PRATT FOR TRIAL

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29263, 22 July 1960, Page 15

PRATT FOR TRIAL

Shooting Of Verwoerd (N.Z. Press Association —Copyright) PRETORIA, July 20. David Beresford Pratt, wealthy 53-year-old Britishborn farmer and budneasman. was committed for trial today on a charge of attempted murder arising from the shooting of the South African Prime Minister (Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd) on April 9. Pratt reserved his defence and accepted "short service” (“short service” means that he is prepared to stand trial at any time). At yesterday’s preliminary hearing on the allegation of attempted murder, witnesses described the shooting. which occurred while the South African Premier was appearing before a crowd of 30,000 at the opening of a Johannesburg exhibition celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Union. The Mayor of Johannesburg (Mr Alex Gorshel) who was sitting on Dr. Verwoerd's left in the president’s box, told the court how he grappled with the gunman, he identified as Pratt, and said his expression struck him as being “a bit odd” before the shooting. Pratt, a Cambridge graduate, farmer and factory owner, was detained immediately after the shooting. In Court yesterday, he sat tight-lipped and unmoving during the hearing, but smiled broadly when the pistol with which he is alleged to have shot Dr. Verwoerd was produced.