THE BOMB CASE.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20629, 19 August 1932, Page 9

THE BOMB CASE.

MOUNCER FOUND GUILTY. SENTENCE DEFERRED. \ liesulting from the discovery of a bomb on the steamer Tees at Lyttelton on August sth, George Thomas Mounccr, aged 37, was at the Supremo Court yesterday found guilty by a jury of placing an explosive substance on board the steamer Tees with intent to do bodily harm to Albert Baldwin Anderson, the master of the ship. The case was heard before the Chief Justice, the Rt. Hon. Sir Michael Myers, who deferred sentence until Tuesday.

Detective N. W. Laugesen said he had on August sth made enquiries at Lyttelton concerning the bomb found on the Tees. He had interviewed accused, who had made a statement denying any knowledge of the bomb. On August 6th he had called on'Mounecr again and had had a look through the workshop at his residence. There he had found, under the bench, a piece of wood on wliicb was a drawing slightly rescfnbling the trigger arrangement on'the bomb. This piece of wood fitted exactly the piece in the base of the bomb, and the saw-cut on the end of the two pieces was on the same angle, done with-a fine-toothed saw. Several saws of this kind were in the workshop. The cartridge in the bomb had a hole drilled in one side of its ease, and in the workshop was a drill, in the chuck of which was a bit exactly fitting the hole. A case of oddments" on the bench contained some loose phot, quite new and fresh, similar to what would have been in the cartridge. ' , When the bomb had first been handed to witness it had been in its assembled state, except that the gelignite hud been removed. A piece of string had been attached to the trigger, passed through a hole in the lid, and knotted on the outside. 'The lid could not be lifted without the striker being released. Making tlie Bomb. Accused was taken to the police station, where, in another statement, he said'that recently, feeling that Anderson was "getting the dirt m, he had become so incensed that he decided to "get the wind up" Anderson. Me had taken a piece of gelignite from the tool box while he was on relief work. Uc had made the bomb on the e\cning or August 4th, and had set the striker so 'that if the lid was lifted if would be .released. He had wrapped the bomb into a parcel, addressing it to Anderson, and at ] a.m. on August ath lie had taken it to the Tees. He thought it would scare Andersou. Constable Jackwavs described hts visit to the Tees at the request ot Captain Anderson. When lie had examined the bomb he found that the trigger arrangement appeared to have fncd. Accused Gives Evidence. Mouncer, in the box, said that in 'February, 1930, he had been first mate of the 'Tees, and Anderson had been second mate. Some minor trouble had occurred at Timaru on act-ount ot which he had signed off, fully expecting to rejoin the vessel in Wellington. AlldUlSOll had taken his place as mate, and witness had not rejoined. Since then hehad been unable to obtain a ship, and for the last twelve months had been; on relief work. This was a, serious matter for him, as he was supporting his invalid mother. At this stage his Honour interposed.

asking exactly how this was relevant to the defence. Counsel for Mouncer said it served partly to explain wliy the bomb was placed on the ship. His Honour: I do not wish to do anything that is not absolutelj' fair. But I do not sec how these matters affect his guilt or innocence. Reasons for Action. Continuing, Mounccr said he had beeu distinctly hurt, and had been resentful of Anderson's subsequent attitude. His friend Gibson was working on the Tees, and accused used to visit him on board the ship. Gibson had been in that position for six years. Ou August 3rd witness had heard definitely that Anderson was not going to re-engage Gibson ou the Tees. He had decided to "put the wind up Anderson." He had taken the piece of gelignite from among some other gelignite because it was the smallest piece, and because it was clearly labelled "gelignite." "I constructed this thing with a view to making it look really effectivo and at the same time quite safe," ho said.. He had had some experience o£ bombmaking on Gallipoli, and in Prance lie had stripped a lot of enemy shells for the brigade museum. As for his other experience of explosives, lie had for a time been mate of Nobel's explosive schooner Fluia. Blasting operations had been carried on on the job ou which lie had been employed for the past six months. Ho was experienced enough to make a, bomb that would go off. "I could also make this thing, which would not go off," he added. An Ineffective Bomb. lie considered this bomb was not effective. The spring of the trigger was very weak, too weak to detonate the cap. The point of the striker ho had reduced 1o the thickness of a pencil point. This would make it so small Ilmt it would have no real detonating effect. Compared with the ordinary striker of a ritle or shotgun this was a toy. Loss than one-tenth of the area of the firing cap would be affected by the striker, lie had made some tests, and on tho base of the cap thefe should be several marks resulting from these. The base of the cartridge itself would normally be packed with a wad, but he had removed this padding, leaving only a small card disc. It was generally recognised that unless the gases released by the ignition of powder were strongly confined they would have little or no explosive effect. It merely ignited and fizzled away. The disc would have been pushed out against the eud of tho pin. The gelignite would not have been fired. In the trials he had made there had been no explosion. Action Admittedly Foolish.

