When I knew him, he was a mature man and had spent most of his life in circuses, both here and in Europe. Indeed, at a later point, he showed me a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings relating to his performances in circuses in Russia and other parts of the Continent. In the circus, he had performed many roles, including lion tamer, high-wire walker, clown and strongman, lifting trucks and other weights.
When I first met him, he had been performing at the Easter Show in Auckland, where he would climb a hundred foot pole and stand on his head at the top for a considerable period of time. He and his wife had a booth at the Easter Show, where they put on demonstrations of sharpshooting.
Jasper would stand with a cigarette in his mouth and, from a distance, his wife would shoot the cigarette out of his mouth with a .22 calibre rifle. This was a very dangerous type of exhibition, obviously. It entirely relied on Jasper being absolutely motionless and cool, and his wife concentrating and being accurate with her shooting. But they had apparently been conducting this sharpshooting sideshow for some time, and were both confident and skilled at it. Nobody really was concerned about potential danger.
One night, however, during this exhibition of sharpshooting, Jasper's wife shot him in the head. This immediately caused great distress to all who witnessed it.
An ambulance was called, police were brought in and, for a while, confusion reigned, until Jasper, now unconscious, was taken away to hospital.
The police carried out an investigation, and in the course of it they found that Jasper's wife had a lover in the circus, and that this affair had been going on for some time behind Jasper's back.
As a result of all this, a charge of attempted murder was brought against Jasper's wife, and the case was heard in the then Supreme Court in Auckland. Jasper's family, including his adult daughters, attended the trial, as did other people from the Easter Show and also a retinue of personal friends.
Jasper had, by this time, recovered from the injury to his head, but since the shooting, he had not spoken to his wife.
His wife was a good-looking woman, of ordinary stature, and the circus people had little sympathy for her.
She had been carrying on this performance, shooting a cigarette out of her husband's mouth, for quite a while now, and many thought she had made a deliberate attempt to kill Jasper.
The case was heard in Courtroom No 1, which was a beautiful courtroom, lined with exquisitely carved and varnished kauri, and after the jury had been empanelled and the prosecution had made a short opening address, Jasper was called as the first prosecution witness.
Here, Jasper's shortness was patent, as his head hardly came above the top of the witness stand.
He looked well, however. He was a handsome man, very intent, and all eyes in the courtroom were on him, waiting for his testimony.
His wife sat in the dock with her eyes downcast. She looked sad and demure. The body of the court was filled with spectators.
The prosecutor started to question Jasper: 'Is the defendant your wife?'
Jasper answered, 'Yes.'
'You've been together for quite a few years and have a family?'
'Yes.'
'And both you and your wife have been performing this sharpshooting routine for some time?'
'Yes.'
'You've never had a problem before?'
'No, never.'
'Coming now to the occurrence itself,' the prosecutor continued, 'you were standing in the usual place with a cigarette in your mouth, waiting for the cigarette to be shot out of your mouth by your wife. Is that correct?'
'Yes.'
'And of course, you didn't move.'
There was a long, pregnant silence in response. Everybody in the court was watching Jasper.
And then suddenly he broke the silence, saying, 'No, I did move.'
The prosecutor was astounded, almost in a state of shock.
'Did you say that you moved?'
'Yes,' said Jasper. 'It was my mistake, I moved.'
Now the judge joined the interrogation. This is quite normal when things get tense in a courtroom. The judge asked Jasper, 'You realise what you are saying?'
'Yes, sir,' Jasper replied.
'But you never said that in your statement,' said the judge. 'Why are you saying it now?'
There was another long silence before Jasper finally said, 'I'm saying it because it's the truth.'
The prosecutor then addressed the judge, and applied to see him in chambers.
In chambers, in the absence of the jury and the spectators, the prosecutor admitted that the Crown had no hope of gaining a conviction and the judge gave leave for the prosecutor to withdraw the charge.
Jasper's wife was discharged and she was taken down to the prisoners' cells to obtain her belongings and to be released.
At the back of Courtroom No 1, there is a large entrance foyer between the front door of the building and the door of the courtroom, and Jasper's family waited here for Jasper's wife to appear.
After a delay of a few minutes, his wife hurried out from the cells below, and ran across the foyer towards Jasper and her family, crying out, 'Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!' Jasper, however, did not return her overtures of reconciliation; he said, 'Get away from me, you bitch. I will never speak to you again, nor will any member of your family.'
Everyone was astonished, but no one commented. Jasper and his daughters went on their way, and the acquitted wife separately disappeared into the evening.
It was some years later that I received an invitation to visit Jasper.
He had bought a catamaran, which he had moored at Leigh, a small inlet opposite Kawau Island. I accepted his invitation, and a few days later, I was sitting in the catamaran, enjoying a very delicious meal. Jasper was an expert fisherman, among his many talents, and a competent rabbit hunter, too.
It was during that night that Jasper showed me his scrapbook of all the cuttings that revealed the amazing history of this man, who had performed in so many roles in the circus world. He was quite elderly by now, and his family treated him like royalty. He had also acquired a young female companion, who lavished affection upon him.
Jasper died not long afterwards, but his memory will always live with me. He was one of the most remarkable people I ever came across in the law.
