COMMITTED FOR TRIAL

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24076, 12 October 1943, Page 6

COMMITTED FOR TRIAL

ATTEMPTED MURDER ALLEGED WIFE’S EVIDENCE AGAINST HUSBAND Charged with the attempted murder'of his wife. Arthur William Ryan, aged 37. a machinist, appeared in the Magistrate’s Court in Christchurch yesterday before Mr E. C. Levvey, S.M. He pleaded not guilty, and was committed for trial at the next sessions of the Supreme Court. In addition to the charge of attempting to murder his wife, Kathleen Ann Ryan, et Christchurch, on October 2, Ryan was also charged with unlawfully carrying a firearm and a quantity of ammunition on the same date. The latter charge was adjourned sine die. Mr R. P. Thompson represented the accused. Mrs Ryan stated in evidence that she had been residing with her mother, Mrs Ellen O’Loughlin, since she had separated from her husband in November of last year, and that she had returned to her mother’s home in Manchester street, Christcthurch, from Nelson, in May. Witness said she was.the . mother of two boys, one aged eight and the other three years. Though she had tried to' obtain a legal separation from Ryan, she had not been successful in doing so. On the night of October 2, said Mrs Ryan, she was sitting with her mother and a friend. Miss Doris Trevena McKeever, in front of the fire at Mrs O’Loughlin’s home, when she saw the light of a cigarette through the window. After a while she went to the front door with Miss McKeever, while iter mother went to the scullery. Hearing a noise at the rear of the house, she hurried down the passage to her mother, and there she heard a noise which was described as ‘‘a rat-tat-tat.” Returning to the front' of the house she saw a man, whom she recognised as her husband, at the front gate, and she attacked him with a poker. "He tried to get on his cycle,” she said, “while 1 lilt him over the head with the poker.” Senior-Detective H. Nuttall (the prosecutor): Were you in any doubt as to who that man was?— None whatsoever. Did he speak?— No. Mrs Ryan added that she was present the next day when a bullet was removed by the police from a board at the back of the house near the window. It was then that she noticed that a pane of glass had been broken.

Did you ever attempt to obtain a reconciliation with your husband?— When I found that I could not get a legal separation I thought it best to try and talk things over with him. He made an appointment, but it never eventuated. Doris Trevena McKeever, who gave similar evidence, said that she also attacked Ryan with a poker. This witness stated that she had flashed a torch on him and recognised him as Ryan. When she went to the scullery window, Mrs O'Loughlin said, she saw a man standing outside, and recognised him as the accused. "I called out to my daughter.” she said, ‘‘and she ran down the passage Then I saw a flash and heard the report of a gun. My daughter was then standing beside me.” Senior-Detective Nuttall: You have no doubt as to the Identity of the man?— None at all.

An incident that took place in the bar of a hotel on the same afternoon was described by John Patrick O’Loughlin, single, a factory worker, who was the son of the last witness. He was drinking with a friend, he said, when Ryan came to him. began an argument, and produced a revolver. ‘‘This is what I have for you, O’Loughlin,” Ryan is alleged to have said. O’Loughlin stated that Ryan pulled the revolver out of his pocket .and pointed it at him. The accused then replaced it in his overcoat pocket. Ryan, he added, though excited, was sober. Michael James Flanneily (an uncle of O’Loughlin’s), a barman in the hotel, said that he took possession of a bullet from Ryan. “He seemed a little* wild," said the witness, “but was perfectly sober.” • - Revolver In Hotel Martin Leo Evans, an aircraftman, who was in O’Loughlin’s company when the Incident in the bar occurred, gave corroborative evidence. He saw Ryan produce the revolver from his pocket and heard the latter say: “Come on, O’Loughlin, I am waiting for you.” It was then that the accused pointed the gun. The barman picked up a bullet. “I will get you,” Ryan is alleged to have said to O’Loughlin a little later. How Ryan was arrested at his home at 20 Shrewsbury street, Merivale, was related by Detective-Sergeant A. A. Herron. The police arrived there at 10 p.m. the same night, he said, and found Ryan In a back room. When told that his wife alleged that he had attempted to murder her, Ryan is alleged to have replied: “I went there with that Intention. lam sorry that X did not do it. She has nearly driven me mad.” When the charge was later read over to him Ryan made no comment.

The witness said there was a discharged cartridge in the breech of a revolver which he had taken from Ryan’s overcoat pocket, and he believed that it had been fired recently. Senior-Detective Nutlall: Was Ryan drunk?—He had had some drink, but I would not say that he was drunk. He was certainly excitable.

Detective M. R.. Stewart stated that when Ryan was arrested he was grabbed by both Detective-Sergeant Herron and himself, and the revolver was taken from his pocket. The official police photographer, Sergeant J. B. Kearton, stated that he had visited the O’Loughlin home on October 3, and had found a bullet hole in a covering board near the scullery window. A lead bullet, which he extracted, was discovered embedded in the weather board. He had examined a bullet which had been shown him by Detective-Ser-geant Herron, said the witness, and it was similar to that found in the building.

There was no application for bail, and Ryan was committed to stand his trial at file next sessions of the Supreme Court in Christchurch.