Youths For Trial On Manslaughter Charge

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30388, 12 March 1964, Page 9

Youths For Trial On Manslaughter Charge

Six \ouths were committed for trial at the next sitting of t he SiipremejCourt; on a joint charge of killing Charles Arthur Anthon y Aberhart on January 23, thereby committing manslaughter when they appeared before Messrs S. F. Marshall and 11. 1. u er, Justices of the Peace, in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

I hej are Anthony Dennis O’Connor, acred 15, an apprentice butcher (Mr R. G. Blunt)Brian Francis Johns, aged 17, a workman (Mr L. M. O Reilly); Raymond Clive Neither, aged 16, a baker’s assistant (Mr G. R. Lascelles); Zane Leslie Macdonald, aged 15, an apprentice spray painter (Mr N. H. Buchanan); Roger Malcolm Williams, aged 17, a builder’s labourer (Messrs B. J. Drake and M. J. Glue) and Frank Leicester Reynolds, aged 15, a telegraph assistant (Mr P. T. Mahon). They all pleaded not guilty. They were granted bail and ordered not to associate with each other.

Mr C. M. Roper, with him Mr I. C. J. Polson, appeared for the Crown. Constable Barrie William Thomas said at 11.50 p.m. on January 23 he was instructed to go to north Hagley Park to prepare a plan. He found Aberhart’s body on the south side of Lake Victoria, 350 ft from the Armagh street gates. Jack Donald Dunn, of Sumner. who is proprietor of a service station at Lyttelton, said on January 24 he identified Aberhart’s body in the Christchurch Hospital mortuary. He had known Aberhart for about 20 years. He had last seen Aberhart alive about 7.30 p.m. on January 23 when he had left witnesse’s place where he had been staying since January 21. Aberhart was driving his car. He lived in Blenheim. Dunn said he expected Aberhart to return that night John Brown, a faultman, employed by the Post Office, said he worked in premises in Barbadoes street. On January 23 he finished work at 9 p.m. He cycled home through Hagley Park and he went through the Armagh street gates about 9.15 p.m. A car was parked by the right gate. There was someone trying to get into the passenger’s side as the car was revving up. He did not see the driver. He saw two persons running out of the park, said Brown. One was quite close and the other was some distance away. The closest was fairly well built and the other was quite slim. They were not very old. He saw another person walking across the park after he got past the shelter. Before entering the park he heard the patter of feet of two or more persons running from the park. Memorised Number George Sharplin Lamb, a stereotyper employed by the Christchurch Press Company, said he lived in Matai street, Riccarton. He started work at 8 p.m. On January 23 he cycled through Hagley Park and reached the Armagh street gates about 7.55 p.m. A dark red V 8 car, about a 1936 model, was parked by the gates. Part of the bonnet of the engine on the driver’s side was missing. Its number, was 699-131. Asked by Mr Roper how he came to remember the number. Lamb said he had a hobby of memorising the numbers of cars parked in unusual places or outside his home. To Mr Glue. Lamb said he had had this hobby for about four or five years. He did not always memorise the numbers, but mostly noted them on match boxes. He had memorised the number of this car. He was seen by the police about 3 a.m. The police had not shown him the car. Stanley Russell Francis, a kitchenhand, of Middlemore Hospital, Auckland, said in January he was in Christchurch on holiday. On the evening of January 23 he went for a walk through Hagley Park. He reached the park about 8 pm. when it was still light. He went to the toilet and two young chaps came in. He identified O’Connor and Reynolds as these persons. One of them bumped him as he went past and he did not know whether it was accidental or deliberate. The two youths then went out. When he walked along the cycle track he was followed by the two youths, but they did not say anything. A little later they were joined by four other youths. One of the youths asked him the time and he told him it was 8.15 p.m. Five of the youths sat on the grass and Reynolds went up to a man who was walking on the track a little distance in front He heard the man say he was entitled to walk through the park if he wanted to, said Francis. Pathologist’s Evidence Leonard Lawrence Treadgold, a pathologist, said he examined Aberhart’s body in the park at 11.15 pm. and at 12.30 pm. he carried out a more detailed examination. This disclosed that death had occurred between three or four hours before. The post-mortem examination showed that Aberhart had a fractured nose which had bled considerably. On both the right and left biceps there were bruises consistent with thumb marks made when the arms were grinped. The cause of death was diffuse subdural subarachnoid hemorrhage of the brain, which was associated with minor fractures of the base of the skull and a broken nose. Dr. Treadgold said. The injuries were consistent with the blow which caused the fracture of the nose. It was unlikely that the hemorrhage would have occurred if Aberhart had not been held at the time he was struck.

A person who was struck on the face while being held was unable to roll with the blow and his head was more or less fixed and the effects were more marked. Dr. Treadgold said. William Gordon Overfield, a hairdresser, said he took his dog for a walk in north Hagley Park on the evening ft

of January 23. While driving to the park he saw a group of about five youths on the river bank opposite the park and about 250 yards in from the Armagh street entrance. The witness said he saw a car backed into the gate at the Armagh street entrance. While walking along the cycle track in the park he saw three youths on the track walking towards a shed in the park near the golf area. Asked to Call Police As he approached some trees two persons, a man aged about 30 years and a youth of about 18, came towards him. The youth was similar to the accused, Williams. The older man called out that he was being molested, and asked the witness to call the police. “As they approached me the youth held the man lightly by his shirt. There was no violence. The youth told the man: ‘You know what you said (or did); I’m taking you to see Anderson’.’’ The witness said the older man was similar to a man shown in photographs produced by the police. The men were not in a brawl, and the older man seemed quite capable of escaping if he wished. It was getting dark at the time. “I told the men that I did not know what they were doing, but that they should go home,” the witness said. He said he then left the park. The men walked off to the right, the older man still being held by his shirt by the youth.

