Crown’s Case Opened In Wellington Murder Trial

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27962, 8 May 1956, Page 14

Crown’s Case Opened In Wellington Murder Trial

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, May 7. A 10-year-old boy described to a jury in the Supreme Court at Wellington today how his father drew a revolver from his pocket and fired shots at the driver of a station waggon as it moved off with his mother in it. He is John Digby Dorset, a Crown witness at the trial of his father, Herbert Edward Dorset, aged 39, a clerk, charged with the murder of George Grundison at Glenside on January 12. Today 13 of the 14 witnesses for the prosecution were heard, and the hearing will be continued tomorrow.

Mr Justice Gresson is presiding, and the Crown’s case is conducted by Sir William Cunningham, with him Mr C. N. Irvine. The accused is represented by Mr W. E. Leicester, with him Mr W. N. Sheat.

When the jury was being empanelled a man was excused service after he had said that he was opposed to capital punishment. His Honour ruled the man incompetent to try the case.

Opening the Crown’s case, Mr Irvine said the Crown would show that the accused shot Grandison, intending to kill or wound him, “although it is possible he had intended killing Mrs Dorset and by accident killed Grandison.”

Mr Irvine said that although Grandison died the day after the shooting, death was caused by wounds clearly inflicted by the accused, “though there is the possibility that you will see fit to reduce the charge to one of manslaughter.” Dealing with the question of provocation, Mr Irvine said that in law the term “provocation” had a narrow meaning “quite different from that you may have in mind at this stage of the trial.” Crown Evidence Giving evidence for the Crown, John Wordsworth Standish, an architect, of Khandallah, said that on January 12, he and his wife and family spent the day at Titahi Bay and returned home about 5.30 p.m. along the old Porirua road. When he was approaching Glenside he passed a parked station waggon. A man standing beside the car signalled the witness to stop. The man came across to the witness’s car and said: “This man is running away with my wife.” The station waggon then started, and headed towards Wellington. “The man standing by my car immediately ran toward the station waggon, succeeded in getting the passenger door opened, leaned across the passenger in the front seat and I heard some shots,” the witness continued. “After what appeared to be three shots the car crashed into a telegraph pole.” The witness said that the man left the car, and the witness went to Glenside and telephoned the police. “I noticed there was a woman seated in the car and a man in the driver’s ’ seat,” he said. The accused was the man who stopped the witness’s car. He had no firearm then. “I don’t think I saw the firearm at all. He must have drawn it from his pocket when he ran to the car,” he said. To Mr Leicester, the witness said that immediately before hearing the shots he saw the accused open the station waggon door and lean across the passenger. Mr Leicester: From what you saw would it not be reasonably clear that he was not concerned with the passenger, but with the person sitting next to the passenger? The witness: That was the impression I got. The witness said that at the time he noticed children standing towards the rear of the station waggon, but he could not say whether they appeared to be distressed. When the accused said: “This man is running away with my wife,” he appeared relatively calm. Mr Leicester: You have no clear recollection of seeing a revolver before you heard the shots? The witness: No. Is it possible that he produced the revolver as he opened the door of the station waggon?—l assume so. John McKeen, an ambulance driver, described finding Grandison and taking him to hospital. To Mr Leicester, the witness said that the station waggon appeared to be well filled with luggage. Unsuccessful Operation Malcolm John Nicholson, senior house surgeon at the Wellington Public Hospital, said *that at 6 p.m. on January 12 he examined Grandison, who was unconscious and breathing shallowly. His general condition indicated that he required immediate surgical treatment. There was a penetrating wound on the left side of the skull, and another on the right eye. The man was operated on about 6.30 p.m., but died at 5.35 a.m. the next day. To Mr Leicester, the witness said he could not say definitely that two bullets were removed from Grandison’s head. Roy Leonard Glastonbury, a clerk at Dominion Rental Cars, Ltd., said that on the morning of the shooting a Mr George Grandison hired a station wag-

gon from the firm. The waggon was hired from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. The vehicle was not returned, and the witness said he next saw it on the Hutt road at 6 p.m. To Mr Leicester, the witness said that the hirer paid £4 for the hire of the vehicle, allowing him a mileage of 100.

