HEARING OF MURDER CHARGE CONTINUED

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30803, 15 July 1965, Page 23

HEARING OF MURDER CHARGE CONTINUED

(From Out Own Reporter)

GREYMOUTH, July 14.

Almost three and a half hours of the second day of the hearing of a charge of murder against Brian James McGuinness in the Supreme Court at Greymouth today was occupied by the hearing in chambers of objections by counsel for the defence of the admissibility of the evidence of two Crown witnesses Sergeant J. W. Sawers and Detective Sergeant J. P. Crozier. The accused is charged with shooting his father at Dunollie on April 18.

Mr D. J. Tucker, the Crown Solicitor, is conducting the prosecution, and Mr J. D. Cadenhead is appearing for accused. His Honour, Mr Justice Perry is presiding. After hearing the defence counsel’s objections, his Honour apologised to the jury for the delay in the proceedings, and later Sergeant Gowers gave evidence. Geoffrey Alan McGiMnness, aged 16, a younger brother of accused, said he arrived home from a party early on the morning of April 18. He met Brian, who said that he had shot his father accidentally. Witness got his temper up for a while, but calmed down. The witness 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. COMMANDO KNIFE To Mr Cadenhead, witness said that he was scared when his father had been drinking. Earlier in the night before the tragedy, his father was in possession of a Commando knife which he threw on the kitchen table. Constable Walter Benny, of Greymouth, said that on April 19 he took possession of a sample of blood and urine, a sports coat, rifle and spent cartridge, and a bullet. These were sent to Wellington for examination. 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 TESTS

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.

To his Honour, he said the amount of alcohol he discovered during his examination was considerable and would indicate that the deceased was very much under the influence of liquor. Sergeant James Stuart Cromie, 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. Witness said the possibilities of an accidental discharge of a .303 rifle were nil, unless by the use of violence, such as banging the butt down hard on to a solid surface or when the cocking piece was tapped if the rifle were loaded and uncocked.

Constable William Robert Workman, of Greymouth, 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 Hie deceased’s clothing and saw a hole in the right breast and another under the left arm. Dr. Jack Fingland Martin Stenhouse, medical practitioner, of Hokitika, said that, at the request of the police, he interviewed accused at the Greymouth police station on the afternoon of April 18. The interview lasted from 3.35 p.m. to between 4.30 and 5 pan. “RATIONAL” Accused talked freely and gave a rational account of what had taken place and of his early life. Witness could find nothing abnormal about accused and there was no evidence of his suffering from shock. Dr. Alister Gordon Couston, medical superintendent of the Seaview Hospital, Hokitika, said he examined accused at 5.30 p.m. on April 18 and found him to be qui.t, restrained and completely rational. There was no evi-

dence of any defect in intelligence.

Dr. Alexander Gibb Fraser, medical practitioner at the Grey Hospital, said he had conducted a port 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. RIFLE Sergeant J. W. Sawers said that after inspecting the McGuinness’s house on April 18 and seeing the body of the deceased he went to the residence of Mr Heslin. The accused, who was there, took witness to his home. There the witness took possession of a rifle. Witness said that he heard the conversation at the accused’s house between Detective Sergeant Crozier and accused. One phrase used by the accused was “I shot the old man.” Detective Sergeant Crozier then gave the accused the customary warning. Accused was calm and co-operative and witness could detect no sign of emotion. The hearing will continue tomorrow.