HEARING OF MURDER CHARGE

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27089, 11 July 1953, Page 8

HEARING OF MURDER CHARGE

Shooting Of Tinwald

Taxi-Driver

LABOURER COMMITTED FOR TRIAL

Charged with the murder of James Alexander Henderson, a taxi-driver, of Tinwald, at Lagmhor, on June 1, Eruera Te Rongapatahi, aged 23, a labourer, appeared in the Magistrate’s Court at Ashburton yesterday before Mr E. A. Lee, S.M. After hearing the evidence of 34 witnesses, the Magistrate committed the accused to the Supreme Court at Christchurch for trial.

To complete the hearing, the Court sat until 9.15 p.m.

Ah inquest into Henderson’s death was held in conjunction with the hearing, and adjourned sine die.

Witnesses detailed events in Ashburton on the week-end | of May 30 and 31, and of the finding on June 1 at Mount 1 Somers of Henderson’s taxi and his body.

i Sir Arthur Donnelly, with him Mr | P. T. Mahon, appeared for the Crown. ■ Mr D. W. Russell, with him Mr V. W. ! Russell, represented the accused. Mr i A. C. Robinson appeared on behalf of the family of Henderson at the inquest into Henderson’s death, which i was conducted jointly with the hear- ■ ing.

Constable William McDonald Ramage, one of the first police party to visit Mount Somers, produced photographs showing the position in which the body was found, of the surrounding area, and of the taxi where it was found. At the Christchurch mortuary he removed the clothing from the body. He produced a small piece of metal, which he described as appearing to be part of a bullet, which was found in the left breast of the overcoat. He was present when a pathologist conducted a post-mortem examination, and saw him remove numerous small pieces of metal from the body. He also produced the front seat of Henderson’s taxi, and pointed to scratches.

The widow of Henderson, Esma Catherine Henderson, said her husband had been operating a taxi for six weeks before his death. On the night of May 31 she and her husband were in bed when the telephone rang. He put his clothes on over his pyjamas and went outside to the car. While he was out the telephone rang again, and a man’s voice asked whether her husband was on his way. That was at 10 minutes after midnight. Her husband had said he would be no later than 12.45 a.m. When he did not return the police were notified. When he left home her husband had a canvas bag in which he kept his money. He had about £2O and some silver in the bag. On the previous day she had been in the car. The traffic indicators were then all right, as was the lampglass on a taxi sign. There were no scratches on the back of the leather seat. Friendship With Girl Daisy Elva May Coulston, a married woman, said she knew the accused well as “Johnny Stevens.” He had been keeping company with the witness's cousin, Natalie Ruck. She knew that Miss Ruck had commenced to keep company with the accused’s brother, Dick, before the week-end of May 30. On May 29 she and her husband had gone to bed about 10 p.m. at their home in the Commercial Flats. The accused’s brother and her cousin were left in the kitchen, where the light was out. About 10.30 p.m. the accused arrived at the flat and knocked on the door. She knew it was the accused because of a special knock. No one answered the knock, and the accused went away. On Saturday, May 30, the accused, his two brothers, and Miss Ruck visited her home. The accused then asked her cousin where she had been 1 bef ore. She replied that she had been out. Later that day the witness gave the accused a message from Miss Ruck that she was “going with Dick and not going out with the accused any more.” “I was worried about the accused because I knew he was very upset,” the witness continued. “I thought he mi|ht do something harmful to him-

On the Saturday night she and her husband visited her sister, Mrs Rooke. While they were there the accused’s brother Dick and Natalie Ruck arrived, and said they were going to Chertsey. Some time later the accused arrived. He was carrying a rifle, and had a fair amount of ammunition. He said he was going deerstalking. The witness had told the accused this his brother and her cousin had gone to Chertsey. The accused had gone back to the witness’s home about midnight, when she and her husband left the party, and the accused had stayed the night. About 11 o’clock on the Sunday morning she went to Chertsey with her husband, the accused, and another man in a taxi to get more beer, the witness continued. The men returned with a five-gallon jar, a two-gallon jar, two half-gallon jars, six bottles of beer, and two of cider. The taxi had dropped them at Mrs Rooke’s home, where they drank some beer.

