SUPREME COURT Dope party before shooting — Crown

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33967, 7 October 1975, Page 7

SUPREME COURT Dope party before shooting — Crown

A young man was fatally injured when he was hit by a blast from a sawn-off shotgun at close range after a party at which LSD was taken, cannabis was smoked and beer drunk at Ashburton on Anzac Day, Mr Justice Roper and a jury were told in the Supreme Court yesterday.

Robert Douglas Roulston, aged 23, unemployed, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of, murdering John Beamsley at Ashhurton on! April 25.

Messrs R A Young and G E. Langham appear for the Crown, which is calling 17 witnesses, and Messrs S. G. Erber and G. F. Orchard for Roulston. The trial is expected to take five days. In his opening address Mr Young said that Roulston was charged with murder, the most serious crime a citizen could face. It was alleged by the Crown that Mr Beamsley died at Ashburton on the evening of April 25, Anzac Day, as the result of a shotgun wound caused by Roulston. Shortly before 6 p.m. Mr Beamsley. Verdun Ashley Pern and Neville Ross| Steel, who had been at a hotel in Ashburton, arrived | ■t the house at 103 Walker Strter, which was divided into three flats. Petrol was put into a car belonging to Mr Perry and thep the three men walked across the road towards the flat. Mr Perry was walking along the path beside the house when he saw Roulston with a shotgun in his right hand. Mr Perry called out that Roulston had a gun and he ran down the path to the back of the house and vaulted two fences into a neighbour’s property. Heart massage Mr Steel would give evidence that he heard a shotgun discharge and saw Mr Beamsley lying on the footpath in the street. Mr Beamsley, who was shot in the shoulder, got up off the ground and went into the kitchen of the flat at the rear of the house. When Mr Steel asked Roulston why he had shot Mr Beamsley, accused had replied something about what had happened during the afternoon and had added: •’Don’t worry Nev, I’m not going to hurt you.” Mr Steel found Mr Beamsley lying on the kitchen floor yelling for help and he then went white. Mr Steel gave him heart massage and tried to resuscitate him until an ambulance arrived. Evidence would be given that a party had been held at the back flat earlier in the day. It was occupied by Peter Foster Cavill and Michelle Rickus. Drink and drugs were consumed. A surgeon. Mr David Caldwell. examined Mr Beamslev at the Ashburton Hospital at 6.30 p.m. He was deeply unconscious from a wound in the chest. Resuscitative methods were continued until 7 p.m. and when there was no evidence of heart action Mr Caldwell declared him dead. The next day Dr made a post mortem examination and in his opinion the cause of death was a gunshot wound in the chest. Inside the body he found wads from a shotgun cartridge and many pellets which the Crown said indicated that the shotgun was fired at close range Vrmetl offender® On April 25 Roulston was living at 117 Tancred Street, the home of his married sister and her husband. His 17-vear-old brother also lived there Evidence would be given that Roulston came home about 11 p.m. Hei took off "his boots and leather iacket and lay on the floor and played with the dogs. As soon as the shooting was reported, the Ashburton police were mobilised and the armed offenders squad was sent from Christchurch. Detective Sergeant Norman Scott and Constable Palatchie found Roulston in bed at his home in Tancred Street, about 1.30 a.m. He was taken to the Ashburton! police station. Five shotguncartridges were found in his I iacket pocket. The shotgun: could not be found. About 12.45 p.m on April: 26. a five-year-old boy found the shotgun which had been placed between a fence and a shed in a park in Cameron Street. Mr Young said Mary Mukumai Potatau, j seed 17. said that on April; 25 she was living with Boh McKenzie in a flat at 103 Walker Street. They had » baby. About midday they got a telephone call from accused and he asked that Mr Beamsley, who was asleep in the back flat, to come and pick him up S2 on bourbon The message was passedl Qn. She went with Miss i Rickus to the new Ashhurton 1 Trust Hotel They returned to the flat: about 5 p.m. As the result of i what Bob McKenzie said to! her. she looked out the win-' dow. she saw Mr Beamsley walking towards the gate and then he fell on his back on the ground Accused who'

