NATIVE CRIME

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21229, 27 September 1940, Page 2

NATIVE CRIME

MANSLAUGHTER OF WIFE APPEAL FROM SENTENCE COUNSEL IN DOUBLE ROLE (By Telegraph.--Press Association) WELLINGTON, Thursday The Full Court hearing of the appeal of Tearaia Masters, a native of Avatiu, in the Cook Group, from a sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment, imposed for the manslaughter of his wife, produced the unusual spectacle of the Solicitor-General, who appeared for the Crown, advancing arguments on behalf of the prisoner for a reduction of the sentence. The prisoner, aged 41, was mar-. : ried in April, 1939, to Tarai, aged j 23, at Rarotonga. Tarai was the | mother of a child of about six years, i who lived with the prisoner and Tarai at Avatiu. The prisoner was formerly employed on a trading schooner, and from December, 1938, had been unwell from the results of carbon monoxide poisoning con- ! tracted in tf«e engineroom of the , schooner. He entered hospital at Rarotonga for treatment early in June, 1939, and was discharged on , July 13. Conditions of Sentence On Sunday, July 16, the prisoner was at home with his wife when other members of the family left to go to church. When they returned ' home they found Tarai dead under a

bed, on which the prisoner was sitting. Subsequently the prisoner made a statement to the police that an argument had arisen over the church to which the child of Tarai was to go, and he had seized his wife by the throat and accidentally throttled her. Medical evidence established at the trial before Chief Judge Ayson at Rarotonga that the prisoner was suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, which produced melancholia and nevous debility. The prisoner was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter, and was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment, to be served in New Zealand. The Chief Judge, however, remarked that, i if the prisoner proved satisfactory, | and the circumstances were favour- ! able, he might, after five years, be ! sent back to the Cook Islands to serve the balance of the sentence, i From that sentence the prisoner appealed to the Full Court, which is the appellant tribunal for appeals from the Cook Islands.

Counsel Plays Two Roles The prisoner was not represented by counsel, so the Solicitor-General made submissions on his behalf, as well as submissions for the Crown. For the prisoner, he submitted that the sentence was excessive, as the evidence established that the prisoner was in a very indifferent state of health when the offence was committed. The effect of carbon monoxide poisoning was to create small hemorrhages in the brain, putting portions of the brain out of action. Dr. Gray, of the Mental Hospitals Department, had examined the prisoner since his arrival in New Zealand, and had given a report that, although the prisoner was not insane, there was definite mental deterioration. On the morning of the tragedy, Tarai had been provoking her hus- : band, and it seemed from the evidence that he temporarily lost con- ; trol of himself. On the other hand, i the Solicitor-General pointed out, as | counsel for the Crown, that the Chief j Judge was a man of great exper- ! ience with natives, and that he had j given every consideration to the matter. His summing-up at the trial was a model of fairness. Moreover, imprisonment in the Cook Islands was more technical than actual, as prisoners there were allowed a considerable amount of liberty. The Court reserved its decision. TRIAL PILE TREATMENT Try Z;nui treatment at our expense; 9d stamps Brings g-eimrums .-ample treatment. . —Zaun Ply.. L>u.v usgt;, Wellington. (10)