8
as recorded with the confused way that the prisoner gave evidence
before them. According to the Crown's evidence, the prisoner was
frightened and excited when he was arrested, and although the Chiu Chow Sergeant who acted as interpreter when the prisoner made his
statement after arrest said that the prisoner had never told him
that his wife had grabbed his private parts, he did say that it was practically impossible to interpret word for word what the prisoner had said to him. This Sergeant had also given evidence
that he was familiar with the Chiu Chow people, and that if anybody
had thrown away a Chiu Chow man's ancestral tablets, that man
would be very angry.
I was somewhat surprised at the jury's verdict. Quite
frankly on the evidence adduced as a whole, I had expected a
verdict of manslaughter, but clearly by their verdict the jury
indicated that they had, as they were quite entitled so to do,
entirely rejected the prisoner's evidence, and had not drawm the
conclusions from the surrounding evidence as suggested by the
defence. The jury clearly accepted the Crown's evidence and had agreed that the provocation alleged in the prisoner's
statements produced by the Crown, i.e. pinching and a threat
only to throw away the prisoner's ancestral tablet would not
amount to such provocation in law as to reduce the offence of
murder to one of manslaughter, and if this is the case, then I
cannot quarrel with their verdict. The jury was undoubtedly a
strong jury, it was an all male jury consisting of an Australian, an Englishman, a Dutchman and 4 Chinese, and they took over 4 hours
in their deliberations.
However there is no evidence to indicate that this was
a premeditated murder, it arose as a result of a quarrel between
the prisoner and his wife, and under all the circumstances I
respectfully suggest that Your Excellency might consider commuting the death sentence in this case, and I would respectfully recommend
that a sentence of 10 years' imprisonment should be substituted
for the scntence of death in the case of this prisoner.
(M. Morley-John, J.)
27th December, 1973.