Cross-examined, the witness said the older man was wearing a cream-fawn coloured shirt.

John Hamilton Cruthers, aged 18, a workman employed by John Calder, Ltd., said he cycled through the park on his way to Linwood about 8 p.m. He saw Williams’s car parked near the Armagh street gates. He knew all the accused to speak to as they lived near his home. When he returned from Linwood about 10 p.m. Williams’s car was gone. As he cycled down from the bridge the beam from his cycle lamp picked up someone lying on the grass on the left. He said to the man: “Are you all right, mate?” but he did not answer. He telephoned the police from the box in Rolleston avenue.

Trevor John Cornwall Joy, a detective-constable, said at 11.25 p.m. he found Aberhart’s cc.- parked on the eastern side of Park terrace, 30 yards north of Armagh street. At 5.45 a.m. he went with Detective Senior-Sergeant McEwan to Neither’s home. Neither said that the previous evening he had left home after tea and gone to O’Connor’s place. They had then gone to Hagley Park in Williams’s car after going for a drive. They had no real reason for going there. The car was parked on the bridge. He and Williams stayed by the car and later Reynolds came out of the park with a man. The man said he had a pair of scissors and that he would use it on them if they had tried anything. A little later Reynolds came out with a man they had bashed before, Neither told him, said Detective-Con-stable Joy. The man said his name was Charles and he said he knew a man in a blue suit over by the toilets. The man in the blue suit denied knowing Charles. Hit Man Someone then hit the man. it might have been Macdonald or O’Connor. Neither said he hit him too. The man was still standing up. At this stage Detective Sen-ior-Sergeant McEwan had cautioned Neither that he need not say anything further. but Neither said he wanted to tell them everything. said the witness. Neither had said: “I was the one who knocked Charles to the ground. He was on his knees and someone hit him and I hit him again.” Later at the C. 1.8. office Neither was told that Williams had admitted getting 7s from Aberhart and Neither also admitted getting 7s, Detective-Constable Joy said. Neither said that they had been at O’Connor’s place early in the evening and it had been decided to go to Hagley Park to “bash up a queer,” said witness. Aberhart had struck Neither as a queer. 1 Detective - Sergeant Brian lan Stanley Kimber said Aberhart was wearing a loose fawn cardigan when he was killed. On the front of his green shirt were marks indicating that someone had grasped it The only things in his pockets were a comb, car key, and a handkerchief. There was no money. When he saw Johns at 6.30 am. on January 24 he admitted being in Hagley Park the previous evening and he said he had been in a fight with a man. Johns was told that the man was dead and he was cautioned that he did not have to say anything. Johns said he had taken 10s from the man. In a statement Johns said that they had decided to go to Hagley Park to “smack up some queers” and there was some talk about using Rey-

nolds as bait, said DetectiveSergeant Kimber. “Out Cold” Williams had grabbed Aberhart by the front of the shirt and Macdonald had taken a swing at him. Aberhart was “out cold,” lying on the ground, when they left him. He was making grunting noises. Williams picked up 10s wrapped around some silver. They went to the piecart in the Square and they found they had 22s 6d. It was divided up. There was too big a crowd so they did not get anything, Detective-Ser-geant Kimber said Johns had told him. Detective-Sergeant Arthur Gifford Rodgers said he interviewed Reynolds, who said he had gone to Macdonald’s place where they bad watched television before going to O’Connor’s home. They desided to go to the park to gee how homosexuals acted. A man spoke to him in the toilets. Later he grabbed the man and called to his friends that the man “was trying to get at him.” Detective John Archibald Howat said he interviewed O’Connor who said there had been some discussion at his ■home the previous night about “belting up queers.” He understood by what was said that som e of the youths had done this kind of thing before. Later he had “chickened out” on the idea apd was not keen to go. When they got to the park it wa§ decided that it was too light to do anything at that time. Reynolds was left by the toilets because he was the youngest. He saw two men go into the toilets. A man in a dark suit told him to off or he would call the police. Later they all gathered around the man who had given his name as Charles Anderson, He appeared to be scared. Macdonald struck the man on the face. Neither grabbed the man from behind, ankle tapped him and swung some blows at him. Macdonald struck the main again. O'Connor had told him that he was very worried about what had happened and he felt that things had gone far too far, said Detective Howat. Detective Senior Sergeant Brian Wilkinson said inquiries into the death of Aberhart continued throughout the night. At 5 a.m. on January 24 he went to Macdonald’s home. Macdonald denied being in Hagley Park the previous evening and said he had been visiting his girl-friend. Later Macdonald admitted that he had been in the park and that there had been some trouble with a man. In a statement Macdonald said that someone had hit the man on the chin. He was sorry for what had happened and he had not intended that such an outcome would result. Conviction In Blenheim To Mr Blunt Detective Wilkinson said he was aware that Aberhart was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment in the Blenheim Magistrate’s Court on October 16, 1963, for indecent assault and that he had been released from prison on December 20. Detective-Sergeant Patrick John O’Donovan said that when the body was discovered all the exits were sealed off to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the park. He went to Williams’s home and saw a Ford V 8 car parked outside. The number was 699-131. Williams admitted going to the park the previous evening and said he had grabbed the man by the front of the shirt. Someone had hit the man’in the face.