Father shot in head after argument with his son

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33092, 6 December 1972, Page 3

Father shot in head after argument with his son

An Ashburton youth who allegedly told the police he wanted to give his father a “hell of a scare” was yesterday committed for trial on a charge of attempted murder and causing injury with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Roderic John Bland, aged 17, an apprentice cabinetmaker, was committed for trial at the next sitting of the Supreme Court at Christchurch.

Depositions from 10 prosecution witnesses were heard by Mr J. D. Kinder, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court at Ashburton. He found that there was a prima facie case to answer. The defendant, who pleaded not guilty to attempting to murder his father at their home on the evening of November 5, and injuring him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, was remanded on bail. This was fixed at $5OO on his own recognisance, with a similar surety, and a condition that he remain in Christchurch with relatives. The defendant was represented by Mr J. G. Leggat, with him Mr J. E. F. Moon. Mr G. K. Panckhurst appeared for the Crown. The Magistrate lifted the previous order of suppression of name.

Evidence was given that the defendant shot his father in the head soon after an argument with his father, and a related argument between the father and Mrs Bland about the father’s desire that the defendant should leave home. Father’s evidence John Albert Bland, aged 38, a plant foreman, and the father of the defendant, said that two or three days before the shooting he had spoken to the defendant about doing some gardening as payment for beer the defendant had used, belonging to the witness. He arrived home from work at 9 p.m. on November 5 and saw nothing had been done to the garden during the week-end. He went to the sleep-out hut where his sons slept, to speak to them about this. Blows struck The defendant got up to let him into the hut. A “quite heated argument” developed between them, and the witness struck the defendant two or three times with the back of his hand about the defendant’s ears and side of his face. Mr Bland said he had struck the defendant after the defendant had taunted him about his association with a woman. The defendant, after being struck, told his father that was the last time he would do that, and that he would “get him” for it. His wife came to the door and they quietened down, because they realised she was upset. The witness said he then “stormed out” of the.hut and back to the house. His wife then returned to the kitchen, and he suggested to her that the defendant should leave home. Her reaction was that their son should not leave, and there were raised voices. His wife then walked up the passage and he began having his tea. While at the stove he felt a pain in his head. There was an explosion, and he thought a ring on the stove had exploded. He fell to the floor, but remained conscious. His wife and another son, Alan, came into the kitchen. He was later taken to hospital. The bullet had struck him in the side of the head just in front of the right ear. He was in hospital for four days, the witness said. Alan Desmond Bland, aged

15, a brother of the defendant, said that the argument had developed from the defendant’s not having done some gardening, and his (the witness) not cutting the hedge, as their father had asked. His father and the defendant began arguing, and they became more heated as the argument developed, the witness said. His father hit the defendant three times with his hands. His brother got out of bed. They were going to have “a real bash-up,” so his brother got dressed and said he was going to the police to report that he had been assaulted. The witness said his mother then came to the hut and said to quieten down as the noise would attract the neighbours.

His brother returned to bed, but got up when he heard his parents arguing, and said he should “drill” his father. The witness said he told his brother not to be mad. The defendant then took his rifle and a bullet. He told the witness he was only going to scare his father.

The witness said he did not see what his brother did outside because clothing on the line obscured his view, but he heard the shot, and went to the kitchen to find his father lying wounded on the floor. He could not find his brother. Earlier in the evening they had each drunk a bottle of beer.

Dr D. P. Caldwell, a resident surgeon at Ashburton Hospital, gave evidence of the injury caused by the bullet. He said the bullet had

disintegrated on impact. There was no evidence of brain damage, and it was unlikely the father would suffer permanent disability. Heard argument The defendant’s mother, Rhonda Joy Bland, said she got out of bed after hearing an argument in her son’s hut. Her husband was inside the hut, and told the witness that the defendant would have to pack his bags and leave. The witness said their son was not leaving, and the son remarked about an affair her husband had had with another woman.

After telling her son to return to bed, she went back to the house. She and her husband then had an argument about whether the accused should leave home. Later, from her bedroom, she heard her husband call out and she went to the kitchen. She found him lying on the floor, with blood on the side of his face. She did not realise what had happened. Her younger son entered the kitchen and said the defendant had “done it.” The witness said there was not a very close relationship between her husband and son, Roderic. They had argued on a number of occasions. “My son tended to side with me when there were domestic arguments.” “Distressed state” Margaret Pauline Spicer, a married woman, of Willow Street, said the defendant, who had been taking out her daughter, called at her house shortly after 9 p.m. wearing

only a pair of black trousers —“nothing else.” He fell into her arms and said his father had been shot. He said he only wanted to frighten his father, not hurt him, but that his father “has hurt my mother too much.” Cross-examined by Mr Leggat, the witness said the accused had been in a terribly distressed state. Police statement Detective Sergeant J. G. Scott produced a statement taken from the accused later in the evening of the shooting. In it, the accused said he did not do the gardening as he had been told to by his father, but instead he had tidied the house in readiness for his mother’s returning home after her discharge from hospital that week-end. His father had called him “a gutless this and gutless that” and a “lazy good-for-nothing,” because he had not done the garden. “I felt he was picking on me, and he picked on Alan for not cutting the hedge. “I told my father he was a good example to follow, and he hit me. He said, ‘Come on big fellow, you think you’re so smart,’ and he egged me on to fight.” The defendant’s mother came in at that stage and told them to stop, the statement added.

When his mother came in the defendant “started to throw the mud at dad.” His statement said that two months previously his mother had said she had seen her husband having an affair. “He showed no consideration for mum, who was just out of hospital, and had sitches in her stomach," the statement added. He heard his father “roar and shout” at his mother and say that he (the defendant) could “pack his bloody bags and go.” The defendant said he told his brother that he was going to give his father a “hell of a scare,” and took the rifle. While standing looking in through the window he thought it was not fair that his father should come home and “go crook” at his mother when she was not well. He thought he would teach his father a lesson. He said he did not know what he meant to do, but took rough aim and pulled the trigger. He did not want to kill his father, but wanted to give him a fright.

The defendant’s statement said he took a shot at his father because of their argument, and also because he was “going on” at mum who had just got out of hospital.

Watches stolen. — Swiss watches of a total value of about $5OOO were stolen from a window at Goldfields Jewellers in Seddon Street, Waihi, last evening. A padlock was cut and entry was gained by forcing the front door of the shop.—(P.A.).