Two Gas Dept Workers On Manslaughter Charges

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31784, 14 September 1968, Page 42

Two Gas Dept Workers On Manslaughter Charges

(New Zealand Press Association) DUNEDIN, September 13. Two Dunedin City Council gas department employees, Kevin George Patterson, aged 20, a service-layer, and John Gordon Haggitt, aged 21, a labourer, faced manslaughter charges before Mr J. D. Murray, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court today as the result of the death on April 30 of a 70-year-old Dunedin widow in her gas-filled Stuart Street flat.

Depositions were taken from 13 prosecution witnesses today and the hearing was adjourned until Monday, when the final witness, a pathologist, Dr E. F. D’Ath, will be heard.

In what is understood to be the first prosecution of its kind, Patterson and Haggitt are charged that, havin their charge and under their control a gas main, they caused the death of Florence Railton.

Mr J. B. Deaker is presenting the case for the prosecution: Mr A. J. H. Jeavons is appearing for Haggitt; and Mr H. J. Ross for Patterson.'

Meryl Phillips, a shop assistant, daughter of the deceased, said she had been in the habit of ringing her mother daily. Her mother had called her at 8.30 a.m.

on April 30, but when Mrs Phillips telephoned back at 6.30 p.m. she received no reply. Mrs Phillips described her mother as being “fanatical” that her gas appliances were touched by no-one other than herself.

Dr Arnold Perry, a medical practitioner, received an urgent call to Mrs Railton’s flat shortly after 9 a.m. on May 1. There was a pungent smell of gas in the flat although the doors and windows had been opened. Turned Off Tap Mrs Railton was lying on the floor with her head near a gas meter. The doctor estimated that she had been dead for five or six hours. Dr

Perry turned off a tap on the gas meter. Mrs Railton’s doctor, Dr M. F. Blane, said Mrs Railton showed no signs of mental depression, and the doctor was firmly of the opinion that she would never entertain the though of suicide. Albert Charles Railton, a butcher, said tt evidence, he had gone to his mother’s flat three or four days after her death, to find out where the gas was escaping from. He turned on the tap of the meter and heard gas escaping “with great vigour.” Mr Railton lit a match near a union in the pipe above the meter and a flame leapt two or three feet into the air. No Took

There were no tools in the premises with which to adjust the joint, and to Mr Railton’s knowledge no-one, other than himself and carriers, had been in the flat at any time after his mother died.

The deceased’s cousin, Jane Smith Fraser, who lived two doors away from Mrs Railton, said she had seen gas department workmen leaving her cousin’s flat at 4.50 p.m. on April 30. Mrs Fraser telephone Mrs Railton at 6.10 p.m. At this time Mrs Railton complained of feeling a “bit weak,” but said she would be all right. Mrs Fraser and a neighbour, Mrs C. G. Ellis, went to Mrs Railton’s house next morning, and found her lying on the floor. Mrs Ellis described the smell of gas as “frightful” and said she had inspected all the gas jets she could find and found them all turned off.

Gas appeared to be escaping from near the meter, but Mrs Ellis was unable to turn off the tap on the meter. Francis Ronald Anderson, foreman-fitter for the gas department, described how he had gone to the flat on the morning of May 1. Mrs Railton’s body was still near the gas meter. Mr Anderson turned on the tap on the meter and heard gas escape from “approximat-

ely where the union in the pipe occurred.” The mains foreman of the gas department, Victor Cameron Raymond, said Haggitt and Patterson worked under his control. Patterson had some 2i years’ experience and was a semi-skilled “ser-vice-layer.” Haggitt, whose experience was about the same as Patterson’s, was an assistant ser-vice-layer, a labourer. Always available and always carried in service-lay-ing work. This was done by applying a soap solution to the joint and watching for bubbles, Mr Raymond said; On April 30, Patterson and Haggitt were engaged in “clearing the service” at Mrs Railton’s flat. Each had carried out this task many times before.

Ronald O’Brien, installations engineer for the department, said he inspected the gas meter in the flat on the morning of May 1. When the tap was turned on he could feel gas blowing out of the joint and immediately turned the tap off. No repairs were carried out at that time. Mr O’Brien said this union would have been disconnected during “service clearing” to test pressure, then rejoined. The Government Analysis! at Dunedin, Gordon Randall Scott, said he found gas escaping near the meter at a rate of 2.8 cubic feet an hour when he conducted tests on May 23. Constable Sheila McKenzie said she arrived at deceased’s flat about 10 a.m. on May 1. The body of Mrs Railton was lying on the floor near the gas meter in the kitchen. Constable McKenzie produced a statement by Patterson in which he said he called at deceased’s flat at 236 Stuart Street in response to a complaint about low gas pressures. Patterson outlined procedures carried out by himself and Haggitt after their arrival at 2.30 p.m. After they had done their work they had a cup of tea which Mrs Railton had made them.