TWO MEN TO STAND TRIAL FOR AGGRAVATED ROBBERY

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31975, 30 April 1969, Page 26

TWO MEN TO STAND TRIAL FOR AGGRAVATED ROBBERY

AUCKLAND, April 29. Two men were today committed to the Auckland Supreme Court for trial on joint charges of aggravated robbery of a T.A.B. manageress, and burglary.

In the Auckland Magistrate’s Court, Norman Wallace Davis, aged 24, a truck driver, and Norman Danley Joyce, aged 22, unemployed, pleaded not guilty to a charge that at Auckland on April fi they robbed Murial Joy Cosgrave.

Mr B. K. Shenkin appeared for Joyce. Davis was not represented. Giving evidence in a private hospital tn which she has been since the incident. Miss Cosgrave. the 61-year-old manageress of the St Heliers T.A.B. said that on the night of Easter Monday she had gone to bed after watching television. The next thing she could recall was hearing

the front door glass panel being broken. A man came into her bedroom and put his hand over her face and beat her about the face with his fists. She was lying on the floor when one of the men asked her how much money she had in the T.A.B. Spare Key

Miss Cosgrave said that $5O was taken out of her wallet. She gave the bigger man a spare key to the T.A.B.

The next thing she remembered she was in the bathroom holding her head over the basin because she was bleeding so badly. A gag was first put not across her mouth but down her throat till she nearly choked, she said. The men tied her up with towelling and the gag was later taken from her mouth. “1 asked them to put me on the floor and they did." said Miss Cosgrave. who said that one of the men promised to her that the police would be telephoned so that she could be set free. Broken Teeth William Jackson, a medical practitioner, said that he attended Miss Cosgrave early on the morning of April 8. He said he found her in a shocked and distressed state. She had extensive bruising on her nose and the, two black eyes and broken teeth. She also had a fractured tibia, he said. Constable Reginald Charles Hayden said an emergency call was received by the police communications centre at 12.31 a.m. The caller, who sounded like a young man, said: “We have just beaten up an old duck in St Heliers. You had better go and see if she is all right because we have beaten her up badly.” The caller then hung up. “Red Stuff” Helen Phyllis Louise Goodall said that early on the morning of April 8 Joyce came to her address in Mount Eden and left with her a blue jacket which he told her had some "red stuff” on it. Joyce told her about the robbery and said blood came

on his jacket while he was carrying Miss Cosgrave to the bathroom

Mrs Goodall said she washed the jacket and Joyce picked it up some days later.