The accused had returned with herself and her husband to their flat in the evening, and some members of the Celtic Football Club had called with some beer. The witness had gone to bed. When she got up about 1.30 p.m. she found her husband and the accused having a meal of stew. About midnight the accused left, taking with him the rifle and ammunition after she had returned to him the bolt and magazine of the rifle, which the accused had asked her to keep earlier. “I told him not to do anything rash, and he said he would not,” the witness said. “He said he was going to bed and would see us the next day. He was very drunk. He was very worried about Natalie. On and off all day he mentioned her name—he used to call her ‘Missie.’ ’’ Liquor at Party

The husband of the previous witness, Wiliiam Coulston, a slaughterman, gave evidence on similar lines to that of his wife. When asked whether there was much liquor at the party on the Saturday night, he replied: “I was a bit drunk myself and didn’t take much notice.” On the Sunday morning he and the accused had a few beers at a friend's room upstairs in the flats. Then they went to Chertsey and to Mrs Rooke’s home. When tney arrived home some team-mates from the Celtic football team had called with some beer. ’ He had paid for the accused’s share of the beer because the accused had no money. The accused had left about midnight. Mr Mahon: What condition was he in? The witness: When you are drunk yourself it is hard to tell how drunk the other man is.

George Gilmore Campbell, a brickmaker. when asked by Mr Mahon about the party at Mrs Rooke’s home on the Saturday night, denied that he had been there. He had been there on the Sunday, he said. Asked about the Sunday, the witness replied: “It was about 2 o’clock when we got started,” at which there was laughter at the back of the courtroom. The Magistrate ordered a constable to put the persons out if they failed to behave properly. ! When the witness persisted in his denial that he had been at Mrs Rooke’s home on Saturday, Mr Mahon asked that he be stood down. “It is either that or to ask leave to declare him hostile, and I don’t ■want to do that,” he said. The witness was then stood down. Recalled later, the witness retracted the statement that he had not been at Mrs Rooke’s place on the Saturday. On the Sunday evening when he returned with the Coulstons and the accused to the Commercial Flats, he went to bed. the witness said. His flat was upstairs. About 8.15 p.m. the accused woke him. and asked for a loan of 5s and for a cigarette. The witness gave him both. All the party had been under the influence of liquor to some extent, "but

it was dying.” When the accused left his room at 8.30 p.m. he was fairly sober. Mirihau Meager, a 17-year-old domestic, a cousin of the accused, said the accused had boarded with her mother. On the Saturday night, May 30, she had seen the accused during the interval at the cinema, when she and her sister had asked him lor a match. When he searched his pockets for a match he produced some .303 ammunition, which he said he had “pinched.”

On the night of May 31 she had slept at her mother’s home, and had not heard anyone come into the house during the night. Bernard William Dwyer, a slaughterman, and Leo John Ragatski, a mechanic, both members of the Celtic Football Club, gave evidence that they and two other men had called at Coulstons’ flat on the Saturday night, taking with them about three gallons of beer. Both said the accused’s condition was satisfactory when they left about 11 p.m. Dwyer said the accused probably had eight or nine eight-ounce glasses of beer. “Kept Company With Accused”

Natalie Joyce Ruck, who said that she was 22, said she had kept company with the accused and used to go out with him two or three times a week until the week-end of May 23. “I met his brother Dick, took a liking to him and started going out with him,” she continued.

On Tuesday, May 26, the accused was late for an appointment with the witness, who told him: ”You’re a nice one. If it had been Dick he’d have been here on time.” The accused had replied: “If that’s the way you feel about it, go and get Dick.” On Saturday, May 30, she had an appointment to meet the accused’s brother at the Coulstons’ flat. The accused and another brother were there. On the previous evening she had been in the kitchen with the accused's brother when there was a knock on the door. When the accused asked on the Saturday where she had been, she replied: “Out.” She could not remember what he replied, but he seemed satisfied. When the accused left for the Somerset Hotel he asked the witness and Mrs Coulston to meet him there later, but they went to the Devon Hotel, where they met the accused's brother. The witness later that day sent a message to the accused that she was “going with Dick.”

