DEATH OF HINDU

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 July 1940, Page 3

DEATH OF HINDU

KITE GUILTY OF ASSAULT VERDICT OF JURY. PRISONER REMANDED FOR SENTENCE. ' (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, July 23. A verdict that John Kite. Maori, labourer. aged 23. was guilty of assaulting Rama Khushal, an Indian, who died in a swamp at Huntly on May 18, was returned by a jury in the Supreme Court tonight, after a retirement of four hours. An alternative count in the case was that of manslaughter. No evidence was called by the defence, but counsel submitted a motion for the withdrawal of the manslaughter count on the grounds that there was nothing to prove that accused was either directly or indirectly responsible for the Indian’s death, or that he was killed, since a doctor gave evidence that the Iridian died of drowning and how that came about, said counsel, was a matter of guesswork. There was no proof that Kite threw Khushal into the swamp, that Khushal stumbled into the swamp while trying to escape from the Maori or was dazed from the assault and fell over the bank into the swamp. One hypothesis not unlikely, said counsel, was that some third party might have thrown the Indian into the> swamp. \ Prisoner was remanded for sentence.