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mind to commit suicide.
That is a matter for you to decide.
If he was determined to commit suicide why did he come out there,
why not go on and complete his passage to the sea? Why come out?
That is a question of fact on which I cannot help you. We know that
he tried to bite Private Simmons, twice at least he committed an
assault on Private McCarthy and he struggled away from all four of
them.
We also are told that when he got his left hand away from
Private McCarthy his re-action was to try and put his face into the
water and the Crown rely on that as showing that he was deliberately
attempting suicide. On the other hand with those four men carrying
him while he was struggling, carrying him face downwards with water
running in a saucer shaped tunnel and with water some two feet deep
in the centre, the man's face could not have been a very great
distance above the surface of the water - so there is something
for you to bear in mind on each side of that issue. Whatever the
correct inference may be we know he continued to struggle until he
was nearly outside the tunel when he went limp and artificial
respiration had to be applied. It was undisputed that that man
was the accused. Was he the man who went in at the top bridge?
What is the evidence on that? There is the evidence firstly of the
cashier of the Swatow Drawn Work Co. as to the clothing in which
the accused went out that morning. Straw hat of this type, cream
coloured jacket of that shade, dark trousers of the type of exhibit
9. He may or may not have had anything on his feet. There is
evidence next of Mrs. Fairburn leaving out her identification of
the accused personally at the moment. Straw hat, cream coloured
jacket, dark trousers, "he seemed to me to have rubber shoes on his
feet".
There.is the evidence of Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Vincent.
'Straw hat going down stream, crown downwards, brim upwards. There
is the evidence of the four men in the tunnel who say "We brought
him out. He was dressed as he was dressed when his clothes were
taken off in hospital. He had rubber shoes in the tunnel, we took
them off so they were lost."