On the Saturday she had spent the evening with the accused's brother. Again on Sunday she had met him, i and they had gone to a friend’s place, where they stayed the night. After agreeing that she and the accused had exchanged photographs, the witness added: “We were just friendly.” Brother’s Evidence Richard Pepene Te Rongapatahi, a 19-year-old labourer, of Christchurch, a brother of the accused, said that early in May he visited Westerfield and did casual work in the district. He first met Miss Ruck about March and during the last week in May he took her out. On Wednesday, May 27, he had visited Mr and Mrs Coulston, together with his brother and Miss Ruck. He took his brother home on his motor-cycle and then returned to meet Miss Ruck by appointment. “I don’t think the girl’s name was mentioned between me and my brother,” the witness told the Court. His brother could not drive a car—"he would not get a licence if he tried”—but he could ride a motor-cycle. He would probably know where the witness kept his motor-cycle. He had been shooting with the accused, who was an average shot. John O’Grady, a taxi-driver who drove the accused with the witnesses, Mr and Mrs Coulston and Campbell, to Mrs Rooke’s home, said that Coulston was “well under the weather,” but the accused, who was carrying a rifle, was quite orderly. The ordinary taxi fare from Ashburton to Westerfield was £l, with about 2s added for a trip after midnight. Theft of Rifle Norman Stephens, a blacksmith, said he noticed on May 31 that a Window of Collins and Company, hardware merchants, was broken. He notified the management. The manager of the company, Charles Eric Morris, gave evidence that when the stock was checked on June 3 it . was found 'that a .303 rifle numbered 11123 was missing. That was the number on the rifle produced in Court. Later it was found that some boxes of ammunition were not accounted for by sales. Edward Arthur Dix, who was the sole telephone exchange attendant on duty In Ashburton on the night of May 31, said that the accused, whose voice he recognised, rang him from the public call box and said he had no change. He called up at the exchange, and the witness changed 2s 6d for him. Then the accused from the public call box asked for 1166 M, which was Henderson’s number. After a short interval he asked for the same number. On the first occasion Henderson had answered the telephone, and on the second occasion a woman answered. He saw Henderson's taxi turn in the main street, heard someone walk over to it, and it move away. Okeroa Priscilla Beech, a married woman, of Tinwald, said that the accused was her nephew, and since early in 1933 he had stayed with her. He had not slept at her place on the night of May 31, but shortly after midnight he came into her room and asked: “Has Natalie been here?” and whether the witness had seen the accused’s brother. She said she had not, after which the accused grunted and walked outside. She heard a car drive away.

Walter Stanley Beech, a pensioner, the husband of the previous witness, said on May 31 he had been staying with the accused’s father. After midnight the accused had called and asked whether his elder brother was home. Oh June 4 the accused’s father had woken him. In the living-room he had seen the accused sitting by the fire. He had gone to a house about a mile away and telephoned the police. Doreen Elizabeth Meager said she keot house for her uncle, the accused’s father, at Westerfield. On May 30 she had seen the accused at the pictures. He had some .303 bullets with him. The accused told the witness he was “after Dick.”

Shots Heard Miss Edith Leah Watson said that her home at Lagmhor was near the road. About 12 45 a.m. on June 1 she heard five shots close to the house. There was an interval between the first two shots and then three fired in rapid succession. She and her sister got up and they saw car lights on the road. The car had been stationary, but it moved off, travelling very slowly, towards Tinwald. Some distance down the road it stopped. About five minutes later she heard a car start. Charles John Goodfellow, a farmer, of Lagmhor, said he heard a car stop and then heard three shots. Then he heard a car revving for quite a while and then beard a car go up the road. Then he heard a car revving “very much.” The car was finally driven away. Three witnesses described the finding of Henderson’s taxi at Mount Somers. Pendale Francis Gifkins, a lime miller, of Mount Somers, said he had been awakened by the noise of a car on the night of May 31. The engine was racing, and he considered that a car was stuck in a water-race. The car was there in the morning. _. , , . George Laidlaw Linton, a freezing worker, of Timaru, who had gone to Mount Somers for shooting, said he had seen the car in a water-race. Near it he had found a wrist-watch. Wingate Rollin Webb, a bus operator, saw the taxi, which he recognised, in the water-race on June 1 and reported it to the police. Constable lan Rose, of Ashburton, said he had gone to Mount Somers with the previous witness. The car appeared to have made a half-circle and come to rest in the water-race. The fact that the water-race was there would be unknown t 6 anyone new to the locality who was travelling at night. When the witness examined the car he found a large bloodstain on the floor in the rear compartment and a strip of flesh on a front door. A taxi driver’s hat was on the floor in front.

