MURDER ATTEMPT ALLEGED

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27151, 22 September 1953, Page 6

MURDER ATTEMPT ALLEGED

Man Committed For Trial , LOWER COURT HEARING William Foubister, aged 68 years, a retired foreman stevedore, pleaded not guilty in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday to a charge of attempting to murder his wife, Evelyn Norman Foubister, aged 66. at Christchurch on August 21. Mr Raymond Ferner, S.M., committed Foubister to the next sitting of the Supreme Court in Christchurch for trial. Mr A. W. Brown appeared for the Crown and Mr R. A. Young represented Foubister. Dr. D. A. Cotton said he was on duty in the casualty department at the Christchurch Public Hospital about 5.30 p-m. on August 21 when the accused and Mrs Foubister were brought in by ambulance. Mrs Foubister was in a serious condition. She had severe and multiple lacerations of the head, a number of deep gashes involving bones of the skull. She was severely shocked and unconscious. Witness said he had learnt that accused had drunk “something from a bottle of medicine” and he instructed that a saline emetic be administered. He had also washed out his stomach. Accused was discharged on September 9. . . Dr. W. L. F. Uttley, surgical registrar at the hospital, said that at first it was considered extremely unlikely that Mrs Foubister would survive, but although she remained unconscious for some time there was a general improvement in her condition at the end of 48 hours and subsequently she made a steady recovery and regained consciousness. It was possible that the pinch bar exhibited could have caused the iniuries to Mrs Foubister’s head. Dr. Franz Kral said that Mrs Foubister had been his patient since May 3. She was suffering from congestive heart failure when she first consulted him. This condition required strict medical attention and plenty of rest. Pathologist’s Evidence Dr. C. T. B. Pearson, a pathologist, said that when he went to the house at 56 Retreat road, where the Foubisters had been living, on August 21 he noticed that the bed-sitting-rcfom at the front of the house was in marked disorder and there were pools of blood on the floor. Dr. Pearson said that he had removed some of the blood and two pieces of wallpaper bearing blood stains. As a result of tests he had concluded that all the blood was human. Items of clothing which he had been told had been removed from the accused were also examined. Tests made with samples of the substance taken from the shoes and from the clothing showed that it was probably blood and of human origin. Mr Brown asked witness what would be the result of a person taking Friar's Balsam. “It would be a gastric irritant and would give rise to nausea and vomiting.” said Dr. Pearson. “If there was long-continued vomiting as a result of drinking the medicine this might lead to circulatory collapse. It is unlikely to cause any symptom of unconsciousness.” , Frederick Robert Childs, a barman

employed at the New Albion Hotel in Colombo street, said he had seen the accused in the public bar about 12.30 p.m. on August 21. Foubister had one double brandy and then left. Witness said that he knew the accused only slightly. Kenneth Cullen McVinnie, manager of Pearson’s Coke Merchants, of Falsgrave street, said that Foubister had come to the office between 3.30 p.m. and 4 p.m. on August 21 to pay for coke that had been ordered by his daughter-in-law about two days before and which had not yet been delivered. He said that there was a faint semblance of the smell of liquor on accused. Two Notes Found Robin Foubister, an apprentice, of 56 Retreat road, said that when he arrived home at 4.55 p.m. on August 21 he found his grandfather lying on the floor just inside the dining-room door. Witness carried him through to his parents’ bedroom. Witness called out for his grandmother, but there had been no answer. When he entered the bed sitting-room occupied by his grandparents he saw his grandmother sitting on the floor half supporting herself on her bed. She was groaning and her face was spotted with blood. There was a wound on her head. He placed his grandmother on the bed. Drawers had been pulled out and the contents spread over the floor. Witness said that he went to the nearest telephone box to call his father. On the table in the dining-room of his home he saw two notes, said Foubister. They were in his grandfather’s handwriting. One in pencil bore the words “I did” and then a “t.” The other note said: “I did it Norm. I am fed up. I leave all to you four.” Witness said that the pinch bar exhibited in Court was one that he had made at work.

Archibald Denyer Clark, a part-time worker at the Cholmondeley Memorial Children’s Home, said that accused and his wife had been neighbours of his at Governors Bay for four years. When they called at his place on August 16 he learned that they were keen to return to Governors Bay and he had mentioned that there were some sections in the bay which the home was thinking of selling. He had suggested that the accused should get in touch with Mr Ernest Adams, the president of the home committee.

