'I just went mad,’ accused said

Press, 8 September 1976, Page 3

'I just went mad,’ accused said

PA Dunedin “I don’t know why I killed liim ... I just went mad.” a youth of 17 accused of murder told •: Oamaru detective several hours after a schoolboy, aged 13, had been stabbed to death at the Friendly Bay playground at Oamaru on May 18. Detective R W. Bamber, giving this evidence ag st th' cc’ised, Ardrew R rt Barry Rogers, said that RogI ..dm; 'd having a lieht w' ’ ' e boy. Ri ian A! x -r Johnson, behind a shelter at the playground and that ha J killed him with a knife. Detc » Bamber w. the last Cr . n witness to give evidence, after which two defem' witnc ses — the accused’s mother and a Christch -ch consultant psychiatrist — were called. The defence se will continue today. McClelland <Christch i with him Mr A. Neill (Oamaru), appears for the accused. Mr I. H. Main (Oamaru i i. the Crown f or. The case is being tried before Mr "ustice Ongley and an all-male jury. Detective Bamber said he saw the accused pla; mg pool tn a Main Street pool room at 4.15 p.m. on the day of the stabbing. The accused smiled and waved. About three hours later, wi.acss was called to the Friendly Bav playground where he saw the body o' n rian Johnson There were blood stains

:on the back of his jacket and ,a h«*nb:r of knife cuts. i About midnight, witness sa ; '. he and other police officer went to accused’s heme and questioned him. Asked about the playground, accused had said he had gone there but that he jl?=t sat/ Johnson when the 'latter was riding away on his bi~ycle. Told of statements |by other boys about a fight i behind the shelter, accused at j first denied a. v fight but i then admitted that there had been one. He had said he did not know what it had 'been about. He had said he i"just went mad.” He had said he killed Johnson by 'stabbing him with a knife 'but he did not know how 'many times. He supposed it ■was “a couple of times.” After being warned, acjeused was asked for the I knife and showed witness a sack of bi 'see ' from which j the knife was recovered, i Asked why he had killed Johnson, accused had said there was no reason. He had lost his nper. Johnson had done nothing to annoy him. and they had got on well together. In a statement made at the police station, accused had said that he “just went mad and got stuck into Brian behind the shed.” Accused said he told twe other boys as they left the playground that he had jusl I finished killing Johnson, bul I he did not think they beilieved him. About 7.30 p.m. 'ho had called t'.e police stallion and in a disguised voice ihad told them about Johnison. accused had said. ! He had not known why hr ihad k.' '. Johnson. He hac jnot realised what he hac

■ done until he had finished, ;acc 'd had said. j While making the statelment, accused was calm and composed, said Detective Bamber. He showed no anxiety or remorse. Opening the defence case, Mr McClelland said the defence was one of insanity. The crime was an extraordinary one. and not one which could have been committed bv an ordinary person, he said. The fact that accused had stabbed the boy for no reason 22 times in front or |two persons and had then 'gone to play pool showed that jhe was “completely and I utterly mad” at the time of the killing. I The accused had been com-i mitted when he was 14. and) should never have been re-1 leased at all. Mr McClelland! ; said. Accused’s mother, Kathleen Violet Rogers, gave evidence J about accused’s early years from the time of his birth. He, was two months premature and was very' sick. He had! spent several weeks in an iso-! lete with oxygen. He was! much slower at learning than other children, and when about three used to smash up his toys. When he started school, he was unable to get on with children his own age, but was all right with younger , children. , As time went on. Mrs ! Rogers said, her son showed ! a tendency towards violent behaviour, and was very easily upset. He began staying ' away from school and in 1973 ) on the advice of Dr Baird ! was taken to Wakari. where (he was an in-patient for several months. Mrs Rogers said she signed I an application for his comI mittal to Cherry Farm, where ■ he was in the security villa for some time; but at the end of 1973, a new doctor came to Cherry Farm, said he did not believe in keeping young children in institutions, and sent accused home. Later, when accused got 'into more trouble, he was sent to a boys’ home in the North Island, but escaped and returned to Oamaru, after which he was sent to Borstal. When he returned home, he was very' quiet, but would “blow up” very easily, and smash windows or punch walls, Mrs Rogers said. He fired a .22 rifle round his bedroom, shooting at things, and later did the same thing with an air rifle. A consultant psychiatrist, Robyn Hewland, said she had spoken twice with accused about a week ago. Before she interviewed him, she had been warned by Professor Medlicott to be careful, as accused could be violent. Dr Hewland said accused was suffering psychotic depression when she saw him. From her interviews, and information she had obtained about accused’s state of mind at the time of the stabbing, Dr Hewland said he was suffering from psychotic depression, superimposed on a probjable minimal brain damage ■'from birth.