Man Charged With Murdering Brother On Farm

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31584, 23 January 1968, Page 3

Man Charged With Murdering Brother On Farm

[Nine of the 40 witnesses to be called in the lower court hearing of a charge of murder against Bruce L.awrence Richards, aged 38, a farmer, had been heard in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday when the court adjourned until today.

lllv vuui l aujuui tivu uulu ll Richards is charged with murdering his brother, Robert James Richards, at Methven on or about November 8, 1967. The hearing is before Mr H. J. Evans, S.M., and is expected to last a week. More than 60 exhibits are to be produced.

Mr R. A. Young, with him Mr P. G. S. Penlington, are appearing for the accused. The prosecutor is Mr C. M. Roper. Detective Senior - Sergeant M. Jones is the police officer in charge of the case.

I Mr Young made a formal objection to a series of photographs taken by Constable ... James Edmund Brailey at the 1 Christchurch Hospital mortu- ; ary showing the injuries to ?; the head of Robert James : Richards. Mr Young said he objected to the production of ® the photographs because their -.5 repulsive nature could be in-

■ flammatory. Constable Ivan Cyril Jack- ® ways, of Methven, said that lon November 8 he received a telephone call from the Mt Hutt Station at 1.33 a.m. He arrived at the station at 1.55 a.m. lie travelled by the main Methven-Mt Hutt Road and no vehicles passed him travelling from Mt Hutt. He went to the new house, I I near the intersection of the Mt Hutt-Methven Main Road and the Mt Hutt-Alford Forest Roads. Two employees of the Mt Hutt Station, Tony Smith and Bill Oakden, met him at the front of the house. Smoke was coming from the roof near the front porch. He tried to open the front door but found it was locked. The back door was also locked. With a man named Lewis he went to a room at the south-west corner of the house which he thought was occupied by Robert Richards. He % climbed in through an open - | window, but there was no-one in the room which contained '' some smoke. ’• Door Locked When he tried the door of the room it was locked. As the room was starting to fill with smoke he climbed out < through the window, Constable Jackways said. While at the front of the house Mr Lewis tried to kick down the front door and a window to the right broke. Looking through the broken window he saw what appeared to be a folded mattress behind the - I opening. Thick smoke filled ■ ■ the room and flames were ’ flaring up. Near the area of the heating unit he noticed a fierce fire.

He learned that the room he had entered earlier had not been that of Robert Richards, but was Miss Smith’s. With Messrs McKay and Owen he went to the room next to that of Miss Smith. About 2.40 a.m. the window of this room was broken with a rake by Mr Owen. A sheet was placed over the jagged glass left in the opening and Mr McKay entered the bedroom. “I could see plainly into the room. The bedclothes were thrown back in a normal manner and a cycle lamp, which was on, was on the floor near the foot of the bed,” said Constable Jackways. “I saw a silver torch lying on the floor near the wall not far from the door. I gave instructions that nothing in the room was to be touched.” On looking through the window at the right of the front door at what he had previously thought to be a mattress he saw that it was a blackened and badly charred body. During the night he saw the accused standing on the front lawn. The accused did not go near the house to witness’s knowledge. Witness took possession of the light bulbs from Robert Richards’s and Miss Smith’s rooms. When they were tested they were all working. Housekeeper’s Evidence Alma Joyce Smith, a housekeeper, said that until November 8 she was the housekeeper for Robert Richards. She had known him since he was six months old. He was aged about 34 when he died. She had known the Richards family for 30 odd years and had been Robert’s housekeeper since his mother died in April, 1965. They lived in a new house on the Mt Hutt Station not far from the old homestead. The house was centrally heated and there was a special room for the heating unit. This was not in use on the night of November 7. It was turned off on October 13, Miss Smith said, after consulting her diary. On October 22 it was turned on for three or four days. On the night of November 7 Mrs Lewis, from the Mt Huti Station, and her mother, Mrs Gray, visited them. Mrs Lewis was the wife of the manager of the Mt Hutt Station. The visitors left about 10 p.m. and Robert went to his bedroom almost immediately. “After Robert went to bed I fed the cat and put him out in the garage as I do every night I washed the supper dishes and tidied up the lounge. I always see that tbe doors are locked every night. The electric switches are always turned off—we never go to bed with a light left on,” Miss Smith said. “The windows were always shut at night before it gets really dark. I’m very fussy about interior doors and always see that they are shut. My mother always said to me, ‘Keep your doors shut because if there is a fire in the house it won’t spread so quickly. 1

always followed that,” said Miss Smith.

