DUNEDIN LAWYER KILLED

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29740, 6 February 1962, Page 12

DUNEDIN LAWYER KILLED

Bomb In Package

Shatters Office

( N.Z. Press Association)

DUNEDIN, February 5. Police had no clues late tonight as to who posted the bomb and murdered Mr James Patrick Ward, aged 62, a well-known Dunedin solicitor. Experts and detectives worked into the night sifting debris and gathering evidence in Mr Ward’s shattered Stuart street office.

Police know that the parcel, which exploded in Mr Ward’s hands at 9 a.m. today, was postmarked Dunedin. Other evidence on the mystery bomb has been found, but detectives were silent on details.

The bomb was delivered to Mr Ward’s office in the morning mail. His partner, Mr Owen Toomey, unwrapped it when he saw the address was J. P. Ward and Company. A second wrapping showed that the parcel was addressed J. P. Ward, and marked “personal.” he took the package into Mr Ward’s office and left.

A few minutes later, there was an explosion that rocked the four-storey building. A girl ran to Mr Ward’s office and screamed. The room was wrecked, and Mr Ward lay critically injured.

The blast shattered window panes, stripped plaster to the laths and blew a hole clean through the desk. With injuries to the head, both arms—his left hand was blown off—and chest, Mr Ward was rushed to the Dunedin Hospital. After a series of operations in the morning he failed to recover and died at 3.15 p.m.

Dunedin was shocked by his death. “This is one of the most callous murders in the history of New Zealand,” said the Superintendent of

Police in Dunedin, Mr J. C. Fletcher. “It seems a crime not without motive, and I would be surprised if it was the work of a crank,” he said. “I have seen some badly hurt car crash victims, but I never want to see another case like this,” said Traffic Officer A. Lindsay, .who helped to carry Mr Ward from the building.

He was on the other side of the street at the time of the explosion.

Room a “Shambles”

“The room was a complete shambles,” he said. “Mr Ward was lying behind his desk. One of his hands was missing, and there was a hole in his chest.” Two Government scientific experts arrived in Dunedin yesterday afternoon. They were the Deputy Government analyst from Christchurch, Mr L. Wilkinson, and the Chief Inspector of Explosives, Mr E L. Seilens, of Wellington.

The bomb which blasted Mr Ward’s office would probably be made by someone with some knowledge of explosives and electricity, Lieutenant-Colonel W. T. Foley, officer commanding the Otago Army district, said today. Although such bombs were not hard to make, it was unlikely that anyone with no knowledge of the procedure could make a workable model.

It was understood portion of a battery and a thin strip of metal were found in the office after the explosion, he said. These items would suggest an electronic detonator having been used to trigger off the explosive charge.

Such a detonator would give an instantaneous explosion, leaving no time for the victim to detect what was happening. Bombs using the electric detonator are reasonably easy to construct. They work

an the simple principle of completing an electric circuit by bringing two leads together. A box would be the logical choice for a container.

One contact would be fixed to the inside lid of the box while the other contact, necessary to complete the circuit, would be below it attached to tihe lid in a manner which would ensure its meeting with the top contact when the lid was lifted.

The one and a half volt power supply needed to set off an electrical detonator can be supplied by one normal-sized torch battery. Soon after the explosion, the police called in two men from Colonel Foley’s staff, Sergeant A. Anderson and Warrant Officer G. A, Stuart. Detectives, who arrived after the victim had been taken away by ambulance, did not speak to him. The bomb, thought to be gelignite was posted through the mail in the ordinary way. It was too big to put in his private box, and was collected by a member of his staff.

Detective Chief Inspector G. W. Alty, who is supervising the investigations, said a team of detectives, headed by Detective Sergeant E. R. Tyson, was at work on the case. “It is a team effort and relentless efforts will be made by all concerned.” From Arahura Formerly of the. West Coast, Mr Ward was a member of a well-known Arahura family. He was a son of the late Mr Bernard Ward and Mrs Ward. He has two brothers, Messrs John Ward and William Ward, and one sister, Miss R. Ward, living at Arahura. Educated at the Hokitika District High School, Mr Ward joined the Justice Department, and was on the staff of the Magistrate’s Court at Invercargill for several years)