YOUTH SENT FOR TRIAL Runaway Girl Tells Court Of Stabbing

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31596, 6 February 1968, Page 14

YOUTH SENT FOR TRIAL Runaway Girl Tells Court Of Stabbing

(New Zealand Prut Association)

TOKOROA, February 5. A 15-year-old Auckland schoolgirl told the Tokoroa Magistrate’s Court today how she watched her boy*friend fight and stab a youth at Atiamuri on December 21 last year.

The girl said that she saw a knife in her friend’s hand before the fight broke out, and later saw the injured youth roll over on the ground with blood soaking through his white shirt. After the hearing, Larry Edward Hammond, aged 21, a former postman, of Henderson, was committed to the Supreme Court at Hamilton to face a charge of attempting to murder lain Arthur Kemp, aged 20, and another of car conversion. He was allowed bail of $2OO on his own recognisance, with a surety of $2OO, and was ordered to report daily to the Newmarket police station. A further condition of the bail was that he should not associate with the witness. Hammond pleaded not guilty to both charges. Mr K. L Sandford of Auckland, prosecuted. Hammond was represented by Mr R. Shenkin. Search In Bosh

Among the 13 witnesses heard today was Detective Constable M. F. Malone, who arrested Hammond in bush near Atiamuri on December

22. He said he was a member of a police party looking for Hammond when the accused was seen in a clearing. “He had a rifle to his shoulder, pointed directly at my ehest and in front of him, crouching down with him, was a female. The rifle was resting on her left shoulder," said Detective Constable Malone. “I told him to drop the rifle and he moved his aim to another of the police party, then stood up and held the rifle high above his head.” He checked the .22 calibre rifle and found it was cocked, with a round in the breech and 14 rounds of ammunition in the magazine. Three Weeks

The schoolgirl said that she had known the accused for about three weeks before the Incident.

“I was told by my parents that I was going to be sent to a girl’s home in Auckland and I didn’t like the idea, so I decided to run away.

“I discussed this with Hammond and Larry said he would take me away. “We went to Atiamuri in Larry’s car and slept out in the bush in sleeping bags. We went into Atiamuri and went to some garages to get a car. “We opened one garage, pushed a car out, but a car

came by and /we hid behind the car we had pushed from the garage. “The men who arrived in the other car asked us what we were doing. One wanted to know what was going on and where we were from, and he started taking notes. One Man Left “There were three men with us at the garage, but after a while one man went away and another man left his car.

“The man who stayed with us told Larry we wouldn’t be going anywhere and they started to fight. I saw a knife in Larry’s hand. I first saw it just as the bloke went for him.

“AU of a sudden the man rolled over on the ground and I could see blood coming through his shirt. “I yelled out to Larry to stop fighting and we ran to* wards the place where we had left my boots and his gun." As they ran away, Hammond had said, “I hope the guy won’t die.” Wounds Described

Dr J. L. Jardine, a visiting surgeon at the Rotorua Hospital, said that he had examined Mr Kemp on December 21.

The patient had a stab wound in his chest and four wounds in his back. Several of the wounds were between four and five inches deep. In a statement to the police, given in evidence by Detective Senior-Sergeant A. P Jesson, of Rotorua, Hammond said he was married in August, 1966, and after an accident which put him off work for 11 months, was depressed by financial commitments.

He said he decided to take off on December 15. He picked up the schoolgirl and drove to Atiamuri. He said he used the knife to protect himself, hoping to scare Kemp away and avoid being held for trying to steal the car.