Warning shots fired at burglars

Press, 23 June 1981, Page 7

Warning shots fired at burglars

Warning shots were fired in the air by a detective when two youths, who were suspected of being armed, broke into the house of a dead woman , Mr Justice Cook and a jury were told in the High Court yesterday. Warren Bruce Flutey. aged 20. unemployed, and Darryl Robert Fraser, aged 16, have pleaded not guilty to a charge of burglary of the house of the late Caroline Jane Baker at 290 Lake Terrace Road. Messrs N. W. Williamson and M. C. Carruthers appear for the Crown, Mr S. C. Barker for Flutey and Mr E. T. Higgins for Fraser. Opening his case, Mr Williamson said that Mrs Baker died on January 24 and her funeral notice which was published on January 26 mentioned her former address at 290 Lake Terrace Road.

About 9.30 p.m. on January 26, a detective- followed a distinctive Ford Mainline utility vehicle driven by Flutey with Fraser as a passenger. The vehicle stopped in Joy Street, just off Lake Terrace Road. The two accused walked away and returned to the vehicle about 35 minutes later.

A police dog followed a trail from where the vehicle had been parked to the rear of the house at 290 Lake Terrace Road which was found to have louvre windows removed. There were

jemmy marks on a window and a door. Because the house was full of furniture and personal possessions, the police decided to keep a watch on the property. Two detectives lay on the floor of the kitchen and because of information received one was armed with a .38 pistol.

At 12.30 a.m. the door of the house was forced open and a person with a torch entered. The torch was shone about and one of the detectives leapt up and shone his torch into the face of the intruder, who was Flutey, who yelled “Police" and fled slamming the door behind x him.

Flutey leapt into a Holden car which was parked in Lake Terrace Road and Detective Michael Cron, who was chasing him, attempted to grab him and smashed a window with his baton. Flutey drove off, said Mr Williamson. In the meantime Detective William Ray Mitchell was chasing the other person and was gaining on him. When he called out to the man he turned and he saw that it was Fraser but before he could catch him Flutey drove up in the Holden car with the door open. Fraser leaped in and the vehicle drove off.

During the chase the detective thought that Flutey had a gun in his hand so he fired two shots in the air and called on Flutey to surren-

der. He later found a jemmy in the middle of the road, Mr Williamson said.

Christine Katherine Lyall, a housewife, said that in the early hours of January 27 she was driving home from her cleaning job at Christchurch Airport when she saw a group of men on the left side of Lake Terrace Road. She wondered what they were doing and slowed down. There was yelling as she came round the bend and a young man came running from the left side of the road. He hesitated, then ran out in front of her car, when someone yelled.

“I slammed the brakes on. He must have slipped because I did not hit him,” she said. “His legs were not quite under the wheels of my car. My lights were shining on him. I never got out of the car. I was pretty shaken up and didn't really know what to do.

“This man was on the ground in front of my car. He was sort of laying there. I heard some glass smashing and I thought ‘My God, what have I done? Then he got up and took off for his life and that was the last I saw of him,” Mrs Lyall said.

To Mr Higgins, Mrs Lyall said that she had only been asked.by the police to give evidence in the last few days. On Friday, she had seen an advertisement in “The Press” seeking information

from the driver of a Volkswagen car.

To Mr Barker, Mrs Lyall said that the person who had slipped in front of her car looked like, “a bit of a kid of about 16 or 17.” He had blond hair. Detective Mitchell said that after seeing Flutey and Fraser in the vicinity of Lake Terrace Road and finding jemmy marks on the house he and Detective Cron kept a watch. “Because of information I had received I armed myself with a .38 calibre pistol,” Detective Mitchell said.

Detective Cron and he lay on the kitchen floor because all the. blinds in the. house were up and anyone, shining a torch in would have, seen them.

About 12.30 a.m. the door flew open and part of the door frame fell down. There was silence for about 15 seconds and then a torch went on and a face peered round the door.

As the torch was swept around the room he jumped up and shone his torch into the face of the person who had entered and he recognised Flutey who ran out and the chase was on.

One .of the two persons who was being chased turned towards Detective Cron and witness thought he was holding a firearm. He drew his pistol, ordered the person to stop and surrender and fired two warning shots into the air. The person jumped into a waiting car. Detective Mitchell said he continued to chase the other offender because he thought that Detective Cron had the man who got into the car. He

heard the smashing of a windscreen.

At one stage the person turned to look back at him as he passed under a street light and he saw that it was Fraser.

He was gaining on him when he looked back and saw that the Holden car was coming at him. He fired a warning shot in the air and the vehicle veered away. The vehicle drew up alongside Fraser with the door open and he leapt in and it roared north up Marshland Road, Detective Mitchell said. In his final address Mr Higgins said from the outset Fraser had denied knowing anything about the burglary. There was no evidence to implicate Fraser apart from that given by Detective Mitchell who only had a fleeting glimpse of the offender under a street light during a chase at night when about 14m away. There was no evidence of Fraser having broken into the property. There were too many gaps in the Crown case, Mr Higgins said. Mr Barker said that it was clear that it was not Flutey who fell in front of the woman's car. The evidence showed that there were no cuts or lacerations on his body. If Flutey had been the person who drove off in the Holden car there would have been cuts on his face from the flying glass when the windscreen was smashed with the police baton. There were no fingerprints to associate Flutey with the burglary. His Honour will sum up this morning.