YOUTH FOR TRIAL ON MURDER CHARGE

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30760, 26 May 1965, Page 6

YOUTH FOR TRIAL ON MURDER CHARGE

(From Our Own Reporter)

GREYMOUTH, May 25.

After hearing the evidence of 16 witnesses in the Magistrate’s Court at Greymouth today, Mr K. H. J. Headifen, S.M., committed Brian James McGuinness, a miner, aged 17, for trial at the Supreme Court Session in Greymouth in July on a charge of haivng murdered his father, Patrick Edward McGuinness, at Dunollie, on April 18.

Mr D. J. Tucker, Crown solicitor, conducted the prosecution and Mr J. D. Cadenhead appeared for the accused.

On the of Mr Cadenhead, an order was made prohibiting the publication of evidence of admissions which the accused was alleged to have made to several witnesses.

The first witness, Keith James Garrett, a surveyor, of Hokitika, produced plans of the McGuinness home showing holes in the wall of the sitting room. Dr. W. B. Murray, of Runanga T said he arrived at the home of the deceased shortly after receiving a call about 2.45 a.m. on April 18. He found the body of a man lying in the hall and after an examination found him to be dead. He noticed wounds on the deceased’s chest.

Photographs showing bullet wounds on the deceased were produced by constable . K. Holmes, police photographer at Greymouth.

Norman Patrick Alcorn, an analyst with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Christchurch, said he had examined specimens of the deceased’s blood and urine sent from the Greymouth police. Both contained alcohol, there being 220 milligrams in the blood and 305 in the urine. The witness carried out tests with a rifle handed to him and these led him to believe that the shot which killed the deceased had been fired from a distance of more than two feet. Behaviour Deteriorated

Gwyneth Margaret McGuinness, widow of the deceased, said she was married in 1945. For the first 18 months she and her husband lived with her mother and during that time his behaviour was good. It deteriorated, however, when they moved into their own home. He started drinking and this resulted in his coming home in a quarrelsome mood. He had frequently attacked her. In one incident in 1964 he arrived home very drunk and knocked her off a chair right across the kitchen. Another son, Geoffrey, had then struck his father across the head with a baseball bat and this necessitated hospital treatment. After that her husband said he would give up drinking and did so until Christmas.

The witness said that on the night of April 18 her husband arrived home about 6.20 p.m. He appeared intoxicated. After tea he wanted her to go out for the evening. She did so and got back home some time after midnight. Her husband had had a good deal to drink and went into Brian’s room and woke him up. He came back, hit her and dragged her into the bedroom, where he pulled her hair. She called out and was crying with her hands over her face when she heard a shot. She saw Brian and exclaimed “my God, what have you done?” Brian had replied “I think I shot him” in answer.

To Mr Cadenhead she said her husband was violent when he had drink. The son who hit him with a baseball bat was not the accused. Her husband had once tried to throttle her in the bathroom, she said. Rifle Examined

Sergeant James Stuart Cronnie, a ballistics expert, of Wellington, said that he had examined the rifle alleged to have been used in the shooting. He produced a shell and bullet which he considered had been fired from the rifle produced in court.

Edith Joan Heslin, of Someriea avenue, Dunollie, a neighbour of the McGuinness family, said that early on the morning of April 18 she and her husband were awakened by Mrs McGuinness crying out “Pat’s dead,” she had said “I don’t believe it” Mrs McGuinness repeated the statement and Brian appeared at the door with a rifle. In response to a request from the witness, Brian handed over the rifle and went back home with his mother. Kevin Thomas Heslin, husband of the previous witness, said that after being awakened by Mrs McGuinness screaming “Pat’s dead" he asked Brian to take the bolt out of the rifle, which he did, and the magazine fell to the floor. The witness placed the rifle against the wall and then went to the McGuinness house. He saw the husband lying on the’ floor with his wife kneeling over his head. The witness had to pull her away to have a look at him. He felt the pulse and had a look at the wound. He forced Mrs McGuinness into the living room and asked Brian to stay with her. He then rang the police. The accused appeared calm. He was not normally very emotional, said the witness. Intervened in Row To Mr Cadenhead the witness said he had intervened in one row in the McGuinness house when the deeeased was kicking his wife in the stomach. Errol Jeffrey Philip White,

another neighbour, said he was awakened by a banging on the door early on the morning of April 18. Brian McGuinness was there and after a brief conversation the accused asked him what he should do. The witness advised him to ring the police. The accused, who was carrying a rifle in his right hand, appeared to be quite normal. Geoffrey Alan McGuinness, aged 16. a younger brother of the accused, said his father’s behaviour was quite good through the week but he was very quarrelsome at week-ends when he had drink. The witness recalled an incident in 1964 when he hit his father on the head with a baseball bat when the deceased was attacking his mother. His father stopped drinking after that and conditions at home were really good, there being no trouble between his father and mother. The witness said his brother, Brian, owned two rifles. He said that he had been to a party at Blaketown that night, arriving home after his father’s death. Brian had told him what had happened. Attended Party Gordon Samuel Ross, of Dunollie, said that with his wife and Mr and Mrs McGuinness he attended a party on Saturday night, April 17. He drove the McGuinnesses home about 1.40 a.m. en the Sunday. McGuinness had been drinking but did not appear to be drunk.

Constable Walter Benny, of Greymouth, said that on April 19 he took samples of blood and urine, a sports coat, rifle, a spent cartridge, and a bullet to Wellington for examination. Constable William Robert Workman said that at 5.40 a.m. on April 19 he accompanied the Greymouth funeral director from the deceased’s residence to the mortuary.

There he removed some of the deceased’s clothing and saw a hole in hie breast and another under the left arm. Sergeant J. W. Sawers said that after inspecting the McGuinness house on April 18 he went to the residence of Mr Heslin. The accused, who was there, took him to his home, where the witness took possession of a rifle. The accused was ealm and cooperative and willing to dis cuss anything at all. Heard Arguments

Detective Sergeant J. P. Crozier said that in an interview the accused said that he had been to the pictures that night and went to bed about 11 p.m. He later heard the deceased arguing with his mother for about 15 minutes. His father came into his bedroom. He was drunk and did not know what he was talking about. The accused heard his father arguing with his mother again. He also heard him hit her and heard her crying. He got out of bed and loaded the rifle and went into the passage. His father came out of the bedroom and said: “What are you going to do with that?" The accused replied “What does it look like?” The witness then read a statement made by the accused at the Greymouth police station. On Mr Cadenhead’s application the contents of this were not permitted to be published in the meantime.

Dr. A. G. Fraser, pathologist at the Grey Hospital, said he had conducted a post mortem examination on the deceased and found that death had occurred through a rupture of the heart and major blood vessels as the result of a gunshot wound in the chest. This concluded the evidence. The accused pleaded not guilty and reserved his defence.