Charges Laid After Shooting Incidents

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31771, 30 August 1968, Page 20

Charges Laid After Shooting Incidents

(New Zealand Press Association)

DUNEDIN, August 29.

The man who faces charges of armed robbery and burglary as a result of alleged shooting incidents in Dunedin early this morning was still in the Dunedin Hospital tonight—and the police were unable to say when he would be fit to appear in court.

The accused, Peter Raymond Hardie, aged 34, a forestry worker, has been charged with robbing Graham William Grindlay of a car while armed with a .308 rifle, and with having broken into the shop of Allan Millar Gunsmith, Ltd.

The police sought a remand of the charges in the Magistrate’s Court this morning, and Mr J. D. Murray, S.M., stood the case down, saying he could hardly deal with a man who had not been brought before the court, Hardie is believed suffering from head injuries sustained when a car he was driving crashed into a power pole near Balclutha.

A Mornington taxi-driver, Mr J. Jackson, aged 27, was the first to be involved in a night of drama. A man said to have been brandishing a high-powered rifle is alleged early this morning to have fired two rounds at almost point-blank range at Mr Jackson, then to have forced a young couple to abandon their car and used it during an abortive attempt to escape from pursuing police. The man called Mr Jackson’s taxi in Princes Street South. “He got in the back seat, and it was then that I noticed he had a rifle,” said Mr Jackson, who is married, with three young children. “I spoke to him about it, but I really wish now I had not. I asked him where he got it, and what it was to be used for.”

Mr Jackson said he gained little satisfaction 1 from his replies, “but I didn’t know

what to do with him, so 1 began driving him to the place he wanted to go, Arthur Street.”

Once there, Mr Jackson said, the man opened the back door and stepped on the road. “He went through the motions of getting money to pay the fare, but suddenly lifted up the rifle to window level."

The man, it is alleged, then fired two shots, one of them hitting the taxi’s dashboard. Mr Jackson said his first reaction was to drive off as quickly as possible. He put the taxi into low gear, and trying to gain as much protection as possible from the front seat, drove off down the road—virtually lying on the seat as he steered the car.

The man is alleged to have fired at least one more round, which pierced the right-rear mudguard, and was found by the police on the back seat of the car. Mr Jackson came out of the incident only slightly scathed, in spite of the close range of some of the shots. A bullet fragment struck him on the back, leaving a minor cut.

Minutes later, Mr Grindlay and his companion, alleged to have been held at gunpoint by the same man, abandoned their car, which was parked near the intersection of Maori Road and Serpentine Avenue. The Armed Offenders Squad had meanwhile been called out, and a number of off-duty police were alerted to set up road blocks north and south of Dunedin.

Suspecting that the man might be travelling south in Mr Grindlay’s car, the Dunedin police alerted Constable V. Garrick, of Milton, at 1.30 a.m.—about an hour after the incident with the taxi-driver. Constable Garrick immediately began to patrol the main highway. He spotted a car between Milton and Bal clutha and gave chase.

Two shots were fired through the back window .of the pursued car, which was estimated to be travelling a! 60 to 70 miles an hour. ' Before it reached Balclutha, however, it crashed into a power pole.

Its driver was thrown clear and was found unconscious by Constable Garrick, following close behind. The car was extensively damaged. It is not known whether it was insured. The injured man was taken to the Balclutha Police Station and later to the Balclutha Hospital, before being transferred to the Dunedin Hospital for observation.