MAGISTRATE'S COURT Epitaph Riders facing charges after ‘raid’

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33777, 25 February 1975, Page 19

MAGISTRATE'S COURT Epitaph Riders facing charges after ‘raid’

Nine members ori associates of the Devil’s Henchmen motor - cycle gang were called to give evidence in the Christchurch Magistrate’s Court yesterday against four members of the Kpitaph Riders who are alleged to have raided the Henchmen’s former residence at 3 Convoy street at 3 a.m. on November 3. Neil Bruce Beyers, aged J 9. a carpenter’s labourer, Stephen William Hollis, aged a crane driver, Raymond Lloyd Cullen, aged 18, a sheet-metal worker, and Howard Alder Common, aged 20, a carpenter, pleaded not guilty to a joint charge of unlawfully entering the house with intent to commit a crime. They appeared before Mr H. J. Evans, S.M., and were represented by Mr G. M. Brodie. The 10 civilian witnesses called by the police were heard yesterday and the case will resume on February 26. The defendants were remanded on bail. Mr N. W. Williamson appeared for the prosecution, and at the beginning of the hearing unsuccessfully called for the exclusion of any members or associates of the two gangs-who appeared in court as members of the public. The Magistrate said that he was reluctant to make any such order, but would not tolerate any misbehaviour. Barry Raymond Hayes, aged 28, a prison inmate, who rented the premises at Convoy Street, said that he was woken about 3 a.m. by a “loud banging noise.” He opened his bedroom door into the lounge and saw a group of people. “I saw the helmets and thought it must be the Epitaph Riders so I climbed out my bedroom window and took off,” he said. Witness said he could not identify any member of the gang. When shown a statement taken from him by the

j police the day after the in-1 cident describing the defend- 1 ants, Hollis and Common,: and saying they were among the intruders, the witness said he did not recall making a written statement. He agreed that it was his signature on the bottom of the statement. On the request of the prosecution, the Magistrate declared the witness hostile. Gary Reginald Baker, aged 18, said in evidence that he > had been asleep and woke up when he was hit on the head by “some guy with a German helmet on and with what seemed like an iron bar.’’ He had been hit about 15 times and tried to cover his ' head with his hands. His ; hand was later discovered to I!be broken and his head was cut. He could not identify his ] assailants he said. Baker was also declared a hostile witness after he was pre- . sented with a statement allegedly made by him after the incident. In the statement he had said he recognised the defendant Common as one of the intruders. He denied the statement refreshed his memory as to what hap- ' pened. “I think there must have been j a misunderstanding,” he said in ; explanation. Another youth who was staying the night at the house was I “smashed across the legs” by ’what felt like an iron bar. Railton Howard Lucking, aged 18, said he received a broken elbow and a cut on the head and ■ ! was “knocked out” by the blows. His assailant had been a “short II guy with a stocking over his head.” He would not recognise him again unless he had a stocking over his head, the witness said. Shane Leslie Sinclair, aged 20, [ said he was attacked with boots and clubs and suffered bruises and cuts to the head. He heard the group arrive and tried to drag his bed against the door to jam it. The intruders had pushed the door in and attacked him. There were . no lights on and he could not ’ identify his assailants. His brother, Philip lan Sinclair. • said in evidence that he had 1 been hit on the head with a baton and kicked across the room. He had later received 16 stitches in the back of his head. Kenneth Arnold Averts, aged 18. who was also sleeping at the house in Convoy Street, said that a statement signed by him after i the incident was “untrue.” The statement said that witness had recognised Hollis, who had a stocking over his head, and ‘ Cullen, who had been carrying some sort of weapon, which looked, like a sawn-off shotgun, I and Beyers, who had also been ' carrying something.

Witness was then declared bos-; tile. In re-examination by the prosecution he said that the police constable had put the words recorded in the statement “in my mouth.” He had later signed it because he was “half-asleep and just went along with what the police said.” Mr Williamson warned the witness that he was “on serious ground.” Yvonne Patricia Goodall, agedi 17, said she was asleep on the I couch when the intruders entered the house: “I lay there and watched what went on,” she said. She identified Common as one of the group. He had carried a sawn-off gun, she said. Hollis, whose head was covered with a stocking, had a bar in his hand. “Howard Common smacked Cookie (Gary Cook) up with the end of the firearm and hit him over the head and legs with a bar. By this time Cook was on the floor.” W’itness said she saw Hollis and another youth enter Hayes’s bedroom. The intruders left after someI one said that a neighbour had ' rung the police. ' Miss Goodall said she then I went to investigate if anybody I needed help. I “Go Lucky (Railton Lucking), had a broken arm with his bone sticking out, and Gary Baker had a swollen hand.” When asked by Mr Brodie if she had spoken with police after making her statement she said she had approached the police

after she received a threatening phone call. Sharon Breen, a student nurse; in Auckland, said in evidence that a statement made by her implicating members of the Epitaph Riders had been “a load; of rubbish.” “I was scared and wanted to! get out of the Central Police Station,” she said. She was shown a statement which she was led to believe had been made by a member of the Epitaph Riders and rewrote it to hasten her release from the police station. Witness, who admitted she was friendly with a member of the Epitaph Riders, was also declared hostile. In re-examination by the prosecution, the witness said she had signed a false statement. Gary Charles Cook, aged 18, said he was asleep on the couch when he heard “one hell of a noise.” He was “wacked on the head” with the butt of a shotgun and dragged on to the floor where he was “smashed up with a few iron bars.” He had been confronted by a shotgun by a person who threatened to “blast him to kingdom come.” His legs had been injured and he suffered a hairline fracture and bruises. The man holding the gun then said “we’d better get out. the pigs are on their w'ay.” He was not sure who had hit him, but had “a fair idea.” Bruce Francis Underhay, aged 20, said he went to sleep in the chair and woke up when he was hit over the shoulder.