Magistrate’s Court Six gang members standing trial

Press, 10 June 1977, Page 17

Magistrate’s Court Six gang members standing trial

An hour of violence out-. ide the headquarters of the empleton motor-cycle gang ; ust after midnight on April; was described by more han a dozen witnesses in he Magistrate’s Court • 'esterday. Peter John Gallagher, aged; 9. Stuart Donald Jordan, <ged 20; Michael Anthony' lolloway, aged 20; Gary Vayne Tavendale, aged 19: •lichae) Colin Best, aged 20: .n ’ David Arthur Best, aged 3, all appeared before Mr J. Bisphan, S.M., charged vith being members of an inlawful assembly in the; •lain South Road, and of; vilfully damaging a Sl3OO ar belonging to Margaret > 4ary Walker. Michael Best is also iharged with setting fire to! diss Walker’s car and Jor-i ! ■ 'aces additional charges if damaging another car, ►elonging to Hone Simon [ •Jone, and to assaulting Pa- ; ricia Haye Bennett, a pas-; enger in Hone’s car. Gallagher is represented' >y Mr C. A. McVeigh, the! Best brothers by Mr K. N.I ■lampton, Holloway by Mr J. Glue, Jordan by Mr R.' '- B. Perry, and Tavendale >y Mr W. F. Morgan. Pleas of not guilty were in.ered on all char s. Senior-Sergeant R. J. Mailer said he would cal) 20 Fitnesses, of whom 17 gave ; evidence yesterday. The alleged incidents took) >lace outside the gang’s! leadquarters at 359 Main' Jcutu Road, Hornby. A Samoan man, James I faniela Kooti, said that after .rinking with a friend in Christchurch he drove the Morris 1100 car, owned by I’iss Walker to Hornby. He ras on his way home and i'w v hat he thought was a; :cr belonging to a friend of I ris parked outside the gang! headquarters, where a party *a« in progress. The door of the house was, ;pen. rnd he went inside' ind walked over to the bar. i ► here the barman asked him; r.hat he was doing. He said’ that he was looking for his! friend when the barman told' him to “P . . . ofi.” Witness said he leftj straight away, and was fol-! (owed nutside by two men.; He was hit on the head by| one, and rather than re-enter! tie car he ran off towards) the city. He knocked on several! foots in an attempt to ring! tie police, but there was no! response. He waved down a; passing taxi to take him to; the Hornby police station j ind when passing the gang!

headquarters saw a couple' of men jumping on Miss! Walker’s car. On a further! journey to Wigram to ring; the police — the Hornby' station was unmanned — he saw more than five men sit-i 'ting on top of the car. In Court he identified Hol-| loway and Michael Best as; two of those on the car. Witness denied a sugges-j tion by Mr Glue that his story was “eyewash,” and: that he had gone looking for a party. Although he had; lived in Brindley Street for [ a year — a quarter of a ! mile from the gang head-! quarters — he said he did not know there was a house! , in the vicinity where a; motor-cycle gang was living. ! Miss Walker, a nurse, said ;she lent her car to Mr; Kooti. It was in good condi-' tion and was undamaged.! She had had it only three; 1 weeks. Alan Edward Faas, a factory worker, said he was : travelling in a car along the Main South Road that night |to visit freinds in Hornby when he noticed a red [Morris 1100 on the roadside iwith the bonnet up and ; three men under it. Thinking that someone; might need a hand, hej stopped his car and had just! wound down the window! when one of the men who; had been working under the; ■bonnet came over and told! him to “F . . . off”. He was! 'followed out by a group ofj at least 12. As he began to move off, [said witness, one of the men [kicked the side of his car, and there was the sound of glass smashing on the roof. On the journey back from Hornby 10 to 12 men from the gang headquarters were seen to be kicking the red Morris. I Richard Paul Hone said ne [was driving his brother’s 'Vauxhall Victor car along , ■ the Main South Road. There' were five people in the car.! Tlis brother Hone Simon! Hone, William John GilI Christ, and three girls. : He said he saw several men jumping about on the [roof of the parked car. He • slowed down to see if anyone was inside the car, but, before he had stopped his back window was smashed. Witness said he saw men carrying pipes and chains. His brother got out of the car, and the gang members ; began attacking him, during • which he was stabbed in the [groin. While witness went to 'his brother’s aid, Gilchrist drove the car off, because he was worried about the three girl passengers. The gang 'members went after the two

Hone brothers, who ran off towards the Hornby Post Office

Hone Simon Hone, said in evidence the gang members were armed with weapons — “pipes and the like.” The three female passengers, Diane Beckensdale, Patricia Gaye Bennett, and Lyndsay Jean Hanna, all verified seeing men jumping up and down on the parked Morris.

All three said they were terrified bv what happened. [Miss Beckensdale even, !climbed to the front seat in; an attempt to drive the Vauxhall away. Three rear windows were .smashed, one with a steel-; 'capped boot, and the three; 'girls were showered with' glass. . Miss Bennett who got flyling glass in her face and, eye, said she screamed at: Gilchrist “get the car moving.” ! The police later took her| to hospital for treatment and, glass was temoved from her' eye. For three weeks she; was unable to read clearly, and still had problems with; her vision.

Graham Rako, an insur;ance assessor for the company with which the Morris car was insured, examined ‘the car at the request of the police. He said it was a total loss, and assessed the damiage at $1531 before it was 'set on fire.

Brian Arthur Hill, an insurance assessor for the company with which the Vauxhall was insured, assessed the cost of repairs to th car as $513.

Apart from Kooti, two witnesses who were at the party — Mrs Janet Gregg, and her husband, Brent Steven Gregg, a gang member — none of the witnesses identified any of the defendants in Court. They said it was too dark to recognise anyone.

: Mrs Gregg said she was 'very drunk at the time of ithe commotion and did not [know who broke what, how 'many were involved in damaging the two cars, or who set fire to the Morris. Senior-Sergeant R. J. Mather said Mrs Gregg had given evidence contrary to her original statement, and on his application Mr Bisphan declarer! her a hostile witness.

Her husband at first admitted that most of the defendants in Court were involved in the incidents, but under cross-examination agreed that he bad been unable to identify them positively. The' hearing will continue today.