MURDER CHARGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 215, 11 September 1929, Page 8

MURDER CHARGE.

BRAUMAN IN DOCK. ST. CLAIR BEACH SHOOTING. EVIDENCE BY YOUNG SON. FATHER SAID TO BE JEALOUS. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, this day. William Henry Brauman was charged In the Police Court to-day with having murdered his wife, Annabelle Dean Brauman, at St. Clair Beach on August 7. The Court was well filled by a crowd of people of both sexes. Accused, who wore a brown overcoat over his ordinary clothes, seemed to be in fairly good health as he entered the dock, although the shade which he wore over his left eye was a sufficient reminder of the injury which he is alleged to have inflicted upon himself. The case against him and the inquest into the death of his wife were taken concurrently. Mr. C. J. L. White and Mr. G. M. Lloyd appeared for accused, and Mr. H. E. Barrowclough watched proceedings for two of the witnesses, Jack Ormond McMillan and William Matthew Brosnan. At the request of Mr. Lloyc accused was allowed to seat himself in the dock. Dr. William Evans, police surgeon, said Mrs. Brauman died from shock following a comminuted fracture of the base of her skull and the laceration of her brain, caused by a gunshot wound. Three pieces of lead wrapped in paper he had enclosed in a tin, and he handed them over to Detective Jenvey, who was at the post-mortem. "Bullet Went Wrong Way." Giving evidence of his examination of Brauman at the hospital, Dr. Evans said there was a small circular wound just above his left •eyebrow, and the skin round the opening was blackened for about half an inch. There was a second wound on the left side of the neck a quarter of an inch long. The left eye was destroyed, the socket being filled with a clot. Witness said accused appeared quite composed and rational while his wounds were being examined. He remarked, "The bullet went the wrong way," and ■when the lids of his right eye were separated he remarked, "I can see with that eye all right." Accused was asked no questions. Dr. Dunne, house surgeon, also gave evidence, and Leslie Raymond Simpson, solicitor, produced an agreement for a separation, signed by accused. Alfred Ernest Reynolds, clerk of the court, produced the information laid by deceased against accused. Mr. White objected to this on the ground that it tended to show previous convictions, but Chief Detective Cameron said it showed threats to carry out violence. Mr. J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., admitted the evidence, but noted Mr. White's objection. Threat by Father Alleges. Richard Henry Brauman, son of deceased, said he was living at Nelson with his parents .five or six years ago. There were quarrels at that time. Mr. White said he regarded this as ancient history, and Ms Worship agreed. Continuing his evidence of quarrels, witness said that on one occasion his father had carried his mother out of his (witness , ) sister's room into his own room. Witness had never heard him threaten her, but he had said to witness, after his mother had left home a little over a year ago, that if she did not return home he would "do for her." He said that on two'or three occasions. In answer to Mr. White, witness said his father was obsessed with jealousy, and he became suspicious when Mrs. Brauman went out at night. This obsession was aggravated after they separated. Witness said he was frequently in his mother's company, and, as far as he knew, there were no grounds for his father's jealousy.

Olive Dorothy Bruman said she left home because her father ill-treated her at Invercargill. Her father threatened to go to Dunedin at Christmas and shoot her mother. On August 6 her mother was housekeeper at St. Clair and witness saw her father near the house where she (witness) wa3 employed. She telephoned her mother to rc set her in the evening. Witness met a young man named McMillan and a friend of his who had a motor outside the mother's place. They went for a ride, and then returned to St. Clair. McMillan, her mother and witness alighted, and witness saw her father brush past her. Her father turned and walked back. Witness was facing the sea. Accused swung to the left of her, and grabbed her mother's arm, saying, "You are having a good time." He took out a revolver, placed it against her mother's head, and fired. Witness saw a flicker, screamed, and ran. She saw her mother fall and go over an embankment. After going a few paces witness heard another shot, and, later, saw her father with a wound in his head. Crose-examined, witness said the whole trouble was her father's mad jealousy. He imagined that if mother looked at another man she was wanting to carryon with him. His jealousy became ■worse until it became an obsession. He •used to complain to her mother about ■witness going ou* with boys. Fired Without Warning. Jack Osmond McMillan, aged 18, warehouseman, said that on August 7, he ■was introduced to deceased and Olive Braunmn by a friend, and the four of them went for a ride with deceased and Olive. He alighted from the- car at St. Clair. Nothing disrespectful occurred. His friend drove away in the car. Shortly afterwards a man passed, but witness did not see him until he came from the direction of the baths and stood in front of Mrs. Brauman. Witness heard a reference to "having a good time." Deceased remarked that "it had nothing to do with him." Without warning ac° cused produced a revlover from his overcoat pocket. With swift action he presented the revolver at Mrs. Brauman's ear and fired. She moaned and toppled over. Witness stepped towards accused, who warned him to keep back. Brauman then fired at his own head, reeled twice, and fell. Witness took the revolver from accused's hand, and went down the embankment to find the woman dead. Witness had not met Mrs. or Miss Brauman till that evening. There was to be a musical evening that night at deceased's house.