Filled Bag Willi Gas

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30289, 15 November 1963, Page 29

Filled Bag Willi Gas

(New Zealand Press Association)

TAURANGA, November 13. Three young men who filled plastic bags with gas were lucky to be alive after the explosion of three of them in the cab of the truck in which they were seated, Mr M. D. Batchelor, counsel for the men, said in the Tauranga Magistrate’s Court today.

Appearing before Mr G. J. Donne, S.M., were Colin Percy Bendall, aged 24, a dairy factory hand, of Otumoetai, Gordon Clifton Bendall. aged 22, a mechanic, of Otumoetai, and Neill Bayliss Compton, aged 24, a mechanic, of Te Puna. They were charged with unlawful possession of explosives, three plastic bags of gas. without lawful, proper and sufficient purpose in Tauranga on November 5. Mr Batchelor entered guilty pleas on behalf of the three men. Senior-Sergeant J. R. Williamson said that after the three men completed working on private vehicles in the workshop of the employer of two of them they decided to contribute to the Guy Fawkes celebrations that night. Seven bags were filled with gas at the workshop. Fuses were inserted and the bags sealed with tape. Four of the bags were exploded at various points in the city. Two of the men were questioned by police after explosions near the police station but convinced the officers they had nothing to do with them, Senior-Sergeant Williamson said. The mem returned to the workshop having completed their activities for the night but found the other three gasfilled bags. They transferred from the car in which they had been travelling to Compton’s lorry with the intention of taking

the bags to Sulphur Point to explode them. “They, drove past a coffee bar to see the result of an earlier explosion there. The three bags then exploded in the cab of the lorry, blowing off one door. Colin Bendall suffered injuries necessitating medical treatment, and six windows in a house 30 or 40 feet away from the explosion were shattered. “The number of calls that were received after each explosion indicated the alarm which residents experienced from them.” The three men had cooperated fully with the police and were not of a criminal type. “It was a Guy Fawkes prank that gravely misfired,” Senior-Sergeant Williamson said. The men had made restitution of £2l. Mr Batchelor said the day after the explosions the men did everything possible to remedy the damage caused and had asked him to make in the Court a full and public apology for the concern caused by the explosions. The Magistrate said he had not previously had to deal with Guy Fawkes pranks from grown men but only from 13 and 14-year-olds. The practice adopted by the three men was certainly a dangerous one. Public interest had to be considered and it had already been served through the injury that the men received, the compensation they had to pay, and further expenses

they might have to meet in the future. “Nothing would be served by me taking punitive action and convicting these men as that could affect their future. It should not, however, be thought that the Court does not regard this type of offence as being very serious.” He adjourned the case for six months and ordered each of the men to pay £lO toward the eost of the prosecution.