Coroner finds man shot himself, wife drowned

Press, 27 August 1977, Page 3

Coroner finds man shot himself, wife drowned

The Christchurch police could not be blamed when a man they were interviewing | went into his bedroom and shot himself in the head, the District Coroner (Mr E. B. IE. Taylor) said yesterday. The Coroner decided that Denise Janette Phillips, aged 40 suffered death by drowning and that her husband. Stewart Stanley Phillips, aged 44, committed suicide, two days later. j The Coroner said it was [his duty to point out that all [police inquiries had been [conducted properly and that [the police were in no way to ibe criticised for anything I that had happened during [their investigations. I Constable J. P. Cheeseman told the Court that on April |2 he attended an accident at (McCormacks Bay. A car had left the causeway and he [was told that a woman was sti'l inside the partly submerged vehicle. He dived (under the car and opened 'the rear door, but could find I no-one. He could not see an iair pocket that would enable a person to survive, and after firemen had checked i the car thoroughly he (ordered it to be hauled out. I Constable Cheeseman said I (that when a window was broken, a woman’s handbag I was swept through the culIvert into the main channel/ [and he realised that a body! [could be carried the same; [way. I "A few minutes later I j found a body faco down in ! the water. There was no sign of a pulse.” he said. “The woman had a gash near the centre of the fore-' head, but no other signs of I injury.” He said he became suspicious later when he talked j to a neighbour of the Phil- [ lips’s, and also when he in-I [spected the kitchen and( [noticed that someone had' (been baking, but appeared to I have left in a hurry. ' “We had only Mr Phil-1 i lips’s word that his wife had ! (been driving the car when it (crashed. I would have ex-

i pected that the steering i wheel would have held her ! in instead of sending her i through the windscreen, and • [ there should have been more .(chest injuries,” Constable I Cheeseman said. At that t point, the investigations I'were passed to the C. 1.8. . Detective Sergeant C. T. (Dalzell told the Court that J he had visited Mr Phillips , about 6.50 p.ni. on April 3, Mr Phillips had been in bed. ; “I spoke to him in the kit11chen, and he seemed to be i fully aware of what was [ happening,” witness said. > “He told me he had sufrifered cuts on the head, /arms, and shins and been ’ knocked unconscious during /the accident, but he agreed I Ito give a statement of the t‘couple’s movements the prell vious evening.” ~ Mr Phillips had said that ; [about 8.30 p.m. his wife was [baking when she said she needed some eggs. He had I telephoned a friend in I Christchurch from whom i they often bought eggs and i the couple left the house about 9 p.m. I He could not remember , I whether he and his wife put (on their seat belts, but said! I (his wife often did not wear Ja seat'belt and had had sev- : feral arguments with traffic! (officers about her driving.! j She was an inexperienced ,i driver, Mr Phillips said, but .(she liked to travel at speed, i His wife was driving about j 80 km/h when he heard a I loud noise like a gunshot and the windscreen of the car went opaque. j He said the breakage; jcould have been caused by a[ [pebble’s hitting it earlier in j I the day. while he was going ) [to the rubbish tip. He couldi [not remember what hap-i [pened afterwards, and said [the accident should not have been caused by any fault in [the car. | Mr Phillips had said things had been good between him and his wife that [ evening and they had not ar[gued at all. It had been one I of the few times he had

I been at home on a Saturday r I evening, and neither he nor r his wife had been drinking. i The next day, Detective! ? Sergeant Dalzell said, he > searched the Phillips' home, t Mr Phillips was asked to go » to the police station. He declined because he was ex-1 . [pecting friends from Kait koura who were coming to ; attend his wife’s funeral. Mr Phillips was told that . the police knew there w j as ■ (discord in his marriage, Deinfective Sergeant Dalzell said, , and during the interview a policeman telephoned to say| .[that two witnesses could say .that on the evening of April i 2 they had heard a woman, /Who sounded panicky, yelI ling, “Where are you taking . me?” f Detective Sergeant Dalzell said he went outside to meet more policemen and when he returned Mr Phillips had gone to telephone his solic- ; itor, Mr C. A. McVeigh. Wit-; [ness also spoke to Mr! [McVeigh, while Mr Phillips waited in the living-room. “Then Mr Phillips re-| turned to his bedroom to. [speak to Mr McVeigh on the telephone extension. About [five minutes later there was [the sound of a gunshot. We; rushed to the bedroom and; knocked down the locked; I door. Mr Phillips was lying [ i on the floor with serious] head injuries, and a .303 , rifle beside him,” witness said. In cross-examination byi Mr L. M. O’Reilly, who rep-, resented the S.I.M.U. Insur-l ance Company, Detective) [Sergeant Dalzell said that! [Mrs Phillips had earlier), [complained to the Sumner! [police about her husband’s! [threatening her with a gun. j, [, He said the police had not] teen able to find whether] Mrs Phillips drowned in| fresh water or salt water. |< There was a fish pond in the home of the deceased whichii had 24ft of water in it at], the time of the accident. He said the police found | that Mr Phillips had taken' 1 out a $20,000 life-insurance 11

■ policy for the couple on March 24. Detective L. H. Bone said that when he had visited Mr ■ Phillips on April 3 he had asked him why Mrs Phillips needed more eggs when there were still eight in the house. Mr Phillips had replied that his wife was an i ambitious cook. On April 5, the police searched Mr Phillips’s office : at Trans 'fours N.Z., Ltd, and found tide times for the week-end of the accident written on a blotter and iwall calendar. The last of the four times listed was very important, Detective Bone said, because Jit was only three minutes later than the estimated time of the accident. A handwriting expert had verified that the writing was identical to that of Mr Phillips. A drawing on the blotter had a sign for a causeway [and looked very similar to [the culvert where the acci-' dent had taken place. Detective Bone said the .police also found cassette 'recordings of conversations [at the Phillips’ home among possessions in the office. The police interviewed a man who said he had [installed a dictating machine [in the basement of the home. It was intended to j record calls Mrs Phillips received and made, as her hus-! band suspected she was having an affair. j Friends of the couple told (the police that it was unusual for Mrs Phillips toi leave the house in her apron [ land slippers, as she had (done on the evening of the] [accident, as she was a veryl [tidy dresser. [ They also said she was a' [careful driver, and that it! [was strange she had driven! [the car when her husband [was there, as he did not like] [other persons driving. [ Detective Bone said there; [had been no explanation fori [the fact that Mrs Phillips; I was wearing her watch back! [to front when her body was] i found after the accident.