Court Asks For Lesser Charge

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30965, 22 January 1966, Page 3

Court Asks For Lesser Charge

(N.Z. Press Association)

WANGANUI, Jan. 21. The hearing of a charge of attempted murder against a man who is alleged to have piped coal-gas into the bedroom of his two children was adjourned today after Mr B. S. Barry, S.M., had said he was not disposed to commit the accused for trial on this charge. The accused is Edmund Patrick Dwyer Doran, aged 34, a lorry driver, of Wanganui. Evidence from eight witnesses for the Crowi was heard in the Wanganui Magistrate’s Court before the Magistrate suggested that a lesser charge should be substituted. “I am not disposed to send this man forward on a charge of attempted murder,” the Magistrate said. “The evidence supports submissions

by the defence that he did not intend to commit murder. But I am satisfied that he has committed some other offence.” The Crown Prosecutor (Mr F. F. Laghan) said that Doran had been married for eight years to a widow who had three children by an earlier marriage and two by him. This situation was complicated by the accused’s resentment of his mother-in-law and the bond between her and his wife.

Witnesses traced events on November 10 last, when Doran left home in the morning with money for a 5s bet on the T.A.B. double for his wife. The double came in to pay £lO9, but Doran told his wife he had been unable to place the bet. After an argument, the wife and mother went out for the evening. Two of the eldest children also went out to watch television at a friend’s place, leaving Doran at home with his two children, Steven, aged seven, and Sheryl, aged five.

At 9.30 p.m. their 11-year-old step-brother, Graham Paul Jefferies, returned home. “I found a garden hose leading from the washhouse through the kitchen and under the dining-room table to the door of the children’s room,” he said in evidence. Mr Laghan: Was there anything else that truck you?

The witness: Yes. There was a smell of gas when I went in. It was not a very strong smell, only fairly strong in a way.

Did you look into the bedroom?—l just went by the bathroom. I didn’t go in there.

Did you notice anything about the hose?—The nozzle wasn’t turned on full.

Could you hear anything? —Yes, there was a kind of a sissing noise. To counsel for the drfence (Mr W. G. Clayton), the witness said that he was in the house no more than 10 minutes when he found the hose.

His sister, Linda Ann Jefferies, aged 16, said she looked into the bedroom, where the fanlight was open as normal. She noticed a strong smell of gas as soon as she walked into the house.

The accused, in a statement, said he had arranged the hose so that,there would be a smell of gas when his wife came home. He hoped to frighten her and “bring her to heel” so that she would spend more time at home. The defence submitted that Doran’s actions were no more than foolishness. They were free from any criminal intent or sinister motive. “If either of these children had died, there would be ample evidence for a trial of murder,” the Magistrate said. “But there is insufficient evidence of intent to put him on trial for attempted murder.”

Doran was remanded on bail until February 1 to allow lesser charges to be considered.