Ernest Alfred Adams said that in July the committee had discussed selling some sections and the leasing of other land but later the committee had decided not to sell any sections but to lease the land to a market gardener.

Money Missing Verona Althea Foubister said that her father-in-law and mother-in-law had come to live with them about the end of April. They had been given the use of a bed-sitting room in the front of the house. Witness said that she helped her husband in his chemist’s shop and it had been the custom of her father-in-law to drive her to work in his car shortly before midday. On August 21 she returned home with one of her sons about 5 p.m. after her son, Robin, had telephoned his father. Witness said that there was a part bottle of an inhalent on the sink and a glass with a brown film on it. They were not there when she had left home. Mrs Foubister said that she v ept her sons’ Post Office Savings Bank books in a drawer in her bedroom. In August she had put four £1 notes in her son Robin’s book. She had found the books on the floor among other articles and the notes were missing. She had been Aold that the notes were found on the ground under a manhole in the floor of the washhouse. She had never seen that manhole onen before.

Mrs Foubister said that when her father-in-law and mother-in-law re- ] turned from visiting Mr Clark at i Governors Bay her mother-in-law had ' seemed excited at the prospect of ] getting a property there. Accused t s»id he haeU telephoned Mr Adams about the section but had found that } he was out of town. She said that ] she thought she had mentioned to i accused that she had ordered eight bags - } of coke, but she did not think he had r caid anything about paying for it, < though he occasionally did this. t Mrs Foubister said that since her ; mother-in-law had come to live with them she had not been able to .do < any real work other than heln with ; the dishes. She said that she thought j accused's health had deteriorated since ; he had had influenza. Accused had < i always been kind to his wife and she had never known them to quarrel. To Mr Young Mrs Foubister said it would be true to sav that accused had waited on his wife hand and foot Arthur Robert Norman Foubister. r» chemist, said that it was on doctor’s ! advice that his parents had come tc ’live with them. There was a steer i climb involved in gaining access to 1 their property at Governors Bay and I the doctors had found that his mother was suffering from a heart disease. His parents seemed happy together. The inhalent found on the sink consisted of Friar's Balsam, menthol and oil of pine. Leslie Wilkinson, a chemist employed at the laboratory of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in Christchurch, said that he had made an analysis of the contents of the medicine bottle and found that its composition was consistent with the prescription th?t had been supplied to him. An analysis of the residue in the tumbler showed that it was consistent with the residue left when the liquid in the bottle was mixed with water. Three specimens taken from Foubister had also been examined. In one the presence of several ingredients in the medicine had been established. The other specimens exhibited the peppermint odour of the medicine. Statement Produced Detective-Sergeant G. C. Urquhart said that with Detective-Sergeant G. W. Alty he saw accused at the Christchurch Public Hospital shortly after 9 a.m. on August 22. Foubister was told that his wife was in a serious condition and that he would be charged with attempted murder. He was asked whether he wished to make a statement and he said that he did. Detective-Sergeant Urquhart produced a statement which he said had been made by accused. Foubister said in the statement that on August 21 his wife had asked.him after lunch if he had rung up about the section at Governors Bay. He told her that he did not think it fair to ask him to break iu another section. She told him that he did things for other people but not for her. and she called him “a dirty mongrel.” He went to the washhouse, got a pinch bar, went back to their room, and hit his wife three or four times over the head with it while she .was sitting in a chair by the fire. She fell on the floor and said. “‘Oh Wallie, what did you do it for?” He went and had a wash, said the statement. Then he returned to the room and emptied the contents of drawers on to the floor. He did the same in his son’s room, from where he took four £1 notes and hid them under the floor of the washhouse. He then went away and paid for some coke. He returned to the house about 4 p.m. His wife was still lying on the floor.

The statement continued that he was about made with worry and drank some stuff from a bottle marked “not to be taken.’’ meaning to kill himself. He then remembered nothing until he was in bed in hospital. Foubister said that both he and his wife had not been well. He had been worried about his wife. He had looked after her and done everything for her while she was confined in bed. “I do not know why I struck my wife. Something must have gone wrong in my head. When I realised what I had done I was sorry and wanted to die. I wish I had died,’’ the statement said. Detective-Sergeant Urquhart said that when asked why he had pulled the drawers out and scattered the contents about the floor of the two rooms. Foubister said that he had wished to make it appear that there had been a burglar in the house.