The Courts 'Tension in flat prelude to children's deaths'

Press, 22 August 1979, Page 4

The Courts 'Tension in flat prelude to children's deaths'

Tension and rows in a small ownership flat were the prelude to the murder of two small children, allegedly by their 15-year-old halfbMther, who was possibly motivated by jealousy and anger. Mr Justice Casey and a jury were told in the Supreme Court yesterday. A boy, aged 15, whose name has been suppressed, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering his half-brother, aged five, and htif-sister, aged three, on March 26. The trial is expected to finish today. Many of the witnesses names have been suppressed. Messrs N. W. Williamson and I- A. McCaw appear for

i the Crown, and Messrs R. L. i Kerr and G. M. Brodie for f the accused. ' Opening his case, Mr - Williamson said that the ' charges arose from the I deaths of a boy, aged five, I and a girl, aged three, as the f result of a number of stab wounds to the chest and ! back. It was the Crown’s , case that those wounds were i inflicted by the accused. Accused was the eldest of I two children of his father’s i first marriage. After that marriage broke up the father I came to Christchurch in 1971 I and remarried. The two l children, who were killed on i March 26, were from his •Isecond marriage. The family

lived in a small ownership flat

began to improve after the family moved into the house, said Mr Williamson.

In December, 1977, the Department of Social Welfare asked the father if he would take his son, the accused, to live with him. He agreed after discussing the matter with his wife. However, because of the cramped living conditions in the flat that life was not all that smooth and there were various problems. The five were living in a small twobedroom flat. Efforts were made to sell the flat but no purchasers were forthcoming. Eventually the father arranged to rent a house so that accused could have his own bedroom. Relationships

On Monday, March 26, the father arranged to take his car to a friend to be repaired. His wife had a parttime cleaning job at a kindergarten which usually took an hour each evening. The car was not repaired in time for her to take it to work.

It was arranged for the accused to act as a babysitter for the two young children. After finishing her job at the kindergarten the wife went to a friend’s place nearby to wait for her husband to pick her up. About 8.10 p.m. the wife telephoned her home and she was puzzled when there was

no reply. However, she realised that in the previous few days the telephone had been faulty. Eventually her husband arranged for his brother-in-law to pick up his wife and himself and take them home where they arrived shortly after 10 pan. The lights were on in part of the house but accused was not there.

When the wife had left the home at 6.40 p.m. to go to work the two children were tucked up in bed asleep in the care of the accused, Mr Williamson said.

About 830 p.m. that night the accused arrived at the home of a girl, aged 16, with whom he had been friendly. He told her that some males had . come in and killed his brother and sister. He claimed that he had stabbed one of them and he showed his hand which had blood on it. He also showed her a flick knife.

The wife went in the dark to check on the children and she discovered blood on the boy and told her husband who discovered that the child was dead. He then went across to the girl, who had a pillow over her face, and found that she was also dead. The police were telephoned;

The girl did not believe the accused because he often said things about “guys from up north.” He asked the girl to telephone his father and tell him that he was all right but that was not done. They went looking for the girl’s sister and they parted in Ferry Road with accused walking towards Linwood Park.

A search was made by the police of the Linwood Park area and about 3.30 a.m. the accused was seen leaving the park. He was taken to the Central Police Station where he was interviewed by Detective Inspector P. S. Seaman, Mr Williamson said.

The father of the accused said that accused’s relationship with the two children of his second marriage was generally good but he had

some disagreements with them, especially the boy, with whom he shared a bedroom.

When they were moving into the house, which they had rented, the accused had asked witness if he could go to a disco and he was told that he could after the furniture was moved in. Because he failed to return home at the time he was told to, accused was not allowed to go out at night for a period. To Mr R. L. Kerr the father said that he had separated from accused’s mother about 11 years ago and they had been divorced eight years ago. He had seen the boy about half a dozen times when he had been living in Wellington, but saw him very little after witness moved to Christchurch.

off the account he would not be permitted to take part in any activities outside the school. The calls were to his girl-friend, cousins and aunts. Accused was offered a job after school but he did not take it, but he earned money baby sitting. The two children were very active. The accused got on well with the girl, but did not have such a good relationship with the boy who used to follow him about. Accused was not very interested in the boy. On one occasion the accused was away from home for three days after he went to a disco. As a result he was stopped from going out at nights for three months, accused’s father said. A girl, aged 16, whose name was suppressed, said that the accused had told her that he had got the knife be showed her from a boy at school. He said that there was a contract out on him from the "guys up north” who were out to get him. She saw the accused most week-ends after meeting him at a disco. He used to talk with her but was quiet when his parents were around.

When accused arrived to live with them he was a frightened and uncommunicative boy. Early in 1978 after obtaining a custody order over accused, accused told him that he did not want to live in Christchurch and thought that he had only come for a visit. Previously he had lived in Hastings with witness’s former wife and accused was friendly with a number of aunts and cousins.

Dr Patrick Robert Kelleher, a pathologist, said that he conducted post-mortem examinations on the bodies of both children. The cause of death in both cases was multiple stab wounds. The girl had 10 wounds in the front of her body and three to the back. The boy’s body had nine wounds.

Accused ran up toll bills of about $lOO, and he was told that until he paid $6O