her husband while she lived, but reverted to her family on her death. Judgment will be given to-day. Chung Yi Miao, a Chinese law student, was sentenced to death on October 25 at Carlisle for strangling his Chinese wife at Borrowdale during their honeymoon in the lake district on June 19. Accused heatedly protested his innocence after sentence had been passed, but Mr. Justice Humphreys intimated that he believed the verdict was right. Miao was an extremely clever man, always ready with an answer. For the defence, it was suggested that two Easterners, either Chinese or Japanese, had murdered the woman for the jewels she carried, which were worth £3.000. She was the daughter of a Chinese millionaire. The Crown, however, showed that no Orientals, other than accused, had been within three miles of the scene of the murder.