ARSON CHARGE

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29058, 21 November 1959, Page 15

ARSON CHARGE

Verdict Of Not Guilty

A verdict of not guilty was returned after a retirement of one hour and three-quarters by a jury in the Supreme Court yesterday on a charge against Eric Raymond Bryce, a 33-year-old engineer, of wilfully setting fire to a house at 8 Harman street, Addington, the property of the Public Trustee, on August 2. Accused was discharged by Mr Justice Macarthur, Mr C. M. Roper was the Crown Prosecutor and Mr L. G. Holder defended Bryce. The reaction of a normal person called on was to assist in putting out a fire, said Mr Roper in his address. Bryce had walked away. The reasonable possibility to be faced by the jury was that there could have been .another man as well as the accused wearing a gaberdine raincoat in Harman street on the night of the fire, said Mr Holder in his address. The vital point in the defence was the nebulous submission of the Crown that the fire was started from outside the door. An experienced witness for the Crown had said he was unable to give a definite opinion as to how the fire started and had admitted that the damage was consistent with it having been started from the inside. Not a little of evidence had been produced by the Crown to prove that the fire was started from the outside. The nature of the charring of the carpet was proof that the fire was started inside. “There is not a tittle of evidence beyond* accused’s presence near the fire to connect him with the fire,” said Mr Holder. Accused made silly statements to the police but he was under the influence of drink. Why two days after he knew Sinclair was leaving the Harman street house should accused set fire to an empty house to get his own back on Sinclair? It was a poor motive for the Crown to suggest. Counsel suggested to the jury that it would be dangerous to draw conclusions from inferences, not facts.

In his summing up, in which he reviewed the evidence, his Honour stressed that, if the jury held a reasonable doubt, accused should have the benefit.

After a retirement of one hour and 25 minutes, the jury returned to Court and asked his Honour to read the evidence of a young woman who identified as the man she had seen in Lincoln road and at the fire as the accused. In under five minutes, the jury finally returned with its verdict of acquittal.