SUPREME COURT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1577, 8 January 1884, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.

■THE CARTERTON STABBING OASE, { \, . \X. (From s the.N.Z,Times). ■;■• The flrafc case tried was that of Alesarider Anderson, charged with stabbing' with intent to kill Mary White,; a woman wijkwhom he cohabited, at Carterton, The prisoner pleaded not guilty. MrE. Shaw conducted the defence.- The evi- : danco Bhowod that on the 12th December the prisoner was'slriliing thf .woman in the Hti'eet at dart'orton, r whe're they had boen drinking together'all dayj.and when she took refugo in a shop he followed,' anil said he would kill her before they got ■home. 1 - Be took out a pocket/ knife and began sharpening it, continuing to call her foul names,; James Peters', shoemaker, and William Greeks, laboror, heard him. say ho would cut her throat, She started homeward, the prisoner and their child following. A short distance outside the. town the prisoner seized herewith one hand and stabbed herin the hefck, saying •'lf you like anyone better than me, take this'." She cried but, and Henry Edwards, farmer, who.saw them atrw<glrog,,rfln to her/and tied up hoc bleeding neck, , ; Tho prisonor told him not to mind, as she did it herself; and, the prisoner then tore np loft her there bleeding;'re;rii'arkitig" You will not have tho pleasure of woaring this again." Dr Smfth stitched up; tho wound, which consisted of two stabs, probably raado with a pocket knife and close to the.carotid arlorv. The wound was and if tho artory had been cut she would havo been dead' in five minutes. The parlies bad been cohabiting fivo years, and sho said he was always kind to her till ho becamobeoame .jealous of a man named Mick.-.. ■ . .Mr Bell, prosecuting counsel, told tho jury it could be no excuse or mitigation to plead that the prisonor. drunk when ho slabbed a helpless woman.' If so, a man who meditated a crime had. only to make himself half _ drunk, and then ho would bo exousod, as; hot being responsible for his action, i •' : ; Mr Shaw, for tho defence, coutended that tho wounds wero inflicted in a drunken passion, and not deliberately. The prisoner's mind boing inflamed with drink and jealousy, could ho bo sensible of what be was doing ?, Would ho: have deliberately chosen a public street, with a witness on horseback only-a. few yards away, if he really intended to! tako tho woman's lifo? The learned couusol Quoted cases to support his contention that the prisoner could be guilty only of the minor offence of attempting to commit griovoua bodily harm, and not of on attompt to kill. His Honor' summed up, directing tho the jury that they might find the prisoner guilty of stabbing with intent, to murder or of wounding with intent to do grevious bodily harm. This was ovidently n crime.of passion, an outrageous act of violence which the man took little oaro to conceal. Drunkenness was. no excuse fcr orime.oi any degree. ,-It was of (he g;eito3t public importance that a man Btouldnot|byintoxicatinghinißelf,puthimself in a position to oxcuso any oriminal act ho might do. In this case thty had to consider that a 'deadly weapon was used deliberately, and that he struck the woman in a part where a wound . would bo likely to "prove -fatal. As to provocation reducing tho enormity of tho crime the man's suspicions of the woman's unfaithfulness and his protracted quarrelling with her could not bo such provocation as the. law could take. notioo of. Provocation did in some oases reduce tho crime of murder to one of manslaughter, but this was not such a case of provocation.; ■ .-':'.■'

The jury then considered llieir verdict, aitd'aitor an hour's deliberation they returuod. into Court with a verdiot of g.mlfcy of- intent to kill, but, not with deliberate malice, ■ . '* . Hia Honor—That will bo a vordiet on the socond.count. Foromaii-We look it.lhat he intended to commit murder, bat that fee did notdu it with'malice aforethought. _ His Honor—lf you aro satisfied that he intended to-kill tho woman, although he conceived that intention n't the moment, you havo properly convicted him on the second count. Foroman—Yes, that was our viow. Tho prisoner was then ordered, to be removed, for sentence to bo pronounced next morriinff, and Iho jury wore being dismissed, when the foreman naked, ;apparently a3 an afterthought, what majority of tho jury was necessary for a verdict. His Honor: Oh,if you wero not all agVeedj the verdiot canupt be received. : Bring back'the prisonor. Now, ponticmen, you will have to. retire again niitil you are absolutely unanimous. Let mo again explain that make aforethought moans, in law, the intention to do a certain thing. Yon may be satisfied that .ingoing which he did, he had an intention to kill, or to do seriona harm, and it does not matter how long he nourished that intention, nor whother he conceived it on tho instant, lam sorry that legal phraseology raises those difficulties, and it is a pity that the word "malice" and other legal terms aro uot used in law in I their' natural sense as understood in 'common life, Lawyers understood the word"malice" in its old legal Bonne as used in the indictments, , Tho jury again retired to consider their [verdict, and were supplied with refreshments to appoaso their hungor, at three p.rn. At 0,30 they returned for further advice.. , .Foreman-Some of tho jurors object His Honorr-1 cannot near tho particU" lar difficulties, kit I may put the matter again to you in this way '.Did he mean to stab the woman, I won't say kill her,. but hurt her ? Then, if you agreo that he did mean to stab, it will be no oxcoeo to say he would, not in his sober senses have meant to 'do it, A man. is not. allowed to inflamo his passions by drink, and thcii.-set up that as an excuse for crime, : \S';. , ; Foreman—We would like advice as to wounding without intent to kill, _' Hia_ Honor—Tho indictment charges, in two counts, a murderous-intent, and thoro is a third count (hat lie meant to do harm less than murder, • Intoxication is an excuse when it absolutely blinds tho senses,.but is no excuse for inflaming .(lie passions, ~.., .■ . \ ,'.-'.'•'.';■■ \ The jury retired once more,'and in five minutes returned: with a unanimous verdict of guilty of stabbing with intent to do grievous bodily harm, in accordance with the third count. I .His, Honor sentenced,the-prisonor to three years'penal servitude,

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