Mr Leicester: Did it seem to you from your investigations that it was a shortage of water that had brought the vehicle to a stop? The witness: Yes.

Mrs Mary Hall, who occupied a bach on the Dorsets’ property at Glen Side, said that last August the accused told her that his wife had gone away. He flew to Sydney to find her, and when he returned alone, said that he had walked the streets of Sydney looking for his wife without success. He later said he knew his wife was in Melbourne, and went there to bring her back. The accused and Mrs Dorset then resumed living at Glenside with their three young children. It was only after this that she knew of Grandison. Grandison used to visit the Dorsets at night, about 8 o’clock. On the evening of the shooting, the accused asked her in for a cup of tea, as it would probably be the last he would have with her. Sir William Cunningham: Why was that? The witness: Because he said that he had just killed his wife and her friend. The witness added that the accused asked her to get some tea for the children, and it was then that the police arrived. At the accused’s request she walked down the path to meet them. The accused had said that they would thus know that he was not armed.

Mr Leicester: Did you know anything of the association between Grandison and Mrs Dorset? The witness: No. The reason for Dorset’s visit to Australia was to find his wife and bring her back?—Yes. The witness added that she was unable to say whether Grandison visited the Dorset house during the day, as she would be at work. The accused was always concerned about the welfare of his children. Mr Leicester: You sensed that there was trouble, but kept out of it? The witness: That is the position. Son’s Evidence

John Digby Dorset said that on January 12 he had gone out in the morning to visit a friend and returned home about 1 o’clock. A station waggon was in front of the house, and Grandison was there. The witness went back to his friend shortly afterwards, and on going home again after 4 o’clock found the station waggon still in front of the house. It was loaded with luggage, and he noticed two suitcases belonging to his mother.

The witness said he remembered his father coming home from work and picking up a rifle from a shed. He then walked with the three children down towards the station waggon. His mother was sitting in the front seat with Grandison. His father and Grandison appeared to have an argument, and his father stopped a passing motorist. Grandison started to drive away, and his father opened the passenger door of the car and fired a revolver. His father then walked back home with him and his two young sisters.

Mr Leicester: Did you and your mother visit Grandison’s place at Porirua in the daytime occasionally? The witness: Yes.

And did you tell your father that she said to you that if you told him she would break every bone in your body?—l did. Did you and - your sisters pick up sticks to prevent Mr Grandison taking your mother away?—We wanted to prevent him taking Mum away. To a further question, the witness said he heard his father say to Grandison at the station waggon, “What sort of a man are you to take a mother away from her children?” or something like that.

Constable B. J. Perigo gave evidence about finding the station waggon on Hutt road. It was thought that there had been a motor accident, and when he arrived the ambulance was taking a man away. He went to the Dorset house at Glenside, where he joined Detective-Sergeant W. T. Cook and other officers.

An inventory of the baggage found in the station waggon was given by Detective W. J. Ross. He said that the bags contained clothes, books, food, and some general household effects. Interview With Accused

Examined by Sir William Cunningham, Detective-Sergeant Cook produced a statement taken from the accused two hours after the shooting. The accused gave details in it of his visits to Australia to find his wife and bring her back. When asked by the witness where the pistol was, he had said that it was on the top shelf of a china cabinet in the Dorset house. The witness said that two days later he recovered a rifle and some ammunition from the shed at the back of the house.

Mr Leicester: Did you put any question to him regarding a rifle? The witness: No. You found him quite co-operative?— In every way. And if you had asked him about the rifle you have no reason to believe that he would not have told you everything?—None at all. To another question by Mr Leicester, the witness said that there had been no attempt to conceal the revolver.