One accused joked about killing — witness

Press, 14 August 1980, Page 7

One accused joked about killing — witness

A man, accused of murder, had joked about “killing a guy,” a woman witness told Mr Justice Roper and a jury in the High Court yesterday.

The trial of Raymond Bremner Fryer, aged 29, and Warren James Corkin, aged 23, both unemployed, on a! charge of murdering George Frankley • Carrodus. a 62-year-old' hairdresser, in a Lincoln Road shop on February 21, ended its second day yesterday. .The Crown alleges that Fryer and Corkin battered Mr. Carrodus over the head with lengths of wood, poured paint over his head and struck him with the can. Both accused have pleaded not guilty.

■ Messrs R. L. Kerr and B. M. Stanaway appear for the Crown, Messrs K. N. Hampton and S. C. Barker for Fryer, and Messrs R. J. Murfitt and B. J. Ching for Corkin.

The evidence of an elderly woman, who was too sick to attend the Court and whose name was suppressed, was read by his Honour. The woman, who gave evidence at the taking of depositions in the District | Court, said that she had been waiting for a bus when she saw two men enter Mr Carrodus’s new shop. Within a few moments she heard a cry for help. She stopped a young woman and a man and told them what she had seen.

The woman had shared her anxiety but the man was not so concerned and told her that- they should wait to see what happened. She saw some palings against an inside wall of the shop and she thought that the two men who had gone into the shop had picked them up and brought them down in an arc.

Through the shop window, which was partly covered in

whitewash, the woman said, she saw two arms struggling to get into a white coat. The taller man, Corkin, was: wearing the white barber’s coat when they left the shop.

The shorter man had car keys and they got into a car parked outside the shop. They had a couple of attempts to start the vehicle and then it made a couple of “kangaroo hops” and drove towards the city, the woman had said.

Constable Stanley Matthew Willcox said that he went to a shop in Lincoln Road at 9 p.m. on February 21. He looked through a hole in .the glass in the front door and saw an elderly man lying on the floor of the shop. He kicked open the door and saw that the body was lying face down with its hands tied behind the back with electrical wiring. It was motionless and he could not find a pulse. The head was covered in white paint and there was a lot of blood splattered on the floor and the furniture close to the body. False teeth were on the floor near the door. He sent a radio call for assistance.

To Mr Murfitt, Constable Willcox said that he was in

the shop for about 10 sec-i onds and his attention was j focussed on the body. He could not tell if there was paint on the face. i Albert Kaye, a sickness beneficiary who is now a i prison inmate serving a iterm of six months on a charge of attempting to defeat the course of justice by washing clothing, said that in February he was living at 108 Lyttelton Street with Christine Sue-Ann Dowie and their young son. Fryer and Corking boarded with them.

He and both accused went to the Lion Tavern in Lincoln Road at 11 a.m. on February 21. Except for a visit to the greengrocers were drinking there i?* some hours before going home by taxi. Fryer and Corkin went out but he had no idea where they went. He did not see them again until about 9.30 p.m. and by that time he was fairly drunk. “When they came in one of them — I don’t know which one — reckoned

they’d killed someone and I said: ‘What a load of bullshit’. They messed about for a bit and then went away again,” Kaye said. After they left he noticed that the incinerator in the garden had been lit. He did

not know what was being burnt in it or who-lit it.

Some washing: .was done late that evening. They often did the washing ,late at night or early in the morning. He went to bed about 1 a.m. and was fairly full by then.

“About four in the morn-i ing I was rudely awakened! by about 5000 coppers,! demons and dogs. I was taken into the garden shed! and shown a petrol tin withj the cap off. The cap was ini the middle of the yard,” Kaye said. To Mr Murfitt, Kaye said that he had met Corkin at the Salvation Army bridge programme for alcoholics. He had drunk more than six jugs of beer, at the hotel and they all took some. jars of beer away with them and “got stuck into them” back at Lyttelton Street. There were some large yellow pills in a bottle in the house. The pills were known as footballs and were a prescribed drug for alcoholism.

Mr Murfitt: Were you aware that Corkin frequently helped himself to those tablets? — If he was crook from the booze I would give him a couple because they sort of bring you right again if you’ve got the shakes. Kaye agreed that both accused were frequently ful of bravado, but not all the

time; A lot of young fellows were like that when they got ay few beers in. They liked to fantasise about things.

: To Mr Hampton Kaye said! that he had known Fryer for! about 15 years and had tried to . assist him over that period. He had acted as a [Substitute father to Fryeri who had been boarding with them for about six months.! (Fryer had done some paint-! ing in the bathroom and laundry. That night he had told Fryer who was very panicky and almost hysterical and near to cfying, to get out. He had never heard Corkin claim on a previous occasion that he had strangled someone. .

Asked if he had noticed that a shirt belonging to Fryer had a button missing Kaye replied that he would not know because “I haven’t got buttons on half me own shirts.”

Mr Kerr: Why did you tell both accused to leave the house on the night of February 21?—Well they were pretty full and the baby was asleep. They were making noise so I told them to piss off. Christine Sue-Ann Dowie, a housewife, said that she i was watching television when

Fryer, and Corkin arrived home about 9 p.m.. -. “Warren (Corkin) walked in the 'door and-said. that he 1 had just killed a bloke and he was smiling. Ray (Fryer), didn’t say anything at first.! At times he was shaking and, at other times he was justi his normal self. He could have been stoned,” Miss Dowie said. The accused told her that Fryer had been talking to the man when Corkin came up behind him and hit him. Fryer had then tipped a tin of paint over the man. Cork-i in did not say why he had: hit the man. ! Corkin had said that hei thought that the man was'

going to get the better of him and they left him in a pool of blood. There was some reference to the man’s car.

| When Corkin got home he was wearing a white dust coat. There was a spot of blood on his chin and his

hands were bleeding. After changing out of his clothes Corkin put them on the lounge floor and said that he was going to bum them because they had blood on them. She and Kaye told them not to be stupid and: that she would wash the!

clothing. Before that Corkin had

I brought in a can bf petrol' and had put it with his 1, shoes near the heater. He was! : going to clean his shoes with! I!the petrol so she got him thei i; nugget, . .! “Before they left Warrenj 11shook my hand and said he! '[was sorry about it and would II ■ come and visit him on ; Saturdays. They didn’t tell me where they were going,” : Miss Dowie said. > Miss Dowie said that i earlier this year she had . been found guilty on a i charge of obstructing the •'course of justice and had II been put on probation for 12 (months for washing the > clothes of accused. To Mr Murfitt Miss Dowie

said that she lived with Kaye for about three years. Corkin was given to make extravagant statements which she took with a grain of salt.

It did not appear to Corkin to be dangerous to clean his shoes with petrol in front of an. electric heater.

To Mr Hampton Miss Dowie said that Corkin was doing most of the talking that night. He was not upset and was joking about it. On the other hand Fryer was upset, said he was sorry and was close to tears. Corkin’s hands were swollen and red;

I that was the only injury she isaw on.either accused.