ROBBERY TRIAL Bank Tellers Give Evidence

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30880, 13 October 1965, Page 3

ROBBERY TRIAL Bank Tellers Give Evidence

I New Zealand Preu Association' AUCKLAND, October 12. Two bank tellers said in the Supreme Court, Auckland, today that masked men held them up and stole more than £15,000.

Daniel Huntwell Macmillan. aged 28. unemployed, and David Harley Western, aged 20, a student. are charged with robbing Jeffrey Lynn Julian and Murray James Ness of £15,273 13s 2d, the property of the Bank of New Zealand, and breaking into the bank’s Avondale agency with intent to commit a crime. They are also charged with stealing a driving licence and converting two cars. Westei . is also charged with helping Macmillan to avoid arrest. Catherine Barbara Western, aged 25, a housewife, faces charges of receiving sums of £948 and £12,283, and helping the others to avoid arrest. The three accused have pleaded not guilty on all counts. Mr D. S. Morris appears for the Crown. Macmillan is represented by Mr L. R. Maclaren, Western by Mr D. S. Beattie, Q.C., with him Mr R. G. Sutton, and Catherine Western by Mr P. B. Teanm. The hearing is before Mr Justice Gresson and a jury, which includes one woman. Mrs Alice Blossom Allerton Western, who said yesterd y that she was the mother of the two male accused, was asked by Mr Maclaren if Macmillan had spoken to her about his concept of money. “A Gamble” Mrs Western: He referred to money as more or less a game and a gamble and did not have the usual concept and responsibility for it. What about the laws of society?—Laws of society did not have the normal meaning to him, as he seemed to be above it, in another state: To Mr Beattie, Mrs Western said her other son, David, was born in 1944. He had a good education and took up the study of law at Auckland University. In his last examinations he passed all

his subjects, except for one which he failed by a few marks. He had not reenrolled this year, although he was still a student. Strong Influence Mrs Western said Macmillan had a very strong influence over his younger brother. “David seemed to regard his brother’s opinions before ours,” she said. Western could have been a “little | bit afraid” of his brother, who gave the orders. • To Mr Temm. Mrs Western said Macmillan and Catherine Western had two sons, one aged about two years and the other aged about nine months. She did not know about the birth of the first until it was about a year old. Shown a bank statement referring to Macmillan, she expressed no surprise that there was a credit balance in April, 1963, for £1739. Murray James Ness, of Mount Eden, said that as he and Jeffrey Julian, the other teller, arrived at the Avondale agency about 9.40 a.m. they noticed an empty grey Morris Oxford car, 1964 model, parked outside the agency. Ness and Jeffrey Lynn Julian, a teller, then gave evidence'.of the alleged robber along the lines of their evidence in the Lower Court. Saw Car Mrs Gwendoline McKenzie, a hospital sister, said about 9.45 a.m. on June 10 she was walking down the Great North road past the Bank of New Zealand to her car which was just past the bank. “I looked up and noticed this car parked outside the bank. I noticed particularly a man sitting at the wheel of the car,” she said. Witness identified Macmillan Witness said the back door was open at the time and on the back seat were two square bank boxes and there were a satchel and some money boxes on the floor. She heard another man come out of the bank and he passed just behind her back. She saw the two men stagger from the bank obviously dazed. The hands of one were still tied together. Questioned by Mr Maclaren, witness said she had said the car was a black Consul after the robbery. “I was just looking at the men,” she said. “1 really didn’t say it was a black Consul.” Mrs Shirley May Marshall, of Avondale, said she was waiting for a bus outside the Avondale Post Office on June 10. A car approached her driving rather erratically. The driver was wearing a white crash helmet and scarf around the lower part of his face. She was positive the car was a light grey Morris Oxford. The trial will continue tomorrow.

New Scoreboard.—Tenders are to be called almost immediately for the erection of a new scoreboard at Eden Park, Auckland. It will be used for both cricket and Rugby and will be 161 ft high and 44ft Sin long.