DEATH OF EDWIN ARMSTRONG

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22443, 2 July 1938, Page 7

DEATH OF EDWIN ARMSTRONG

MURDER TRIAL ORDERED

these intentions to my mother and, as a matter of fact, had intended leaving about September of this year. “When I had thought about leaving home in this way, I had also then thought of other matters at home in respect to my father’s presence. As a matter of fact, my fattier has only been back from Australia about two months after having been over there lor some seven or eight months. He' went to Australia following my mother giving him about £l3O in cash on the understanding that he would stay away for ever. This was brought about following a period of unhappiness in the home. For as long as I can remember he has always been most inconsiderate of my mother and my brother and myself. Father’s Behaviour - “If we ever had visitors or callers at the house he was always moody and growled, and would probably insult them before they left. When he was away in Australia we were a very happy family. “On his return from Australia we expected he would only stop a short time and then get out. He knew he was not wanted. I know that my another had given him practically all her savings when she had given him the £l3O to leave this country, and, further than that, since we had been living in Wellington, after coming from Dunedin, she had given him sums of money to start business on his own account, but he had only wasted them. I know that in one instance my mother gave him £IOO, and this was wasted just as the rest had been. Every one of us detested him. His manner was crude and his language lurid. We never talked to him and he never spoke to us, but that he growled. I know that he also had a good few opportunities to get jobs, but he would never take them. “When he was about the place my mother’s friends were afraid to come near, while when he had been away everything went great. I had thought things over, and realised if T went away from New Zealand my mother was getting old, and probably not in a position to retain her position as a teacher indefinitely, and was more or less dependent on my brother Bill and I. “Retarded Our Progress” “I could not imagine what would have happened with Bill away from the house, myself away altogether, and my mother left at home with hin> alone. In every way he retarded our progress socially and otherwise. On several occasions since his return from Australia, I had been involved in disturbances or quarrels with him, not done 'for my own sake but for mother’s. Always these scenes would end by me telling him to get out of the place. He often ramped and raved at me during these scenes, and I think his brain was a little gone. “Usually my mother has gone to business by 8.30 a.m. I am usually gone myself by 7 a.m. I could never bring friends home due to the atmosphere created by my father and practically the same thing applied to my brother Bill. This was in direct contrast to when only my mother was home, and it was reglly like home. On Friday, Mav 6, I did not go to work as usual. } stopped behind because I intended to have a final talk with my father to persuade him to leave, and I also intended to offer him financial assistance.

“I did not want to have ttilk of this kind with my mqther present, as her nerves are bad, and it has happened before and the strain has been too great for her. At times she had nervous breakdowns, but during his absence in Australia her health improved greatly. In addition to these facts, her holidays were commencing from May 6, and, if possible. I wanted him out of the home before that. Actually she had a breakdown just after he came back from Australia, showing her health was bad. Return to House “These combined facts determined me to stop at home on the morning of May 6, and do my best to make sure he went off out of the place altogether. I left the house at the usual time, as if going to work, but came home about 9 a.m. In the meantime. I had gone into town and just walked round and came back. When I came home about 9 a.m., I went straight to him in the kitchen and spoke to him. I asked him when he thought he was gbing to get out, and he told me to ‘Go to hell and mind my own business,’ and that he would get out when he felt like it.

“I then told him that he definitely had to get out and that we had had enough of him, and he then ranted and raved at me and called me everything under the sun. He then started to threaten me, saying he would kill me. I did not get out. He had a boot-black brush in his hand and raised it over his head in a threatening way. I started into him with my fists and think that I went berserk.

“That’s about all I want to say about that part, but afterwards I realised the necessity for cleaning the body up, as I did not want Mum to see it. I was frantic by that time, and thought I would leave it all. but then thought I had better not, and I knew I could not take the body out whole.' I cut the body up with a skinning knife I usually went out deerstalking with, and also an ordinary tenon saw. I removed the head and legs by using these instruments. Suitcases Used

