‘Passenger had knife’

Press, 7 May 1980, Page 4

‘Passenger had knife’

" Soon after-a youth was; fatally stabbed in the heart ] :in Braddon Street, Adding-: I ton, a pillion passenger on a motor-cycle was .Seen bran- < : dishing- a knife in. a threat- | iening. manner, Mr Justice i iSomers and a jury were told < in the High Court, yesterday,. 1 Stephen James Gunn, aged ■ 19,•an apprentice fitter, and Kerry Alfred Sampson, aged J 24, unemployed, have plead- • ed , not guilty to a joint charge of murdering lan s Francis Hampton, aged: 19, t on December 21. < The Crown alleges that I Gunn stabbed Mr Hampton « through the heart and that ‘ I Sampson aided and abetted’ hint after a chance encoun-' Iter between members of two ‘ I motor-cycle groups which I had been drinking at the 1 'Riccarton Hotel and the t 'British Hotel in Lyttelton. 1 | Messrs P. .G. S. Penling- 1 ton, Q.C., and D. J. L. Saun- 1 Iders appear for the Crown; ( 'Mr M. A. Bungay, of Wei-I lington and Mrs J. Gibson ' for Gunn; and Messrs D 7 C. 1 Fitzgibbon and K. J. Osborn for Sampson. v Rose Kathleen Stephen, a c barmaid employed at the E British Hotel, said that she < was ; working in the public ‘ bar on the evening of December 21 when members of 1 the Epitaph Riders motor- ‘ cycle gang," who - were...regu-1

ilar drinkers at the hotel, purchased about a dozen large bottles of beer. Gunn and Sampson stayed all evening in the public bar playing- the pinbail machines. She had called Gunn “baby face” because he looked so young land served him coke ahd raspberry. Sampson had two or three -whiskies and water. They-left about 10 p.m. To Mr Bungay the witness said that "baby face” looked too young to be a member of the Epitaph Riders. He played the pinball machine all night and kept coming back to the bar for change. When she remarked that he was hooked on the machine he just laughed. Gary Owen Hickey, aged 22, a storeman, said that on the evening of December 21 he had been drinking at the Riccarton Hotel with a numeluding the youth, lan Hampcluding the youth, lan pton, who had been stabbed. He had known Mr Hampton for about five years. . Members of the group were 1 interested in motorcycles and they were known as ’ the “Manor Boys” be-, cause z some of them lived in , Braddon Manor. 'After dropping off a pillion passenger at Braddon Street Mr Hickey, said that he left to go home, to pick

[up his wife. As he got to, Fairfield Avenue he noticed' that a motor-cycle was fol-1 lowing him and he speeded up to 75 miles an hour (116 k/ph) in an effort to get away from it. The motor-cycle started to ' catch up, and as he slowed] down to go into his drive ' the other motor-cycle cut in' front of . him. The pillion passenger had a knife in his : left hand and he was waving 1 it about in a threatening i manner. ] The knife had a shiny ' blade about six inches I (15cm) long which came to I a sharp point. The other I motor-cycle had come within 1 about two feet of his mach- ' ine. s To Mr Bungay Mr Hickey > said that the man with the knife had patches on his helmet. When told that evidence would be given that the rider of' the motor-cycle was wearing a- “patchy” helmet Mr Hickey said that it was definitely the pillion passenger who had the knife. The man on the back was shorter than the rider, and was wearing a full-face crash helmet, a leather jacket and jeans.

, Dr P. R. Kelleher, a pathologist, said that he conducted the post-mortem examination on the body of Mr Hampton. He detailed the abrasions on the body. There was a 9cm-deep wound in the chest which penetrated the heart and was constant with a knife wound. To Mr Bungay Dr Kelleher said that the 'distortion of the clothing on the body indicated a close contact between the assailant and the victim and that a struggle took place. The victim was bending forward'at the time. He agreed that the’ cut in the jacket was consistent with [ the knife having skidded along it. '