The upper half of the toilet window was open when she went to bed. As she passed the door of Robert’s room it was slightly open. The light was off. It was about 11 p.m. when she went to bed, and she left her door open a little “I like to listen to the 11 p.m. news if I go to bed about that time. I listened on the night of November 7 because I was interested in the sportsman of the year. Then I turned the radio off. The last time I looked at the clock it was about a quarter to twelve. Heard Noise ‘‘About 1 a.m. I heard a noise. I think I had been to sleep—l’m sure I had. It was like a tin dropping on the floor. It went through my mind that it was a tin on the windowsill of the toilet. There was no wind then but there had been a breeze when Mrs Lewis and Mrs Gray left. “After hearing the noise I lay awake for a while. I can’t say how long. I saw a flash of light—a flash of yellow light, very quick. Lights of passing cars sometimes flash into the house but it was definitely not car lights. The flash of light looked as if it was in the house as it seemed so close,” said Miss Smith. “I got up and had a peep around the door of my bedroom. I looked down the passage towards the kitchen and there was a strong smell of diesel oil when I put my head around the door. There was no smell of diesel before I went to bed. When the heating plant is turned off we don’t get any smell of diesel. “When I looked along the passage I didn’t see anybody or anything. A second or two later a light appeared to be coming up the passage from the back entrance. “The light came on towards me. It was a person carrying a torch who came at quite a reasonable pace. When he got level with the bathroom door he made a funny noise and shook the torch at me. He said nothing that was intelligible. He was quite tall. I have never heard Robert making such a noise,” said Miss Smith. When the person got quite close she slammed the door and fastened the lock. The person did not knock on the door or try to get into the room. Scuffling and Fighting “I called out to Robert: ‘Are you awake?’. The person in the passage would have heard me call out Robert replied: ‘Yes’ and I said: ‘Have you been up?’ and he replied ‘No.’ I said: "There’s someone in the house. Will you have a look?’. “I did not hear Robert getting out of bed as there is carpet on the floor of his room. Then I heard scuffling and fighting. When I first heard it it was in Robert’s room.

“A few moments later Robert called my name: ‘Alma, Alma' in a muffled kind of voice as though something was held over his mouth. He never called me Alma. It was always Cook or Cookie. When he called out the sounds of fighting had stopped. “I called out: ‘ls he still there? and Robert replied: ‘Yes’. His voice was much clearer than when he had called out my name. The scuffling started again and I thought I’d better go for help. I switched on the light but it would not work. When I first went to bed it was working.” Miss Smith said.

She put on a cardigan and slippers and got out through the top of the bedroom window. When she left the house there was no indication of fire. After walking down be side a wire fence to the drive way she went to the homestead and aroused the Lewis family. “Robert was not really normal but he was quite good. He could not read or write but he could sign his name His mother looked after him before I took over as housekeeper. “After his mother’s death Robert improved. He was not so shy at meeting people and talked more freely. He had quite a few friends and could drive a car but did not have a licence. He did quite a lot of work around the farm.” Miss Smith said. The last time she was in Robert’s room before the fire was about 5 p.m. on November 7 when she shut the window before he got home from work. Robert had a cycle lamp and a torch on a shelf in his bedroom. Shown a two-cell silver and red torch which had been produced in evidence earlier Miss Smith said it was not Robert's and she had never seen it at the house. Robert had about £4O or £SO in notes in his bedroom and some change. He smoked a pipe and occasionally cigarettes. She had never known him to smoke in bed. Lock Changed The lock on the backdoor had been changed because it was faulty. Before that the backdoor key would open the front -door and the garage. She did not think the key for the new lock on the back door would open other doors but she had not tried it. There bad been three keys for the

old lock on the back door but one of them had disappeared and could not be found.

There were two drip trays in the heater room on the night of November 7. She had never known them to overflow. She would empty them before they got too full and pour the oil back into the main tank. Shown part of the heating plant containing a tap to control the flow of oil Miss Smith said she had never touched that tap. She gave details of the procedure she used when switching off the heating plant. Robert never touched the plant. Miss Smith identified the burnt remains of a semicircular three-legged table which she said was in the hall near her bedroom. There had been a bronze vase on the table. She also identified the photograph of a chair which had been specially made which had also been in the hall. Manager’s Evidence Edward William Lewis said he was employed by the Public Trust as manager of the Mt Hutt Station, about seven miles from Methven. He and his family lived in the old homestead. He had been there five years, one of which was as head shepherd. The station consisted of just over 8000 acres and wintered slightly more than 11,000 sheep. Witness’s home was about 300 or 400 yards from that of Robert Richards. About 1.30 a.m. on November 8 he was awakened by Miss Smith. He got dressed and told his wife to telephone the police. He picked up two employees, Messrs Smith and Oakden, and left for Robert’s place about 15 minutes after Miss Smith had arrived. As he approached the house he saw a flicker of fire near the front door. He went there by way of the Alford Forest Road as he thought that if anyone was about they might have parked a car there. He saw no vehicles or any person.

