Man charged with murder after stabbing at Opawa

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34047, 10 January 1976, Page 1

Man charged with murder after stabbing at Opawa

A man died and his wife was taken to the Christchurch Hospital after a stabbing incident in the driveway of a house in Whittington Avenue, Opawa, about 2 p.m. yesterday.

The man stabbed was ARTHUR ROBERT HINES, aged 33, of Christchurch. Another man has been arrested and charged with his murder.

The man was arrested in New Brighton after he had left the scene in a black-and-white pick-up truck.

All available policemen had beer, diverted to watch for him. After he had been traced tc a house in New Brighton, the area was cordoned off and he was arrested about 5 p.m. Mrs Clarisse Hilda Hines, aged 32, was treated for minor stab wounds and allowed to reioin her two children. The police have taken possession of a screwdriver which they believe was used in the stabbing.

Witnesses said that they sav> Mr Hines struggling with another man in the driveway of the Whittington Avenue house about 2 p.m. Two young children were there at the time. A third man put them in a car, which was parked on the road. Men fought Mrs Hines tried to separate the two men while they fought, but she was pushed to the ground and one of the men stood over her and began hitting her with something, witnesses said. Mr Hines intervened but

■ was pushed to the ground, and stabbed with what ' seemed to have been a screwdriver. After a further struggle, 1 the injured man and woman : managed to reach the safety of the car, in which they ; drove away. Neighbours had by that time called the police. Mr Hines’s body was found lying on the roadside at the , comer of Sullivan Avenue ; and Keswick Street, about I 500 yards from the house , where he was stabbed. It is thought that Mr Hines • had stopped the car and then collapsed on the road while : trying to seek help.