Robbery Trial Nears End

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30887, 21 October 1965, Page 3

Robbery Trial Nears End

(N.Z. Press Association)

AUCKLAND, Oct. 20.

Mr Justice T. A. Gresson will sum up tomorrow in the trial of three persons on charges relating to the £15,000 Avondale bank robbery.

It will be the ninth day of the trial. The jury has heard 71 witnesses, of whom 62 were called for the prosecution.

Almost 200 pages of typed evidence has been recorded during the last eight days.

The accused are Daniel Huntwell Macmillan, David Western and Catherine Western.

They have pleaded not guilty on all charges. Mr D. S. Morris is appearing for the Crown. Macmillan is represented by Mr R. L. Maclaren. Western by Mr D. S. Beattie, Q.C., with him Mr R G. Sutton, and Catherine Western by Mr P. B. Temni.

Met In 1962 Catherine Western said in evidence that she had two children, the father of whom was Macmillan.

She had been head prefect of Northcote College and had attended Otago University for two years. She met Macmillan in 1962. “He was a very intriguing person, very idealistic, and I liked him." she said. “We entered what we considered to be a spiritual and moral relationship." She said Macmillan sometimes kept £2OOO to £3OOO in the house and did not use banks. He used to move it round. At one stage she believed he had opened a security box.

He began to stay away at night more and more frequently. When she pressed him for an explanation he became very agitated About April or May. Macmillan asked her to take a suitcase to the left-luggage department at the railway station. He said it was urgent and she did it without asking why. The case came back after a while, she said. Macmillan told her he had taken out safe deposit boxes

under assumed names. Sometimes he could not remember which name belonged to which.

This was in keeping with his attitude, she said. In June, she opened a safe deposit on Macmillan's behalf at the New Zealand Insurance Co. in the name of Catherine Barbara Gleeson. Macmillan said she could keep her cash there and he wanted to deposit some of his gear as he was proposing to go overseas.

She deposited money on June 16 from her home. On June 8, she put one suitcase there, and on June 23 two cases.

The silver she deposited at various banks came from her piggy-hank and from a cake-tin-full of cash which Macmillan had produced at home. She thought it had come from some of his businesses. Mr Temm: What did you do when he suggested that the account should be opened in false names? —I was not surprised at this. I did not see any harm in it. I thought the whole thing was a rather silly game.

The Crown called one witness to produce medical evidence in rebuttal. Patrick Philip Eric Savage, medical superintendent of Oakley Hospital, said he had examined Macthillan twice for about an hour each on October 8 and 9. Mr Morris: What conclusion did you reach? Witness: 1 felt he would have known what he was doing about that date and that he knew the alleged robbery would be against the law of the land. “1 think 1 would have grave difficulty in persuading a Magistrate to issue a committal order, unless my judgment is very wrong," he said.

Defence Case

In his address to the jury. Mr Maclaren said he wished to deal with a defence of in- ' sanity. ! “The story we have been ' hearing is not just a story of a bank robbery, but also , the story of the tragedy of I Macmillan." Several witnesses had conI firmed that what Macmillan ; said and did was a product of

a mental disorder, Mr Maclaren said. Dealing with Catherine Western, Mr Morris said she had told the jury about the opening of the savings accounts. “You will remember she thought it all a silly sort of game. You might think it is unusual that it was just that particular week-end that she chose to bank the money in the piggy bank.

“She saved them up and, lo and behold, on the Friday she chooses to bank them.” Mr Morris said that the jury might have considered until it heard his evidence that David Western was the less dominant of the two brothers. The jury now might very well think David Western was a young man well able to look after himself and not dominated at all by his brother. : It might think the evidence of his actions both before and after spoke stronger than words. If what he told

the jury was correct then a large number of people were very mistaken. He said he did not propose to go into details of the evidence against Macmillan. The jury might well consider that it was overwhelming. “Evidence Clear” “In my submission the evidence shows quite clearly that Macmillan did know—even although he may have been suffering from this disease —that the act or commission was morally wrong having regard to the commonly accepted standards of right and wrong. “You may well come to the conclusion that really this is no more than a well planned and executed robbery in which the two male accused were involved.” said Mr Morris. “And now Macmillan, caught by the fingerprint, is doing what he can to seek a way out of it.” •