Magistrate rules man’s talk to priest inadmissible

Press, 21 November 1979, Page 3

Magistrate rules man’s talk to priest inadmissible

; I PA Timaru A magistrate yesterday upheld a submission that whatever a man accused of murder had said to a priest ■ called to give evidence against him was in- ; admissible. Counsel for the priest had argued that communication with clergymen was abso- . lutely privileged, and a I priest could not in legal proceedings divulge any confession without the per- > mission of the accused. The Rev. John Anthony Clark, of Waimate, had been called by the Crown to give evidence in the Magistrate’s Court at Timaru against Donald Arthur Shaw, aged 39, a freezing worker, of 1 Christchurch. Shaw faces a charge of the murder of his de facto i wife, Julie Ann Harman, ! aged 19, at Timaru on October 10. [ The prosecution alleges that Shaw burst into the girl’s home, marched her out with a rifle at her back, and later shot her dead as she '. tried to telephone for help in a shop. Shaw’s counsel (Mr A. J. [P. More) yesterday objected Ito prosecution moves to call 'Father Clark and Sister Desmond, of a convent atl Waimate, to give evidence against the accused. | The Magistrate, Mr I. Hay, S.M., ruled that Sister Desmond could give evidence, and he allowed Father Clark to enter the witnessbox, while stipulating that he could not say anything about what the accused had said to him. Crown counsel (Mr T. M. Gresson) submitted that the matter was not privileged, but said he would argue the question before a trial judge. The depositions hearing will resume today.