SUPREME COURT Two Men On Trial On Assault Charge

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31986, 13 May 1969, Page 14

SUPREME COURT Two Men On Trial On Assault Charge

The hearing of evidence in the trial of lan Nelson Benbow and Peter McDonald Allan on a joint charge of assaulting Desmond Kenneth Burke and Maureen Frances Burke on or about March 12 with intent' to facilitate the crime of theft, and two joint charges of burglary opened before Mr Justice Macarthur and a jury in the Supreme Court yesterday. The trial will continue today. Benbow, aged 23, an unemployed chef (Mr J. S. Bisphan), and Allan, aged 21, a freezing worker (Mr W. A. Wilson), pleaded not guilty to the charge of assaulting Mr and Mrs Burke, proprietors of the Yaldhurst Hotel, and to burglary of the hotel on or about March 12, and burglary of the Hunterville Hairdressing Salon on March 14.

The accused pleaded guilty to a joint charge of unlawfully taking a car valued at $l2OO on March 11 and were convicted and remanded in custody to a date to be fixed for sentence.

Mr A. D. Holland, with him Mr I. J. S. Reeves, appeared for the Crown.

In his opening address Mr Holland said the Crow evidence would be that the accused had left a party about midnight on March 11 and that the next morning Allan had a damaged hand. They both said they intended leaving for the North Island. That same night Mr and Mrs Burke were assaulted while they were in bed in the Yaldhurst Hotel by two persons wearing a disguise. On March 16 a tobacconist shop in Hunterville was broken into and a quantity of goods taken. Found in Auckland

The police later found the defendants in Auckland. Ben-

bow was asleep in a car outside a flat and Allan was asleep in the flat. In both the car and the flat the police found property that had been taken from the Hunterville shop. Mr Holland said the evidence would convince the jury that the accused had broken into the Yaldhurst Hotel by opening a door, and had viciously assaulted Mr and Mrs Burke in bed with the intention of stealing from them.

They left for the North Island and two days later they broke into the Hunterville hairdressing shop on their way to Auckland. Desmond Kenneth Burke said in evidence that he and his wife went to sleep about 11.30 p.in. on March 11 after he had cleaned up the bars and checked the hotel doors. Soon afterwards his wife woke him when she closed their bedroom door. The door had been closed when they went to bed so his wife called out to their children to see if one of them had opened it. There was no reply He said he went back to sleep and was awakened again when his wife called out, “Look out.”

Saw Two Figures

He saw two black figures come through the bedroom door towards the bed. He then heard a thump on his wife’s side of the bed and felt two or three hits on the head. He tried to ward off the blows and managed to push one of the persons off by pushing him in the stomach with his foot. When he tried to reach the phone and light by the bed he felt another three or four blows on the back of his head. He struck at somebody behind him with his elbow and rushed towards a light switch in a recess of the room. He then saw a figure with upraised arm and heard something strike the wall beside him.

The two persons then made

off out the door and soon after he heard a car start up. He later found ajar two doors in the hotel which had previously been locked. The witness said he suffered abrasions on the forehead, bumps on the back of the head, bruising of the chest and a cut wrist in the scuffle. He said Benbow had been employed as a chef at the hotel for six or eight weeks up to March 8. Corroborative evidence was given by Mrs Burke. She said when the men came into the room a hand was held over her mouth and she was bashed on the head two or three times with a trinket box. She later found a small knife under the bed.

Found Door Ajar

Bruce James Butters, proprietor of the Hunterville Hairdressing Salon, said he found his shop door ajar and the glass broken about 6.30 a.m. on March 14. There were 1000 cigarettes, a pound of tobacco, a pair of scissors, cuff links, ear-rings, rings, cigars, bank statement, cheque book and $4O in silver missing from the shop.

He identified a number of such items produced as exhibits as being similar to those sold in his shop and missing from his stock. Frederick Carl Rosel, unemployed, said that during a party on the night of March 11, Allan said something to him about “going on a job in a hotel,” and, “the Yaldhurst Hotel would be the best one to go to.” He said he understood “a job” to mean a burglary. At one stage Allan wanted him to go too, but they were both half drunk so he told Allan not to be stupid. The next day Allan said he had done the job, spoke of blood on a woman’s face, a fight, and using an ashtray.

He told Benbow and Allan he thought they had better “shoot through,” and they, then left the flat.