“I then got two suitcases which were in the house. I divided the remainder of the body into those two suitcases.' I put the trunk with the decapitation of tl]e head in one suitcase and the head and legs in the other. I was too upset to do anything to the clothing. I did not wrap the remains in anything before placing them in the suitcases. I had to tie the suitcase with some light rope I had about the house, as lid was almost hanging from one suitcase. I had to clean a mess up hiainly in the kitchen, but there had also been some struggling in the passage. I used the knife and saw on the body in the bathroom, which adjoins the kitchen. “I think it would have been about 12 noon when I left home with the two suitcases. I thought my mother may have come home, about that time and did not want • her there. Then I went across the street to a garage, which I rent for my car. I placed the v two suitcases in there and then went and telephoned for a taxi. It picked me un at the garage and I directed the driver to go to the Union Steam Ship Company. I got out there and left the suitcases in the taxi and went in and purchased a ticket on the boat for Picton. After that I came back to the taxi and instructed the driver to drive round to.the Wellington 'Post Office Bank. 1 had taken my bank book from home with me and withdrew the whole lot deposited there. It was only five pounds. “I then went back to the taxi and went straight down to the Tamahine. I went straight on board and stopped there until sailing time. I put the suitcases under a seat and stopped there myself, as I was feeling pretty sick on it. On arrival at Picton it was raining heavily and was - very dark as well. Disposal of Suitcases “I got off the boat with the suitcases and went down towards the stern of the ship after walking towards the end of the wharf. I heaved the suitcases into the water on the same side of the wharf as the ship. I would not have been more than several paces from the end of the ship. I think I walked round a van drawn up on the wharf, and there was also a shed close to that. I then returned to the place where the railway carriages pulled up on the wharf.

“I bought a first-class ticket on the train, went to Blenheim and booked in at the Masonic Hotel in my own name, I went to thfe Union Steam Ship office at Blenheim the following morning and booked a passage for return to Wellington that day by Union Airways. I left Blenheim by aeroplane about one in the afternoon. About 20 minutes to half an hour later I landed at Rongotai, “I came into town by a company car. I do not wish to say how I spent the next few hours but at 12.30 on the following morning, which would be Sunday, 1 booked in at the Water-

100 Hotel in the name of J. Campbell. I stopped there all that day and slept there that night, leaving the hotel on Monday morning about 10 o’clock. I do not wish to say what I did between the time of leaving the hotel and about 3 o’clock the same afternoon, when 1 left "Wellington.

“When I did leave Wellington, I commenced to walk and got as far as Tawa Flat, when I was asked by a man with a car if I wanted a ride. I accepted this and went as far as Paekakariki with him. I arrived there before 6 p.m. on Monday, May 9. 1 had some tea at the station refreshment rooms and then went down the little township for a while and was back at the station about 8 p.m. I purchased a second-class ticket from the Paekakariki station, which would take me as far as Frankton Junction, but on arrival there procured a further second-class ticket and continued the journey to Auckland. Detective’s Warning

“Before making this statement I was informed by Detective Turgis and was cautioned by him that I need not say anything about how my father came by his death, but in spite of that caution it was my wish to make this voluntary statement concerning the matter, which I have read over and is true. I would further like to add that at times I have been in fear of my own life, as he often threatened me. Physically I am sure I was more than a match for him, but due to his frame of mind I had fears he may have done anything in an attempt to take my life.” That completed the evidence for the Crown.

The Magistrate asked whether the accused wished to say anything, to which Mr O’Leary replied: “No sir, not at this stage.” The accused was committed for trial-

Hearing in Lower Court Ended

STATEMENT BY ACCUSED

Pathologist’s Evidence

(PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.)

WELLINGTON, July 1. Douglas Alexander Armstrong, aged 20, a fitter and turner, who was charged with the murder of his father, Edwin Norman Armstrong, at Wellington on May (?, was committed for trial to the Supreme Court, after the hearing of the charge in the Magistrate’s Court to-day. Mr J. H. Luxford, S.M., presided. The case for the Crown was conducted by Mr W. H. Cunningham, Crown Prosecutor at Wellington, with whom was associated Sub-Inspector J. Carroll. Mr H. F. O’Leary, K.C., with him Mr D. Foster, appeared for Armstrong.

Opening the evidence to-day, Dr. Phillip Patrick Lynch, of Wellington, pathologist, said that on Majr 10, at the Picton morgue, he examined part of a body. The next day he visited the home of the dead man, Edwin Norman Armstrong, and removed certain objects for examination, and op subsequent days, he examined other exhibits, including the head and legs of the dead man at the Wellington morgue.

