Amnesia after alleged abduction

Press, 28 July 1978, Page 4

Amnesia after alleged abduction

I PA Auckland A young Malaysian woman [ said yesterday that she ! could remember nothing of [an alleged incident in which [she was said to have fallen [from a moving car and sufi feted severe injuries on Auckland’s north-western ;motorway in April. She is Anne Claire Moraise. aged 21. a student, iwho said the last thing she remembered before waking up in Middlemore Hospital a | few weeks later was thinking • she would have to be up [early to go to church. Miss Moraise was giving [evidence at a lower court hearing in the Magistrate’s i Court. Bruce Selwyn Sheppard.: aged 21, a shop assistant, of, [Mount Albert, appeared be-i [fore the court. He pleaded! mot guilty to charges of ab-i •ducting Miss Moraise, caus-i ing her grevious bodily harm, •with intent to avoid detec-! tion. failing to stop after an accident, and failing to see if: anvbody had been injured. ' He was committed on bail to ’he Supreme Court for! trial. Mr R. P. G. Haines ap-; peared for the Crown, and

.Mr R. R. Ladd for the ac- ■ cused. Mr Haines told the court [that on April 8 Miss Moraise ! walked from her Mount [ Albert home to another | house in the district to spend [the night with a girlfriend. The following morning, a I Sunday, she went to return [ home before going to church. > The defendant offered her a ! lift and undertook to drive [her to Carrington Road. [When he got there he refused to stop and carried on towards Point Chevalier. I While travelling along the ; Great North Road he physically restrained the < complainant by holding her seat belt, which prevented • [her from getting out of the!; 1 car. I j , He drove on to the north-' 1 ! western motorway and[< [travelled at 60 miles an hour.|i Miss Moraise managed to' [climb out of the passenger's,] • seat and got through a win-,, !dow on to the roof of the[l car. She fell on to the motor- i way, suffering severe in-!' [juries. ii Mr Haines said the police [ i [spoke to the accused on,! April 10. He said he had[< picked up the complainant to J have sexual relations with,;

her, but he did not intend to have sexual intercourse with her against her will.

When Miss Moraise fell on the motorway he was travelling only about 20 miles an hour. He did not stop because he was afraid his wife would find out if he was caught by the police and he was frightened of the reaction from other motorists, Sheppard told the police. Miss Moraise said she came from Malaysia to New Zealand on February 3 this year Ito take a secretarial course lat the Carrington Technical [lnstitute. She stayed with a | couple at Mount Albert. On April 8 she went to [stay overnight with a girlfriend. On Anril 9 she intended to walk home and then attend Mass at Point Chevalier. She went to church every Sunday.

She remembered being at j her girlfriend’s home and! thinking she would have toi be up early for church. The, next thing she remembered was waking up at Middlemore Hospital. She had b»en j unconscious for some time.' She was allowed to go home on May 5.

She did not, she said, recognise Sheppard. To her

j knowledge she had never r seen him before. ji I “I do not accept lifts from. i motorists,” she said, “I have? I been brought up never to do ? I that.” j Cross-examined by Mr? i Ladd, she said that she would ; not resume her studies until ■, (next February. j It was the first time she? !had been out of Malaysia. Dr R. V. Trubuhovich. i J I deputy medical officer in • ‘ charge of the critical care? department at Auckland Hospital. said the principal injury ' suffered by Miss Moraise was ! to her head. She also had cuts 1 and bruises and a gouge below her right knee which i was full of gravel and dirt. I Helen Mary Jessie Baigent, I a machinist, said that on ' April 9 she was travelling on I the motorway from Aucklandi I to Henderson. A car passed i < [her travelling at 50 to 60' | miles an hour. , At first she Could only see > one figure in the other car. , ‘She then saw a second per-? son, whose sex she could not? tell, rise from the passenger’s*] seat and wave through the? window. The person moved out of the window still waving and • then turned as if trying to ' get on to the roof. The car !

I was still travelling at the J same speed. The driver grabbed the person and the car swerved ail I over the road. The person Humped from the car on to i the road. Mrs Baigent said she stopped and then went for an ambulance. There was no obstruction :on the motorway to prevent I the car she had seen from i'stopping. Detective Sergeant P. M. Hilt said that on April 10 he spoke to Sheppard and took a statement from him. In this the accused said that on April 9 he was at home with his wife and their three-month-old baby. He went out to get some milk for the baby. All the shops j he went to were shut and he ' drove to Mount Albert Road. He saw a Malaysian girl walking towards Carrington Road and he asked her if she ■wanted a lift. She got in. He drove to Carrington Road but i he did not stop. He said to iher, “Let’s go for a ride * somewhere.” The girl panicked and tried to open the door. He grabbed her and told her not to try to jump out of the car. On

the motorway she suddenly made a leap for the window. He tried to get hold of her but she had the whole of the upper part of her body out of the window. He pulled over to the left lane and slowed. The girl fell to the road.

He was in a panic. He saw the girl lying by the side of the motorway and a car pulling over. He did not stop because he was frightened his wife would find out if the police caught him. He was also frightened that a man who pulled up would punch him.

Detective Sergeant Hilt said Sheppard stated he wanted to have sexual intercourse with the girl but he had no intention of doing so against her will. He could not have done so anyway because he had a severe burn to his upper arm and shoulder. The only times he touched; her was when he grabbed her and that was for her safety. He later went to Avondale and hid the girl’s shoes and bag. Mr Ladd submitted that there was no evidence that I his client intended to cause i grievous bodily harm to Miss ‘Moraise.