"DRAMATIC MOMENT."

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 144, 20 June 1934, Page 8

"DRAMATIC MOMENT."

ARREST OF BAYLY. " SCANTIEST OF EVIDENCE." "Then follows, gentlemen, the most dramatic, moment of all. The police arrest Bayly upon just as much material as I have outlined to you. They don't arrest him on a' icharge of the murder of Mr. Lakey, but charged with the murder of Mrs. Lakey, on what then, and even at this present moment, was on the scantiest of evidence. Why was Bayly charged with the murder of Mrs. Lakey? I will tell you: because the police were still afraid that Lakey might turn up and make them look a laughing.stock. At that time there was not a scrap of evidence that Lakey was not in hiding. That is the reason, and those are the lengths the Crown would go, because they originally formed the wrong impression, to concentrate entirely on the conviction of Bayly." Mr. Northcroft then referred to the great number of the police force at Ruawaro, which included all the heads, even the commissioner, the Auckland superintendent, and inspectors from various centres. One inspector was even resident there. The police had at its disposal the cutest brains and most experienced police officers to find not Lakey, but where they could look for evidence for the conviction of Bayly. "Is it surprising under these circunfstances that the whole world knew what was in their minds and what they were doing? And so we find that as soon as Bayly, is safely secured, in prison, then, and not until then, do the police find material which cannot be regarded by any stretch of imagination as evidence against Bayly. The Crown was not prepared to come before any jury at that time and say Bayly had murdered I

Lakey. With the uimffct confidcnce I suggest that up to this time. With Bayly in prison, they had 110 real "vidence at .all. I would remind you that it was only after Bayly's arrest that they found material in the orchard and the. cowshed, and only after that did they find that Herbert had seen smoke, and that later a single tooth was found in Lakey's house. I further suggest that it was not there when they searched the house in October. And so the case has gone 011. gathering strength because materials found have been given greater significance, and so the ease comes here fortified enormously 011 what it was at the time of Bayly's arrest." Counsel then read a passage from a book by a learned counsel, and warned the jury of the dangers of jumping to conclusions and the consequences likely to follow. "Another matter I will refer to is the blood found 011 Mrs. Lakey's nose. Only one witness at the hearing in the lower Court said it was frothy blood. I submit that that could have been described as coming from one bubble. And in this Court six or seven witnesses volunteered that it was frothy blood. Why? Because mere blood gave 110 indication of drowning. Mere blood was no assistance to the police, but now frothv blood is." ilr. Meredith: Two witnesses described it as frothy blood in the Police Court. Mr. Northcroft: There may have been two, but six or seven described it in this Court as frothy blood. Counsel then commented on the fact that a little girl stated in the Police Court that Mrs. Lakey always washed her gumboots in the duck pond aft-cr milking. If that was so, it might give an innocent explanation of Mrs. Lakey's death, cither by a seizure or something else when she was washing her boots. When the same child witness gave evidence at this trial, she stated that Mrs. Lakey wiped her boots on the gr*®». and that the witness had only seen her wash her boots on one occasion. The little girl admitted under crossexamination by Mr. Leary that this happened after a. conversation that she had had with police officers. Cause of Mrs. Lakey's Death. Further reference as to the medical opinion of the cause of Mrs. Lakey's death was made by ill-. Northcroft, who stated that Dr. Gilmour, in his report, said that Mrs, Lakey had died from asphyxia. That view was also supported by Dr. Waddell. But that did not satisfy the Crown case, and Dr. Gilmour iiad now gone further, and said that Mrs. Lakey died from drowning. Mr. .Meredith: Mr. Northcroft should n.ake it plain that that opinion was in the report and not in the Lower Court evidence. Mr. Northcroft: I have done so; the details of that report had to be elicited by my friend, Mr. Leary. His Honor: It is very unfair, if Dr. Gilmour said in the Lower Court that death was due to drowning, that it should be suppressed. Later, when Mr. Northcroft was dealing again with the arrest of Bayly, Mr. Meredith pointed nut that his friend had said nothing incriminating had been found at Bayly's when he was arrested. Mr. Northcroft: What I .sail was that nothing had been found to justify his arrest. Mr. Meredith: Bone had been found in Bayly's garden at two o'clock that day by Detective Allsopp.