Dealing with his examination of the body, Dr. Lynch said that there were three stab wounds in the chest to the left of the breast-bone, and there had 'been free bleeding from them. The track of all three wounds passed through the left lung. There were two wounds on the right forearm, and others on the right hand and fingers. There were no injuries to the left hand or arm. There were two wounds on the neck, which may have been tentative cuts made before or during decapitation. There was a series of incised wounds on the right side of the face and jaw, and injuries to the head and bruises on the face and sca’p. A bruise on the face and bruises and splits on the crown of the head appeared to have been caused by some blunt or flat surfaced instrument. There were no fractures of the vault or base of the skull. The wounds and bruises of the face and head would not be likely to have been themselves fatal. There was nothing to indicate that decapitation or dismemberment commenced before life was extinct.

Cause of Death “In my opinion,” said Dr. Lynch, “death was due to internal hemorrhage and the collapse of a lung from multiple stab wounds on the left side of the chest. I think death would quickly follow these injuries. The dead man might survive for 15 to 30 minutes after such injuries, but I think not any longer.” Dr. Lynch said he had examined a small knife with a steel blade and a wooden handle. The blade was sharp on both edges and was only slightly less in width than the length of the wounds. Such a weapon could have caused the stab wounds in the chest. The amputation wounds in the soft part of the body could have been caused by a skinning knife with a strong curved steel blade, which the doctor examined. He also examined a tenon saw, in the teeth of which were fragments of muscle and bone and fibres of cloth. In the scrapings he was able to identify human blood and human hair. This saw could have been used to sever thigh bones, and the width of the sawcut in one of them corresponded to the width of the cutting edge of this saw.

The doctor also found human blood on the working trousers and shoes of the accused, and human blood on the dead man’s hat. Dr. Lynch said he had found samples of human blood on the walls of the house at 20 Hinau road, Hataitai, on a carpet-runner from the house, and on one of the taxi mats. He could find no blood stains on the rifle he had examined, but its stock presented a flat, smooth surface, and such a club could have produced the injuries to the face and the top of the head. Dr. Lynch was not able to demonstrate the presence of blood on the double-edged knife or the skinning knife. , Arrest Described Acting-Detective Martin. .Grace, of Auckland, said that on May 10, he was on duty at the Auckland railway station. On the arrival of the Limited express from Wellington, he saw the accused leave a second-class carriage and he followed him and accosted him. In reply to questions, the accused said he had joined the train at Marton and gave his name as Dave Lyon. He. said he worked in a draper’s shop, but when the witness asked which shop, the accused replied, “It’s all up. You’ve got me."

Asked if he was Armstrong, he replied, “Yes, it’s all a tragic mistake. You’ll understand when you know. I’ll go with you.” The accused accompanied the witness to a taxi where Detective Turgis asked the accused his name, to which he replied, “Doug. Armstrong,” and he said he lived at 20 Hinau road. He said he thought he would “give it a try” to fet as far as he could, but it had all een “a damnable business.”

Detective Grace said he was present at the detective office when Detective Turgis warned the accused, who replied, “I would welcome an opportunity to express in my own words some of the things which brought it about.” The witness was present when a statement was taken from the accused and he produced and read it. Mr O’Leary had no questions, but said that the accused had been treated with absolute fairness by the detectives.

Detective William Turgis, of Auckland, gave corroborative evidence. Detective Turgis said that he found in the possession of the accused a pencilled letter which Mr Cunningham said was a draft of the letter to. Mrs Armstrong’ that had already been produced. Statement by Accused

The accused’s statement, submitted to the Court by Acting-Detective Grace, read:—

“I am a single man, 20 years and 11 months of age. Usually I live with my parents at 20 Hinau street, Hataitai, Wellington. I have been advised by Detective Turgis that anything I may say in the following may later be used as evidence; but I wish to make certain explanations over something which has been causing me some worry. ■" “I am within two months of finishing my apprenticeship at the Hutt wrokshops. I have been learning the trade of fitter and turner there. I had intended, on completion of my apprenticeship, to leave New Zealand and endeavour to get a job in Australia. I had this idea in view, as I believe I would have better prospects in that country and, apart from that, I wanted to see something of that part ef the world. 1 had made mention of