Voice disguise attempt

Press, 17 July 1980, Page 7

Voice disguise attempt

PA : Auckland A man',accused of kidnapping a bank manager’s daughter and demanding a ransom tried to disguise his voice by using- a foreign accent during subsequent telephone calls, a High Court jury has heard.

The girl’s father said the man initially spoke with a Spanish accent over the telephone but later spoke with a North of England accent. He had no doubt that it was the same voice all along.

The witness was giving evidence in the trial of Peter Miller Smith aged 33, a commercial cleaner, and his wife, Pauline Smith, aged 22, a clerk. Both face .a charge that on February 26 .they unlawfully detained the girl with consent obtained by duress with intent to hold her for ransom. Mr E. R. Winkel appears for the Crown, Mr B. J. Hart for Peter Smith, and Mr M. H. W., Lance for Pauline Smith. The trial is before Mr Justice Prichard and a jury. The names of the girl

and the father have been suppressed, as has their address and the name of the bank.

Continuing her evidence from the previous day, the complainant under crossexamination from Mr Hart, said she had been shown a set of photographs by the police. They asked if any of the people shown in the pictures re sembled the man who had taken her captive.

She identified a man with a rounded face, flowing beard and long hair. The photographs were just head shots.

She could not say for certain that the man she identified in the photograph was her captor but she was “pretty sure” it was. He had the same appearance, she said. To Mr Lance, she said that while at the flat where she was held captive she heard a second person coughing and sneezing and assumed it was a female. The first time when she was taken from the flat, she did not hear the person speak loud enough to identify if it was a male or female. When she was delivered back to her father, the

second person was not present f. J ' ' . In ■ evidence, the girl’s father said that on the evening in question his daughter had been at a dance and got home about 1 aan.

At 5.50 a.m. he received a telephone call frokm her saying she had been kidnapped and the man wanted $120,000. He went to her bedroom to confirm she was not there and immediately telephoned the police. On their suggestion he gave the Post Office authority to listen in to his telephone. Later, the police tried to record subsequent telephone calls.

One, at 9.30 a.m., was from a female with a North of England accent who said, “Have you got the money?” Numerous other calls were from a male who seemed to be trying to speak in a Spanish accent. He used the word “Senor." The witness said he told the man he could get no more than a quarter of the $120,000 he wanted. Later that afternoon he uplifted $50,000 from his bank and took it home in a suitcase.

In later conversation the

man dropped his Spanish accent, and spoke with a North of England accent. At 6.20 a.m. next day the witness left to rendezvous outside an address in Landscape Avenue. He left his car motor running and periodically flashed a torch.

- After about five minutes he glanced in his rear-vi-sion mirror and. saw a car light flash on and off.

The driver of the car had a cap pulled well down over his face. When he later drew alongside and they spoke, his voice was similar to that of the man in the latter telephone conversations.

He asked to see the money and removed a mask from the complainant’s face. The witness said his daughter then came round towards his car and he then handed over the suitcase with the money. The other car shot off at high speed. A piece of cloth was over the num-ber-plate. To Mr Hart, he said that when the exchange took place it was still dark but approaching daylight. To Mr Lance, the wit-

ness said that he did not get the impression that the call from the woman at 9.30 a.m. was tape-re-corded. His Honour: Have you any doubt in your own mind that it was the same male person throughout who made these calls? Witness: I have no doubt.

Brian Joseph Nola. landlord of a block of flats at Matipo Street,' Balmoral, said that in February a Mr and Mrs Stuart lived in one of the flats.-

Mr Stuart had long hair and a beard, and he now recognised Mrs Stuart as being Pauline Smith, the accused, witness said. But he did not think he could recognise the man Stuart as being the accused Peter Smith. - -

David Raymond Duke said he worked for the same company as Peter Smith, whom he knew as Peter Simpson. The accused was away from work on Tuesday, Februarv 26, but came in the next day to get some pay. His long beard had been shaved off and Mr Duke said he had difficulty recognising him at first Proceeding