MURDER TRIAL AT WELLINGTON

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26263, 7 November 1950, Page 8

MURDER TRIAL AT WELLINGTON

Death At Railway Station

SUPREME COURT HEARING (New Zealand Prew Association) t WELLINGTON. November 6. Leo Sylvester Hannan, a labourer, aged 50. was charged in the Supreme Court to-day before the Chief Justice (Sir Humphrey O’Leary) and-a jury, with the murder of Frederick Andrew Stade, at the Wellington railwag station on August 10 last. Hannan, who pleaded not guilty Ift a “firm voice, was represented by Mr G. I. Josebh, with him Mr D. S. Castle. Mr W. H. Cunningham appeared for the Crown, with him Mr W. R. Birks The trial, which is expected to last into the fourth day. was not attended largely. The Crown would say. said Mr Cunningham, that this was a case ol assault in which the person carrying out the assault intended to kill, or do serious bodily injury, regardless of whether he killed or not. Stade had been nightwatchman at the Wellington railway station for seven years and had apparently been conscientious and efficient. Among his many duties were those of Closing all the platform fates except those on to No. 2 platform from which the all-night Johnsonville service left, the switching of lights on and off for the arrival and departure of trains, and the warning ot loiterers. Stade had last been seen by the driver of the. Johnsonville train, O’Connell, at 1.9 a.m. ‘when he had been talking to a man near the foreman's office. They appeared to be arguin’. A man later identified as the accused had been on the platform near the staff' lavatory, shid Mr Cunningham. Stade hhd been about » chain away and had called out something to the accused. The accused had said that he wanted to use the lavatory as the public one .was closed There were no other people on No.j2 platform when the train left at I.TB a.m. Stade’s body was found at 1.22 a.m. When the body was moved a small piece Of metal had fallen from the clothing. A scientist would swear that this piece had formerly been welded to a blood-stained bar picked up in the harbour near the railway wharf several days after the murder. A constable at the door of the wharf police station had spoken to a man, later identified by him as the accused, at 1.28 a.m. The accused had come from the direction of the railway wharf Hannan had been picked up by a police patrol at 4.30 a.m. Mr Cunningham said that the accused was seen in a cafe by a stereotype worker at 12.30 a.m. This man noticed the accused carrying an iron baf- with a small handle on the end of it. He later identified the accused. A reporter noticed a man going towards the railway station through Whitmore street—the reporter was on his way to catch the 1.15 a.m. train to Johnsonville. The reporter heard a banging of metal on the road as the man walked along. Others saw a man carrying an iron bar ton his way to the station, and another person saw the Than at the station with the iron bar

Questioning by Police When questioned at the police station by Detective-Sergeant Bevage the accused said he had just been -Talking round the place. He said that he last left home at 9 p.m. and that he had walked everywhere, including along the wharves. He had been at the railway station at 10 p.m. Detective-Sergeant Bevage then notified blood spots on the accused’s face. There was also blood on his trousers and shoes, and inside the right leg above the cuff was a piece of fleshy matter, later found to be a piece of human scalp. Blood spots were also found on the accused’s hat-band. The accused said that 'the blood "spots had been caused by his bleeding nose, but Detective-Sergeant Bevage could find no trace of blood in the accused's nostrils.

"The suggestion made by the Crown,” said Mr Cunningham, "is that Stade was attacked unawares with this weapon, that he went down before he knew what had happened, and then was battered savagely to death. Although partially disabled, Stade was a man who would be able to put up a fight it he had a chance, but there were no injuries found on his arms, which he would naturally receive in defending himself." ’ . After Mr Cunningham’s address the jury visited the railway station and the wharv-s. _ ■ t When the Court resumed. William John Miller, a police constable and photographer, produced photographs taken at ‘he railway station, the city morgue, and between the railway station and the entrance to the railway wharf.

His Honour told the jury they were entitled to see these photographs, but they were pretty ghastly and the later they saw them the better. The sight of the photographs might disturb them and not put them in the best frame of mind for considering the evidence. He invited the jury to discuss this question among themselves later. Cross-examined by Mr Joseph, the witness said it would be possible to ohotograph pinpoints of blood or pieces of flesh on a man. but so far as he knew no one had been asked to do so in this case.

Albert Baoumgren. traffic foreman at the Wellington railway station, told the Court that Stade was authorised to have people other than train pas-

sengers who loitered shifted from the premises. The public conveniences were locked on week nights about 12 o'clock. On August 9 he saw Stade closing them.

The witness said he ha* not seen men testing wheels of railway vehicles at Wellington in recent years. He ihought an iron bar for this work would not be suitable. He had seen hammers for this work in Wellington, usually lying between the tracks. Sydney George Reed, a Railways Department cadet on duty at the station on the night of August 9-10, told of hearing a moan and of seeing a body on the concourse. The witness told Mr Joseph that he saw the body and no one else before 1.21 a.m.

James Alexander Gower, a railways train control officer, said that when called by Reed he found a man’s body between the kiosk and toe telephone booths. The witness told his Honour he was positive it was 1.23 a.m. just before he called the nolice.

Rata Leonard Prince.’a stereotyper, said that he went to the Night Bird Cafe about 12.25 a.m. to 12.30 a.m. on the night of August 9-10 The accused came in carrying what appeared to be a turnkey used for turning water off. It looked like the one produced in two parts in Court. Martha Manning, a waitress at the Night Bird Cafe.'said that the accused came in about 12.40 a m.

The witness told Mr Joseph that the accused did not appear to be carrying anything. Mr Joseph produced the bar previously -shown in Court and ■asked the witness if she would have noticed this had the accused walked into the cafe with this in this hand. The witness said she thought she would

Kenneth Ivan Gibson, a journalist, said that on his wav to the 1.15 a.m Johnsonville train on the morning of August 10 he saw a man on the station side of Whitmore street walking from the east. There was a measured ringing as if the man were tapping the footpath with something. Gibson said he crossed the intersection first and heard the metallic rinsing behind him till he entered the station.

Questioned by Mr Joseph, the witness said he could not identify the m»n or what he was carrying. Mr Joseph: Could the noise you heard have been caused by the steel portion of the bottom of a walking stick?

The witness: I think it could. The case will be continued to-mor-row morning.