TV appearance after explosion

Press, 8 February 1983, Page 7

TV appearance after explosion

A man who allegedly put a pipe bomb in the men's lavatory at Christchurch Airport on the day the Springboks were to play Waikato at Hamilton appeared that evening on television. Mr Justice Holland and a jury were told in the High Court yesterday. John Robert Davison, aged 34. a shop assistant, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of wilfully damaging the Christchurch International Airport building with an explosive on July 25. 1981. The trial is expected to take three days. Mr G. K. Panckhurst appears for the Crown and Mr P. G. S. Penlington. Q.C.. and Miss I. M. Mitchell for Davison. The Crown is calling 11 witnesses. Opening his case Mr Panckhurst said that shortly after 2 p.m. on Saturday. July 25. 1981. there was an explosion in a cubicle in the men’s toilets at the airport. Fortunately no one was injured. Most of the damage was confined to the cubicle which was constructed of marblelike slabs and a solid wooden door. Within a few minutes of the explosion. Davison was interviewed by a television news team which was on the scene and the item was in the news programme that evening. Davison was also spoken to by the police and said that he had been in the toilet area when the explosion occurred. Detective Donald Norman Stewart, who was stationed at the airport, gathered up fragments of the bomb which were sent to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research for examination. Almost a fortnight later on August 6. Detective Stewart was at home when he received a telephone call

from Davison who said that he thought that he was the person the detective was looking for. Davison said that he had not only been in the toilet area at the time of the explosion, but a short time previously had been in the cubicle and had actually handled the device. He had found a parcel sitting on top of the cistern. It was a tin wrapped in two plastic bags, one of which had a kitchenware brand name on it. His impression was that someone had left their lunch tin behind. Arrangements were made for Davison to be interviewed by Detective Sergeant Colin Thomas Dalzell that evening and he made a written statement, Mr Panckhurst said. Davison said that he was separated from his wife, but had access to his two daughters. aged four and five. On Saturday afternoon. July 25. he had taken them to the airport to watch the planes. They had wanted to go to the toilet and as he was on his own he had to take them to the men's toilet. After looking at the tin in the plastic bags, he left it where he had found it and walked into the washroom area. One of his daughters was using a hand dryer when the bomb exploded. They were separated from the toilet block by a concrete wall. A week later on August 13. Detective Dalzell and another police officer executed a search warrant on Davison's home at Kaiapoi. By that time the police had received a report from Dr Michael Cecil Taylor, a scientist of the D.5.1.R.. who had examined the bomb fragments. The examination of the remnants of the bomb by Dr Taylor established that it

comprised a length of galvanised plumber's pipe, threaded on each end, on to which caps had been screwed. A hole had been drilled in one cap to take fuse wire which was colourcoded. The length of the fuse and the time it would take to burn had been arrived at by the scientist. The explosive material was a smokeless powder used in shotgun cartridges and had been packed into the pipe with lead pellets taken from shotgun cartridges. That device had then been placed in a biscuit tin with a coloured lake and mountain scene on the lid. After picking up Davison from a hardware shop in Kaiapoi where he worked, the defendant was taken to his home where a detailed search was carried out. Mr Panckhurst said. In a double garage, the police found a number of shotgun cartridges containing shot of the same size as that used in the pipe bomb. There were shotgun pellets of the same size in a tin. Sweepings from the garage floor were examined under a microscope and among them was a small quantity of smokeless shotgun powder similar to that used in the explosive device. Davison admitted that he had owned a shotgun but had sold it “ages ago" and that he had pulled some shotgun cartridges apart some two years before. He agreed that galvanised plumbers' pipe, fuse wire and a certain brand of kitchenware were all sold at the shop where he worked. While he strongly denied any involvement with the pipe bomb, Davison admitted that everything pointed to him. About the middle of September. Davison's employer.

Graham Gordon Pratley. took a sample of the fuse wire sold by his firm to the Kaiapoi police station. While speaking to the constable he made a chance remark about a biscuit tin. As Christmas gifts for his workers. Mr Pratley said that he had purchased half a dozen tins of biscuits in 1980. He produced one of the tins which was identical to the one in which the bomb had been placed. On the bottom of the tin was a blue sticker which indicated that the biscuits had been manufactured for the 1980 Christmas market. The bomb tin had a similar sticker. In November, the police carried out a number of experiments which were recorded on video tape. A piece of pipe and a fuse of the same length and type of that used in the explosive device were made up. It was found that when the fuse was lit it emitted smoke and smells which were very noticeable and that the flame reached the pipe in less than a minute. That was completely at odds with the explanation given by Davison that he had handled the device only a short time before it had gone off. He made no mention of any smoke or smell coming from the object when he handled it. When shown the biscuit tin by Detective Dalzell in February. Davison at first denied ever having had such a tin. After being told about Mr Pratley's evidence, he admitted that he had been given a tin for Christmas. Davison was unable to produce the tin and said that he had probably taken it to Picton on a trip. No similar biscuit tin was found in his home, Mr Panckhurst said. Interviewed again in March. 1982, Davison was given the usual warning.

Asked if he saw any smoke when he handled the lunch tin he said there was none. At that stage Davison was arrested because his explanation could not possibly be correct. It was then he made a very significant comment. He did not say that it was all a mistake but: ' I've been waiting for this for seven months," said Mr Panckhurst. Morris Walter Atkinson, manager of Christchurch Airport, said that repairs to the toilet cost the Christchurch City Council $1294. To Mr Penlington. Mr Atkinson said that on the day of the explosion it was common knowledge that there was to be a protest march down Memorial Avenue to the airport. The protest had received considerable publicity. There was some strong feeling in the community against the Springbok tour. It was a busy afternoon at the terminal building and some of the early flights were delayed because of weather conditions. To Mr Penlington. Detective Stewart said that he had not seen the television news on the evening of July 25, 1981. Early in his inquiries he had become aware that a man had said on television that he had been in the toilet area at the time of the explosion. Davison had telephoned him at his home as the result of a conversation between the witness and a mutual friend of his and Davison. The explosion was given widespread news coverage on radio, television, and the newspapers. Reference had been made to the bomb being in a tin. From his recovery of the debris, it was apparent that the explosion was of considerable force and the fragments had been widely scattered, Detective Stewart said.