MURDER CHARGE

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20315, 14 August 1931, Page 18

MURDER CHARGE

I THE WELLINGTON CASE i i | EVIDENCE FOR THE POLICE. HEARING UNFINISHED. i i ; | irxsss iSSOUIATIOX TELEGiUU.i i WELLINGTON, August IS. j The hearing of the charge against ! George Errol Coats of the murder of the ! girl, Phyllis Avis S'ymons, was continued to-day, the Court again being crowded. Mr P. S. K. Macassey appeared for the Crown, and Mr C. A. L. Treadwell, mth him Mr 11. J. V. Jamea, for accused. Mr E. Page, S.M.. was on the Bench. The examination of the witness John David Glover wag continued. He said Arthur do Maine (a previous witness) was generally at; accused s ruom he (witness) was there. 1 hey usually played cards. Questioned, about the < - oiiTersatioti .tu regard to Phyllis on one cession, witness said that Coats said ho had done something to her, but would not say how he had done it. On another occasion Coats told witness he "got a beaut on to Phyllis the other night. I took her out to Hataitai and tapped her on j the back of the head with a piece of | pipe, aud knocked her out." Coats said * he waited till she came to. Coats told ' him she said, she felt cold all over, and S he "kidded" her she was going to die. I Mr Macassey: Did Coats tell you what j he hit her for? \ Witness: He said it was just to knock | her out. He told witness to keep it I under his hat. j Witness said he was at Coatss room on June 25th. On that occasion Phyllis said they were back in their rent and ' were going to shift over the week-end. That was the last time witness saw Phyllis alive, and tho last time he saw Coats before Coats was arrested. j A Letter Pound. ) On June 30th he called at Coatss f room. There was no one in tho room, jj He turned tho mattress on the bed aud found a letter (produced). On tho I morning of Sunday, July sth. witness handed to Pliyllis's father tho letter ho j had found under the mattress. J Witness said Phyllis appeared to be j fond of Coats, and Coats appeared to I witness to treat her fairly. She was I nearly always willing to do anything; I for him, and she nearly always obeyed him if h i asked her to do anything. Mr Treadwell asked witness if ho was quite certain the letter produced was the one he found. Witness said he could not; read it when he first found it, owing to his bad eyesight. He first lrnew the full contents when he handed it over to Mr Symons. H remembered something in It about suicide. Ho remembered she said Coats was doing his best to keep her in food and that she wanted her parents' consent to marry Coats. Digging of a Hole. Koberfc Brockie, a married man, living in Grafton road, Eoseneath, said Jin had been employed on tho relief works at Hataitai commencing on April !2Sth, and working four days a week from Monday to Thursday inclusive. Ho knew Coats by eight. (-'oats w:is cmployed on the same work as witness. Coats worked on the lower tip. Witness remembered the Hutt-Wellington football match played on June 3rd, and during that week he was working on the higher tip and accused was working on the lower. During that week ho saw accused excavating a hole in tho bank. He did this every day and on all occasions he was not working. Witness identified tho place where Coats had dug the hole on a photograph produced. The hole was about five feet long, three feet wide, and anywhere from two to three feet deep. Tho hole could bo very quickly covered up hy spoil being tipped over. To Mr Treadwell: Accused was working on the hole for about four days while witness was there. Sydney Penketh, married, of Island Bay, another relief worker, said that from June Ist to June 4th he was on the lower tip with Coats as his mate. Mr Macassey: On any of thoso days, between the arrival of the trucks, did you see accused go anywhere® Witness: Yes, I did. He was digging a hole into the bank where they wero tipping the ppoil from the top. How far was that from where you were?— About 50 yards. Witness said Coats did the digging on several occasions during those four days. Accused told witness the hole was to shelter him from the wind, but witness never saw liim in it. There was a plantation of trees nearer the tiphead than the hole, and this would have provided some shelter from the wind. One of the workers mentioned in Coats's presence that the liolo would be a good place to bury anyone, but witness could not say definitely who made the remark; it might have been Coats or witness himself. Witness remarked: "They would never find them there." Coats said the spoil from the tip kept coming down and filling up the hole. On one occasion one of the workmen asked, Coats what ho was digging the hole for, and accused replied, "To bury a dog." Accused told witness that a chemist along the road often poisoned dogs and buried them there. Accused had said he was living with a young girle who had told him she was over 18, but he had found out she was not, and he would have to put her out before he got into trouble. Request for Loan of Shovel. John Dunsmuir, another relief worker, said that oh June 25th Goafs came to where witness and another man named Cutfield were working, and asking witness to lend him a shovel, saying that he wanted to bury a dog. Witness said the best place to dig a hole was on top of the tip, and bury it in the soft clay there. Coats said the dog was still alive. In answer to further questions by witness and Cutfield, Coats had said he was going to kill the dog by hitting it on the head. It was then near 5 o'clock, and before leaving witness left a shovel under one of the trucks, and also another was left behind by one of the workers, to oblige accused. Usually the shovels were put in a shed overnight. While on the way liome accused remarked that if he could get a job he would go to Napier. Willoughby Brassey Cutfield, a brakesman on the trucks, .corroborated tho evidence about the leaving of a shovel. He said .Coats had some Jotters in his hand, and said he was going to Auckland for a job. He was undecided which route he would take, but ought go to Napier by boat. Leonard Oswald Gyde, a truck-driver, said Coats was not carrying a shovol when he met him one Saturday night. About a week later witness met accuse.! who asked for the use of bis motorcycle. The machine, however, was under repair and witness told Coats so, Witness did not know c,f any crevices i