On June 4, the witness was a member of the police party that entered the accused’s father’s home. The accused was

silent. The witness searched him and found 14 rounds of .303 bullets in his pockets. Senior-Sergeant C. H. Reardon, of Ashburton, said he had been on duty at the Ashburton trotting meeting on June 1 when he recieved a call from Constable Rose to go to Mount Somers. He went there with Detective C. P. Burns, of Christchurch, who was on duty at the races. Henderson's body was found just inside a pine plantation, some 75 feet from a bloodstain on the ground 14 feet from the taxi.

Detective Cyril Patrick Burns, who corroborated the evidence of the previous witness, said an examination of Henderson’s clothing revealed a canvas bag containing £3l 12s 6d. Alan John Adams, a constable from Rakaia, described finding a sugar-bag containing .303 ammunition. Under It was a tobacco tin and three loose rounds. He found the bag about five feet from tnc roadway and some 90 yards from the taxi.

Coat Found in Riverbed Gordon Ferguson Gillies, an actingdetective, gave evidence of making a search in the bed of the Ashburton river. About a quarter of a mile from where Henderson’s taxi was found he discovered a man’s suit coat. The name “Stevens” was written on the lining of one sleeve. Twelve rounds of .303 ammunition were found in the coat. There were spots on the lining of the coat that appeared to be blood. Selwyn David Soper, a constable, of Christchurch, produced two .303 shells, which he found on the side of the main road near Lagmhor. Pathologist’s Evidence Colin Thomas Bushby Pearson, a pathologist. stated that an external examination of Henderson’s body showed extensive external injuries. In his opinion death had occurred at least 12 hours before and 12 to 24 hours before his examination of the body at Mount Somers on June 1. A post-mortem examination showed that the cause of death was a penetrating wound of the chest and grave lacerations of the heart. “The deceased had been shot three times from a high-powered weapon,” the witness said. He listed six groups of wounds. There was a penetrating wound entering the right side of the neck, passing forward into the mouth. There was a penetrating wound on the right side of the neck passing forward and slightly downwards to fracture the left collar-bone and pass out through a wound in the front of the left shoulder. Another penetrating wound was to the. right side of the chest, fracturing the fourth rib, lacerating the lungs and heart, and passing out through the left chest wall. There were an extensive lacerated wound of the left forearm, multiple minor wounds, and several penetrating wounds of the upper part of the chest and upper part of the arm on the left side. The first two groups of wounds were serious, but not necessarily fatal. The third, that which lacerated the lungs and heart, would mean almost instantaneous death.

The witness said he was given clothing by the police. An examination showed that on the lining of both pockets of a pair of trousers there were traces of human blood.

Arms Expert’s Statement William Alfred Thomas McGuire, a police sergeant, arms and ballistics officer at Wellington, gave evidence about the rifle produced in Court. He said it had no mechanical defect likely to cause the rifle to discharge accidentally. The trigger pull was safe, and the safety catch when applied was effective. He examined three fired shells sent to him by the police from Christchurch. Each bore a characteristic pattern, corresponding to the markings on the firing pin and the face of the bolthead of the rifle. He had examined cartridges labelled as having been taken from the accused’s pockets, cartridges found in a sugar-bag, and cartridges that were in the magazine of the rifle. All were similar.

He had examined scratches on the back of the front seat of Henderson’s taxi, and they matched exactly the foresight of the rifle.

