THE SHOOTING CASE.

Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 210, 16 November 1897, Page 2

THE SHOOTING CASE.

VERDICT OF 'WILFUL MURDER. FOHLEN TAKEN TO MOUNT EDEN. In our last issue we gave particulars of the shooting of Patrick Corcoran by Henry Pohlen at Harapipi. The following are some particulars bearing upon the case. THE INQUEST. The inquest took place at the residence of deceased, Mr Gresham being the coroner. The police were represented by Constable Jones. Mr A. Swarbrick appeared for Heinrich Pohlen. The following were sworn as a jury : Messrs H. H. Reynolds (foreman), G. Miles, T. IViinbridge, G. Harper, E. H. Aubin, and W. M. Chappell. After the jury had viewed the body the evidence was proceeded with, the tiist witness called being Terrence Corcorau, who deposed that he wjs the son of deceased, was a farmer and resided at Harapepe. On Friday, the 12th Nov., about nine o'clock in the morning, witness and his father started fi ncing one of the paddocks on their farm. They were about to fence the boundary between the farms of Henry Pohlen and witness' father. In about five minutes John Pohlen, the son of Henry Pohlen, went to where they were working. Later on, about 11 o'clock, H.-nry Pohlen arrived on the scene. When Henry Pohlen arrived the son John had gone. Witness saw Henry Pohlen coming from the direction of his own house with a double-barrelled fowl-ing-piece. It was a muzzle-loader. This gun, when witness first saw him Pohlen was carrying over his left arm. When Henry Pohlen was about a chain away from where witness and his father were, witness heard Pohlen talking, but he could not make out what was said. Witness' father was taking out some posts from the fence that John Pohlen had put in, and was putting in some posts of his own. Henry Pohlen then cime nearer about three or four yards from where witness 5 father stood. Henry Pohlen, as witness understood him, said it was John Pohlen's fence, and that Corcoran, s-tnr., ought not to have touched it. Witness' father said, " Don't trouble yourself, Mr Pohlen, the best thing you can do is to go home and put the gun in the house." Corcoran senr. then moved about a foot, and was going to move another post. Thereupon Henry Pohlen said to witness' father, " I'll shoot! I'll shoot!" As Henry Pohlen said this he raised the gun to bis shoulder and pointed it towards the deceased. There was then some twelve feet between them. Corcoran sen. said, -" Don't you shoot !" He (Corcoran, sen.) himself had no weapon of any kind in his hand, but he advanced towards Pohlen, who remained where he was, with the gun still pointing towards, deceased. Deceased did not say anything more to Pohlen. Witness' father only went one step forward towards Heinrich Pohlen, who fired the gun as Corcoran was advancing towards him. The shots struck the deceased's right hand and entered the breast near the heart. Heinrich Pohlen diil not speak good English. He said, as witness understood him, " There ! '.here ! are you satisfied now ':" After Pohlen had shot the deceased, he pointed the gun towards witness. He couldn't say whether both barrels of the gun were loaded, but both nipples were capped. Heinrich Pohlen did not express any regret at what he had done, neither did he seem surprised at the gun going off. The deceased staggered into witness' arms, and was dead within two minutes. Pohlen did nothing to assist deceased or witness after the shot was fired. When Pohlen pointed the gun at witness they were about 16 feet apart. Pohlen then turned away towards his cwn house, and took the gun with him, without saying another word. During the time of the shooting there was no one present but witness, deceased, and Henry Pohlen. At the time the shot was fired then; was nothiog to obstruct the view between Henry Pohlen and deceased. Witness had no knowledge as to whether Henry Pohlen was in the habit of keeping a loaded gun in his house. The Coroner : Had you ever seen Pohlen with a gun before ? Witness : No. The Foreman : On what terms were tho deceased and Pohlen ? Witness : Not on friendly terms. Police Constable William Jones, stationed at Te Awamutn, deposed to arresting Henry Pohlen about 10 o'clock on Friday night on the charge of having murdered Patrick Corcoran. Pohlen admitted having shot Corcorau, and said something about fencing being the reason. Immediately after arresting Pohlen he (witness) called James McGuirk into the house. The same night he took Pohlen to Firongia. Searched Pohlen's premises for the gun, but could not find it. Found the powder flask and shot pouch (produced). Dr. Andrew Seymour Brewis deposed to being a duly qualified surgeon. Had made a post mortem examination of the body of deceased, Patrick Corcoran. On the left side of the chest he found wounds caused by bo pellets such as might have been fired by a fowling-piece. [Witness produced some of the pellets which he had extracted from the heart and from the left lung]. There were similar wounds on the back of the right hand of tilt deceased, but no shots were discovered in the hand. The vest, upper shirt, and under shirt of deceased had been perforated iu numerous places, apparently by the shots. In witness' opinion the immediate cause of death was wounds in the heart caused by the leaden pellets found there. Fifteen of these wounds passed through the heart. Witness also removed four pellets from the substance of the muscle of the heart. Such wounds would have caused death within two minutes.

The coroner and jury examined the shots taken from the body and compared them with the shot in the flask handed in by the constable. They were found to be of exactly the same size and description. This concluded the evidence.

The jury returned the following verdict :—The jury are of opinion that deceased met his death from wounds caused by a gunshot, and that the guu was voluntarily tired by Heiurich Pohlen.

The Coroner then addressed the jury and instructed them that the voluntary killing of any person by another was presumed to be murder, and it was not necessary in order to constitute murder that the perpetrator should have entertained express malice if the killing were not justifiable or excusable, or could be construed as manslaughter. The distinction between murder and manslaughter was that the latter crime was killing without malice. The most usual cases of manslaughter were killing on provocation in the heat of blood, without sufficient lapse of time for the temper to cool, and without any deliberate intention or actual malice, but the provocation must be by acts of violence and not mere words or questions. The jury amended their verdict accordingly, and returned a verdict of wilful murder against Heinrich Pohlen.