SUPREME COURT Young Man On Trial On Kidnapping Charge

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32354, 21 July 1970, Page 18

SUPREME COURT Young Man On Trial On Kidnapping Charge

The Crown case against a young man charged with kidnapping had concluded in the Supreme Court yesterday when the Court rose for the day. Michael John BrennanHolton, aged 21, a clerk, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of unlawfully detaining Patricia Anne Wilkie at Dunedin on May 27 without her consent.

Mr Justice Macarthur is presiding. Mr W. S, Smith appears for the Crown and Brennan ■ Holton is represented by Mr S. G. Erber who announced that he would be calling no evidence. The Crown called six witnesses

Patricia Anne Wilkie, aged 19, teachers’ college student, of Dunedin, said that she knew the accused as Michael Brennan. She met him when she was on holiday In Wellington on May 23 in a coffee bar. He invited her to go to bis flat to see the view of Wellington. They arrived at the flat about 10.15 p.m. and she left about 1.15 a.m.

The accused told her that he loved her and he wanted to marry her. She said that she bad not known him long enough as she had only just met him. On the Sunday night the accused telephoned her and told her that he was coming to Dunedin. After talking the matter over with her parents she told him not to, but to write. On Tuesday, May 26, Bren-nan-Holton telphoned her at borne and arranged to meet her in Mosgiel at 8 p.m. They talked for an hour, and he told her not to tell her parents that he was in Dunedin.

Next morning she went with the accused to the lounge bar of the City Hotel where he was staying. She told him to return to Wellington as she did not want him to lose his job. Brennan-Holton said that he would wait in Dunedin for a week to see if she changed her mind and go away with him. She did not want to leave her job and her parents would be very upset He said that after she had been away for a while they would probably realise it was all right Prodnced Gun About 1 p.m. they went to the accused's room. He bad booked in under a false name. She thought that he had agreed to return to Wellington, said Miss Wilkie. The accused ieft the room for about 10 minutes about 4 p.m. She had no cause to worry because he nad told her she could meet her father at 5 p.m. When Brennan-Holton returned he asked her to guess what he had in his pocket and she said a gun. He took it out and said she was going to Christchurch with him. She thought it was a real gun and she was scared. He said that she would not get hurt but that other people would if she tried to run away. Earlier he had shown

her a mark on a mirror and be said that had been made when he was practising with the gun the night before There was a silencer on the gun and nobody would heat it.

She pleaded with him to let her go and he instructed her to telephone her parents and tell them that she would not be in until late that evening. They travelled to Christchurch on the rail-car. She had only the clothes she wore and 80c. Brennan-Holton told her that if she co-operated he would pay her fare back to Dunedin if she did not want to go away with him. He ordered her to stay close to him.

There were people at the railway station but she did not call out because she was scared that people would gel hurt if he started shooting She did not want to go with the accused in the rail-car. Miss Wilkie said. During the journey to Christchurch she read a book which was a training college assignment and she made notes' from it She chatted with Brennan-Holton but denied holding hands with him or going out with him into the passageway between the two rail-cars to have a kiss, said Miss Wilkie. Cross-examined

To Mr Erber, Miss Wilkie said she had first met Brennan-Holton at the Chez Paree coffee bar, and she agreed that they were attracted to each other, and that she liked him the whole time she was with him until they parted in Christchurch. During that time BrennanHolton was pleasant and courteous and he had offered her no harm. He had told her often that he was very fond of her. When he invited her back to his flat in Wellington he had said he had no objec tion to her g.r’ friend coming too, but the friend decided to stay in the coffee bar. After they arrived at the flat she had about half a glass of sherry. There was a good view of the harbour from the flat They talked for a while and then the accused started “necking.” This went on for some little time and the accused then indicated that he would like to have intercourse with her and she acceded to that request

They had discussed what would happen if she became pregnant and she had said that she would come and stay with him. At one stage Bren-nan-Holton had suggested that he would like her to stay the night but she said that she had to go back to where she was staying. The question of marriage bad been discussed and she said that they had not known each other long enough but he more or less wanted to get married pretty soon.

Miss Wilkie agreed that she was attracted to him and that she had considered that if the relationship between

them prospered they could become engaged in August She told the accused that she would like him to meet her parents.

Witness agreed that she bad done a number of things with the accused quite willingly. She had not been badly frightened during the rail-car trip but all the time she had been thinking of ways to get away.

She admitted that she had never positively refused to go along with Brennan-Holton until the criminal implications of what he was up to became apparent

Detective Sergeant Thomas Keith Watkins said that the accused told him that be had had intercourse with Miss Wilkie at his flat the night he met her.

The accused said that he bought the pistol because he thought he might commit offences and he would use it to prevent arrest He was going to use it as a bluff because it looked deadlier than it was.

To Mr Erber Detective Sergeant Watkins said that be had got the impression tbat the accused had "fallen for” Miss Wilkie. The accused had been at pains to stress that whatever he might have done he bad no intention of harming Miss Wilkie. He also stressed the same point in relation to the other persons he had dealings with.