MURDER CHARGE AT AUCKLAND

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26967, 17 February 1953, Page 10

MURDER CHARGE AT AUCKLAND

WOMAN’S DEATH AT HUIA 68-YEAR-OLD CRIHPLE IN DOCK (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, February 16. Assisted by two constables who carried him up a flight of stairs, a 68-year-old cripple, Cornelius Bartholomew Bryan, appeared in the Magistrate’s Court before Mr M. C. Astley, S.M., today to face a charge of murder. He pleaded not guilty to murdering Martha Constance Daisy King, aged , 66, at Huia on January 10, and was committed to the Supreme Court for trial. Eight witnesses for the prosecution told of how Mrs King had been found; unconscious in the house she had oc-j cupied with the accused for 16 years; and died later from multiple injuries.! The prosecution was conducted by Sir Vincent Meredith, and Mr George Skelton appeared for the accused. Hoori Tarawa Simons, a war pensioner, who lived in a bach about 45ft away from the accused’s house, said that the day before Mrs King’s death the accused had gone to the witness’s bach about 8 a.m. and asked whether he had any “home brew” left. The witness went down to the store and bought two bottles of brandy and six bottles of beer. It was after 10 a.m. when he arrived back, and from then until about 1 p.m. the witness, the accused, and Mrs King sat in the accused’s home and drank. During the remainder of the afternoon the witness was visiting friends, but he returned to the accused’s home about 5 p.m. He took three bottles of beer from his own bach across to Bryan’s home. The witness knocked on the back door of the accused’s home and called out. He was greeted by the accused, who said: “Come and have a look at this.” The witness entered the house and saw Mrs King lying on the bedroom floor between the two beds. She was “paralytic drunk” and half naked.

The accused turned to the witness and s'aidt “The old drank all my brandy while I was asleep.” A fewminutes later, while the witness had his back turned, he heard a bump. Looking round, he saw the accused lift Mrs King by her upper arms and bump her head on the ground. The witness told him to stop it and “come and have a “Heard Two Bumps” Later that night, when the witness had returned to his own bach, he head two bumps in the accused’s home. He walked outside and heard Bryan say: “I’ll teach you to drink my brandy.” The witness heard his own name mentioned, and there were more bumps. He heard the accused say in a coaxing voice: “Come _on, Daisy, get up off the floor and get into bed.” x

Later that night the witness heard other noises which could have, been made by the accused walking round the house with the aid of his two walking sticks. Shortly after 8 a.m. on the following day the accused arrived at the witness’s house and told him that Daisy had been knocked about by two women. The accused’s singlet and dungarees were covered with blood. His hands were also stained. The accused said that he had heard one of the women say: “We have been after you for a long time, and now we have got you.” Senior-Detective J. B. Finlay said that when he arrived with the police party the accused said: “Now we will be able to do something for Daisy. There has been some dirty work here.” Statement Produced In a statement which the witness produced the accused said that Mrs King was “a bit mental and was in a home in Owen street, Wellington, for 12 months and came back from there over 12 months ago.” The accused said that he and Mrs King had gone to bed about 8 p.m. About midnight he awoke to find the bedroom door shut. He heard a woman’s voice out by the front door, and went into the living room. There, the accused said, he found Mrs King lying on the floor by the bedroom door. He heard a woman’s voice outside saying: “We have been after you for years, and now we’ve got you.” Bryan said he did not look out to see who the women were. It was dark at the time, and he could only see two forms. They were both dressed as women. The accused-added that he got the blood on him when he held Mrs King to try to give her a drink of brandy. He heard no commotion during the night. Dr. F. J. Cairns, pathologist at the Auckland Public Hospital, said he went to Huia with the police party. When he arrived Mrs King was unconscious. Later that day she died, and the witness performed a postmortem. Death was caused by shock and multiple injuries. Mrs King was extensively bruised.