Clothing he had examined had tears consistent with bullet damage. Archie Brian Tate, a detective-sergeant, said that at 3.5 a.m. on June 4 he was one of the police party that visited the home of accused’s father, and found accused sitting in front of the fire. The witness, in company with Detective-Ser-geant Urquhart, took the accused to a car and left for Ashburton. After going about half a mile, the witness asked the accused whether he had a rifle. He said there was one in the washhouse, so they returned and obtained the rifle. Statement Made At the Ashburton Police Station the accused was warned that any statement he might make would be taken down in writing and might be used in evidence. He said he wished to make a statement, and, after further warning, his statement was taken down. Producing the statement, Detective-Ser-geant Tate read: “I started to drink on Saturday morning, and kept on drinking all day. I drank beer and brandies. In the evening I broke into Collins’s shop by breaking a window. I took a rifle and some ammunition. I took it to shoot myself because I had an argument with my girl, Natalie Ruck. I had been going with her for six months.” The statement produced continued on the lines of evidence given earlier in the hearing of drinking on the Saturday night and Sunday, May 31. After describing his visit on Sunday to the Coulston’s flat, where he put the ammunition in a sugar-bag, the accused said that at midnight he thought he would get a taxi and see whether he could find

his brother and Miss Ruck. At the post office he rang Henderson and said he wanted to go to Westerfield. “I got in the front seat of the taxi when it came,” the statement said. “I kept the rifle in the front seat and had the sugar-bag with the ammunition there, too. I told Hendcrton to drive me to Mrs Beech’s place at Tinwald. I only had about half-a-crown in money. I knew I didn’t have enough to pay for the taxi. I was going to pay him on Monday. I didn’t tell him this. He did not ask me.” Describing his visit to Mrs Beech s home, the accused said he picked up a photograph of Miss Ruck there. “I was silly with the beer from all the drinking I had done on Sunday,” the statement said. After calling at his father’s home m Westerfield, he asked Henderson to drive him back to Tinwald. About three miles up the road the accused asked Henderson to stop. He got out of the car and leaned the rifle against the car. “Henderson got out and stood alongside the front door on the asphalt,” the statement said. “I picked up the rifle, took the safety catch off, and fired at him. I didn’t sight at him, I just looked along the barrel. After I fired he ran in front of the car. I fired again. He went down this time. He was lying on the road when I fired a third shot. I pulled him on to the grass and backed the car up. I put him in.” The statement said the accused had driven some' way and “I saw a car coming from Tinwald. I put Henderson out, and after the car went past I put him in the back again. I did not stop again until the car went into a ditch when I was turning a corner. I put Henderson’s body in a hollow. Then I went up to the broom and stayed there all night. I stayed Monday up in the big hills in the back. On Tuesday I came down to a haystack near a timber mill. I stayed there that night.” While he was in the hills he had nothing to eat but turnips. “Had No Row With Him” “I don’t know why I shot Henderson,” the statement concluded. “I had no row with him. He never said anything about paying the fare. I never thought about shooting him before I got out of the taxi. I just brought up the rifle and pulled the trigger. I don’t know any more than that. I didn’t know Henderson very well. I had got him to drive me two or three times before.”

The witness said that when the accused was arrested he had 2s 4d in his possession.

George Colin Urquhart, a detective-ser-geant, said that there was a button missing from Henderson’s trousers, and a button which the witness found during his investigations tallied with the others. Near the home of the witness, Miss Smith, at Lagmhor, Detective-Sergeant Urquhart had found a shell case and two black buttons. There were also some bloodstains on the tar-sealed road. Further along the road there was a much larger .bloodstain. The witness corroborated Detective-Ser-geant Tate’s evidence of the warnings given to the accused and of the statement he made. A taxi record book that belonged to Henderson showed that he had done three jobs of a total mileage of 20 on May 31, the witness said. The difference between the speedometer reading in the record and the reading when the taxi was found was 36 miles. The trip meter showed 36.45 miles. The witness had traversed the route mentioned in the statement of the accused and found it to be just under 37 miles.