had a rifle was walking away from him. To Mr Orchard, Miss Potatau said that she thought she had spent about $2 on bourbon at the hotel. I She knew that from time to time a group consumed drugs at Cavill’s flat. Some of the drugs were tablets. On the day before Anzac Day. Cavill 'and McKenzie bought drugs in Christchurch. The two men took some LSD. She knew that from their behaviour. Verdun Ashley Perry, a shearer, said that he was an inmate of Paparua Prison. On the morning of April 25 he attended a party in a back flat in Walker Street. Roulston was present. About half an hour after they arrived Roulston and Steel took LSD. During the afternoon he and others 'went into town for a meal in a car driven by Mr Beamsley. They were in I town for a couple of hours. On their return to the flat, ithey put petrol in witness’s car which was parked across the street. As he was walking up the path he saw Roulston with the gun. He yelled to the others, ran to the back of the flat and jumped the fence. Bad ‘trip’ He was making his way back to the street when he saw Roulston on the footpath on the other side of the road. He had the gun on his right shoulder. Witness asked Roulston what had happened. Roulston seemed bewildered and started to walk across the road towards witness who ran off and jumped the fence. Hei then got a taxi and went to, Tinwald where he spent the night. To Mr Erber. Mr Perry said that Mr Beamsley had gone around to pick Roulston up because Roulston was having ‘‘a bad trip.” They did not arrive at the flat together. On April 24 witness, Cavill, McKenzie and Beamsley went to Christchurch to get drugs. They tried out the “acid” Cavill had bought at the Rakaia hotel. Asked what kind of ’‘trip” he had, Mr Perry said that it was strange — different from any other. It was bad. It made him frightened of small things which would not normally worry him. The “trip” lasted all night. One of the effects was that he wanted to go to sleep but could not. The drug made him see strange things and made him panic over nothing. Mr Perry said that he had smoked cannabis on the morning of April 25. After Beamsley took acid he had also smoked cannabis and it made him happy-go-lucky. Song about rats Later the “trip” seemed to go bad for Roulston. He started to get worried about something. There was nothing which witness could see or hear which would have made Roulston worried.

During the party a lot of music was played. One of the effects of LSD was to make music sound really loud and inside his head. One of the records played was “Diamond Dogs” featuring David Bowie. One track “Future Legend” about rats was played repeatedly. Neville Ross Steel, aged 17, a timber machinist, said that he had taken LSD for the first time at the flat in Walker Street on April 25. He also drank beer and listened to music. Peter Cavill produced the LSD and witness had about a third of a tab. The LSD was a brown colour like a film negative. The effect of the LSD was

that he had hallucinations. He did not know what he was doing. He had black-outs and he could not remember some parts of the afternoon. At one stage the door of the flat was locked and Roulston wanted to get out. He was confused. He did not know what he was doing or where he wanted to go. Eventually someone opened the door. On his return to the flat, he had just started to walk up the path when he heard a bang. He turned round and saw John Beamsley lying on the ground. Mr Beamsley jumped up and passed witness on the path. Witness knew there was something wrong with Mr Beamsley because his arm was hanging down his side. He ran to the back flat. Roulston was standing just outside the gate with a gun: in his band. Moaning on floor Witness said to Roulston: “You’ve shot him. What did you shoot him for?” or something like that. He thought that Roulston said something about having a hard time. He could not remember anything being said about the incident about the locked door in the afternoon.

Witness put his hand out to take the gun but Roulston would not give it to him. When he went into the flat Mr Beamsley was lying on the floor moaning and then he went unconscious. He tried to revive Mr Beamsley. To his Honour, Mr Steel said that Roulston and Beamsley were friends. He had never seen them have an argument.