When he got to the house he could see no flames, but there was a lot of smoke, some of which was pouring from the vents in the foundations. He returned to his home and told his wife to telephone the fire brigade; He picked up another employee, Mr Duff, and a fire extinguisher, and went back to the house. Later he returned to his home to telephone the farm supervisor, Mr Cubitt, but he could not get through as the telephone would not work. Both the houses on the station were on the same telephone line. Mr Lewis said he went to the house of the married couple as they were on a separate line. He put a toll call through to Bruce Richards. The telephone rang for about three minutes, but there was no answer. He then telephoned the married couple on Bruce Richard's farm and spoke to Mr Flintoff. Saw Accused

About an hour later he saw the accused walking down the track to the skating rink with two firemen. He told the accused that he had been trying to ring him, and he had replied he had picked up the telephone and “I was gone.”

Witness said to the accused: “Robbie’s dead and its the unluckiest show I’ve been on.” The accused replied: “It’s been 18 years.” At the time he did not know what he was referring to, but he now knew that it was 18 years since the Richards’s father had died. The accused had made no reference to the future ownership of the' property. He told witness that he had to put a new clutch in the chainsaw. From the time of the death of Mrs Richards witness acted as a trustee for Robert and had advised him on finance and other matters. He got on with him very well. Robert was not a fit man. Witness had had some friendly spars with him and Robert did not punch in

a normal manner but held his fists fairly low down in front of. his body. “Robert and his brother never got on to my knowledge,” said Mr Lewis. “Whenever Bruce stepped on to the place Robbie was very frightened and always tried to get away and come to one of us. I have never seen any violence between the two brothers.” Witness said the silver and red torch did not belong to Robert and he had not seen it at the house until after the fire. He had never seen Robert offer violence to anyone, and he got on well with people working on the estate. To Mr Young the witness said Robert had been tailing lambs and sweeping up crutchings in the shed. He had never seen the two brothers together during the five years he had worked on the station. Question About Rings Kathleen Dawn Lewis, the wife of the previous witness, said she had lived on the station since 1963. She had looked after Mrs Richards until she had died on April 6, 1965. After her death the accused and his wife had come to her home and asked about a ring or rings. There bad been an argument and Bruce Richards had run his mother down and said: “She has never done anything for me. Why should she do anything for you?” The accused had wanted a picture of a swan and she had found it face down in the attie without a frame. She told him she was not permitted by tbe Public Trust to give it to him and he had said: “One day it will all be mine.” Just after Mrs Richards’s funeral the accused had said at witness’s back door that Robert was silly and that he would never be able to run Mt Hutt or something similar. The accused had said his mother was silly and not in her right frame of mind when she made her will not long before she died and that he would prove it. Mrs Lewis said she had only seen the accused speak to Robert once and that was the day their mother had died. Robert was very frightened of his brother and she had always tried to reassure him.

On the morning after the fire the accused and his wife had come to her house. Mrs Richards had said that their telephone and hers were out

of order and something about a lightning conductor being pushed over. “Bruce asked me to accept his sympathy in the loss of my Robert. Robert was close to me, like my own son,” said Mrs Lewis. Medical Evidence Robert Richards was a high-grade mental defective, said Dr Roy Taylor Wade, of Methven. This meant that although he was able to make simple straightforward decisions he could not be expected to make decisions in business. He was unable to compete on equal terms with the normal individual. Dr Wade said he had been the doctor of the Richards family for 17 years. On the morning of the fire he arrived at the house about 3 a.m. He examined the body of Robert Richards and certified that he was dead. William Frederick Owen, a store manager, said he was chief fire officer of the Methven Volunteer Fire Brigade. About 1.50 a.m. on November 8 the alarm was sounded and about five minutes later the engine left the station. He went to Mt Hutt Station in his own car and arrived before the engine. He returned to the fire station in his car to get extra hose. He gave details o’ the fire fighting. The accused arrived in his car about daylight and witness introduced him to Constable Jackways. He asked the accused where he could get more water as the supply was running low. The accused showed him a pond but there was no need to use it. The fire was extinguished about 5 a.m., Mr Owen said.