Murder charge after seven-hour siege

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33399, 4 December 1973, Page 1

Murder charge after seven-hour siege

(New Zealand Press Association; WANGANUI, December 3. Three tear-gas grenades ended a seven-hour siege in a Wanganui suburb today and brought the end to a crisis which began early in the morning with the slaying of a 46-> ear-old man and finished with a 71-year-old suspect being arrested and charged with murder.

The dead man, whose bullet-riddled body was found about 100 yards from his home, was ANSON FORE, the youngest son of a family of 14 children whose Chinese ancestors established the thriving Kwong Chong Gardens in the late 1900 s.

The 71-year-old was the man the police fbund in a dilapidated old hut, yards from the body and centre of the siege. He was found semi-con-scious on the floor of the one-room hut, a rifle beside him, and a radio tuned into the local station reporting the latest developments on the siege. He was bleeding profusely from a cut on his lip which, police believe, could have been caused when the tear gas grenade hit his rifle, knocking it against his face. Man charged Tonight the police confirmed that a 71-year-old Chinese pensioner, who had been living in the shack for about 20 years, had been arrested after treatment in hospital and formally charged

with murder. He will appear in the Wanganui Magistrate’s Court tomorrow morning. The tragedy started shortly after 7.30 a.m. when neighbours reported hearing a series of shots. The number is uncertain but six is a widely quoted figure, and at least five bullet wounds were found on the dead man.

The police were told that an armed man was in the shack. They cleared the occu-1 pants of about 30 houses be- j fore setting up a ring of' armed men which included: squads from • Palmerston North and New Plymouth. A loud hailer was used late in the morning but abandoned when the police were told that the man inside probably did not know enough English to understand. Later the dead man’s sister, Mrs Lucy Mclntyre, took over with the hailer, speaking to the man in Cantonese. At one stage in the afternoon two members of the armed offenders squad worked their way right up to the back of the house and, in an attempt to distract the man, pieces of wood were thrown on to the roof. He did not react. The final

decision to use tear gas was then made by Inspector G. Knight, who headed the police team of about 40 men. Police started to move in over difficult ground about ;2.45 p.m. with tear gas grenades and launcher, backed up 'by a team with gas masks. Final appeal ; A final appeal was made before the first grenade was I lobbed to the edge of the shack shortly after 3.15 p.m. This was followed about two minutes later with another placed roughly in the same position. The police were hoping that the gas would be carried by the light wind under the house and floor boards. Seven minutes later, when there was still no reaction from the shack (which had twice been enveloped in the choking fumes), a policeman crawled up to one of the back windows and tossed in the last grenade. Two minutes later smoke began to pour from the house and within another minute police stormed the building and dragged the man out.