He had wrapped up the contrivance, and had placed it on board the Tees at about 1 a.m., hoping that Anderson in the morning would pick it up, open it,- see the word? "Nobel's gelignite," and get the shock of his life. " 1 realise now that it Was very foolish, but I knew the thing would not go off," he added.

The next he heard of the proceedings was through the scare headlines in the newspapers. This had alarmed liim considerably, with the result that he felt like "a blessed anarchist." When the detective came to his house I he time he had denied all knowledge. On the detective's second visit be had given him every facility. The workshop had remained just as he had left it. He accompanied the detective to the police statioD, to which Gibson had been brought while he was there. Think-

ing that Gibson might bo charged with complicity, witness admitted to the detective that he himself had made the bomb, "[ never considered injury iu making the bomb. I considered it absolutely impossible. I considered there was positively no risk," he declared. Reasons for Resentment. To the Crown Prosecutor, Mouncer said that Anderson bad not been concerned in the original dispute at Timaru. which had been between witness and a member of the crew. The trouble was to have beeu settled in Wellington, and Anderson had been entrusted with a telegram instructing witness, who was then in Lyttclton, to attend the meeting. Anderson had been given this at noon, but it had not arrived in Lyttclton until too late, at 7.45 p.m. Explaining the elaborateness of the bomb, Mouncer said it had to look effective, otherwise Anderson might merely have laughed at it. It was possible to prophesy, within limits of safety; what explosives would do. The Crown Prosecutor: "Why did you not tell the detective, when he was questioning you about, the working of the bomb, that it could not havo gone off. that it was a dummy? Accused: I thought it was sufficient when I told him that I intended only to scare Anderson. T was agitated at the time.

Questioned by his Honour, accused said that when he had first been interviewed by the police lie had made an untrue statement in denying knowledge of the bomb. His Honour: Did you not say in your second statement, "I knew that if'tho thing had exploded it would have blown Anderson up 1 !" Accused: Yes. His Honour: You now say it could not havq exploded, yet you said in that same statement that you {txcil the string to the trigger mechanism so that opening the lid would have exploded the bomb. Accused: The detective would say something and I would answer it. His Honour: Yet you icad the statement through and signed it as correct. Accused: Yes. His Honour: How would scaring Anderson affect his conduct toward yourself or toward Gibson. Accused: I thought it might make him more considerate generally. To his counsel: Mouncer said the detect ive had asked no questions whether it was a dummy bomb. His Honour's Summing Up. Summing up, his Houoiir said Mounccr was charged with having placed an explosive substance on board the ship Toes with intent to do bodily harm. A man 's intent had to be judged by what he did or what he said at or about the time of the events concerned in the charge. "I. do hope it will be lorn; before juries in a British country will tolerate lightly the sending of explosive substances to a person in any such manner as has been done in this case," said his Honour. Leaving out of consideration the mechanism of the bomb, it had to be. remembered that gelignite was a peculiar explosive, which might go off by being dropped on the floor, his Honour continued. The first natural impulsive action r.f anyone opening such a parcel and .discovering that it was a bomb, would be to drop it. ■So it could not be contended that there was no danger. Tt hail to be -considered whether the explanation that the bomb was innocuous was not an afterthought, based upon the fact that the bomb did not go off. It was open to question whether this explanation should not have been given at tho time of the police interview of August 6th. If the jury found that under no elrcum-

stances eould danger have accrued, they should.find Mounccr not guilty. But, if the explosive had gone off, the explanation made that the bomb was a dummy would not have been posßible. The jury brought in a verdict of "guilty." with a ridor that stricter precautions should be taken in the care and distribution of gelignite 'and explosives generally. His Honour said that he would instruct the Registrar to , forward the rider to the Minister fot Justice and to the Minister for Internal Affairs. He would not deal with the prisoner immediately, as he wished to consider the ease. ,

Mounccr was remanded to appear on Tuesday.