in the bank in which accused might have hidden a shovel on Juno 26th. James Vivian Morris said he had been working on the relief works at Hataitai since May Ist. On Friday, Juno 26th, he was working with a man named Skill ing on the lower tip. He commenced work at 8 o'clock. A little later on ho noticed two shovels stuck in the side of the tram-line. Witness pointed out the place on a photograph. This was about 10 o 'clock. The shovels were standing up in the ground about four chains away from where witness was standing. There were no workmen in the vicinity of the shovels at tho time. Shovel Taken Away. James Skilling, a relief worker, also gave evidence about seeing two shovels between the bank and the truck line on the morning of June 26th. He agreed with the previous witness that there were no workmen in the vicinity of the shovels at that time. The aame afternoon a man came up to witness and his companion. On leaving he picked up one of the two shovels and disappeared round a bend. Cross-examined by Mr James, witness said he made no effort to prevent the man from taking the shovel, and ho did not mention the matter to the foreman. He might have mentioned it to his mates. Other relief workers gave evidence concerning Coats's movements. Charles Xdris Kidson, engineer in charge of the Hataitai relief works, de : scribed tho plans for filling a hollow to make a new recreation ground. Two tips were being used. The deepest point, would be at the junction between tho two tips about forty feet below the , higher level. This was very near the position where the girl's body had later been found. Taxi-Driver's Evidence. Alan Campbell Melville, a taxi-driver, said he had known Coats for more than eighten months. He knew he waa keeping company with a girl named Phyllis, and had often driven them in his car. Accused had his mail addressed care of witness, and often played cards with him and other friends. Accused told him the girl had run away from home. When the couple moved to Adelaide road, accused told witness of tho condition of the girl. Accused had onco said something about "giving her a crack." He remembered Glover coming to him with a letter he had found on the last Tuesday in June. On the following Saturday night, July 4th, ho told he father of the girl about it. Witness knew that,as a result of the letter a complaint was made to the police. Cross-examined by Mr Treadwell, Melville said Coats spoke of the girl'a con- i dition in- May. Witness was in the cab oJlice when Glover showed him the letter, and he was with Glover when he showed it to Mr Symons. They gave it to Mr Symons the next morning, a Sunday. Mr Symoiis read parts of it out, and "lie was pretty cut up." The Court adjourned until to-morrow morning.