Pathologist Says Wound Homicidal

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31318, 14 March 1967, Page 3

Pathologist Says Wound Homicidal

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, March 13. The case for the Crown against Doreen Ellen Davis, aged 30, a nursing sister, on a charge of murder, was completed in the Supreme Court at Auckland today.

Davis is charged with murdering Raewyn Kathleen Joy Petley, aged 40, a charge sister, at Whenuapai, November 19. She is being tried by a jury of three women and nine men before Mr Justice Moller. Mr K. Ryan appears for the accused and Mr D. S. Morris, with him Mr J. G. Miles, for the Crown. F. J. Cairns, a pathologist, said Sister Petley’s death was caused by a hemorrhage from an incised neck wound beginning at the back of the neck and extending to near the front centre line. Single Cut The wound was the result of a single cut by a sharp instrument. At its deepest, the cut was li to 2 inches deep. There were no signs of wounds on the hands and arms. There were no signs that Sister Petley had tried to grab a weapon or had used her hands or arms to protect herself from an assault with a weapon. The witness considered that Sister Petley was lying in bed and her head was held forcibly op its right side when the wound was inflicted. “Not Self-Inflicted” “I believe that the wound could not have been selfinflicted because of its position, and the way it started and finished,” he said. “It is customary with self-inflicted wounds for the wound to start and finish as a shallow cut and in this case both ends of the wound were deep. "Suicidal cut throats involve the side and front of the throat, rather than the back. Often there are tentative cuts in the skin before the main wound is inflicted.” Mr Ryan asked if the bruises on the right side of Sister Petley’s mouth could be caused by a person trying to prevent a hemorrhage to the left side of her throat by exerting pressure on the right

side. Cairns replied that any form of violence to that cheek could have caused the bruises. The witness agreed that it would be possible for a person holding a scalpel in the left hand to reach the portion of the neck where the cut started. If the person had her face turned to the right it would be very simple to meet the midline of the neck. Mental State Cross-examined by Mr Ryan, Cairns agreed that maniacs had been known to inflict wounds of such a kind that they had led to a belief that these had been inflicted homicidally. He had made no inquiries as to the mental state of the dead woman. When such wounds were

examined, the possibility that they had been self-inflicted wag always considered and he was of the opinion that the wound in this case could not have been self-inflicted. The finding of a suicide note in this case would not have affected his opinion. To Mr Morris, Cairns said that it was his firm opinion that the wound was not selfinflicted. Asked About Letters Detective Inspector Brian Wilkinson said he accompanied the accused and her mother from Auckland Hospital to the Criminal Investigation Branch on December 2.

Shown two letters produced earlier and asked if she had written them, the accused said she thought so.