Woman tells of alleged attack

Press, 1 March 1984, Page 26

Woman tells of alleged attack

PA Auckland A woman told the High Court in Auckland that she was set upon by three women armed with a knife and a spanner in a Papakura house where a man was stabbed.

Quailyn Shorthouse gave evidence of the attack in the trial of Patrick Michael George Norton-Bennett, aged 34, who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempting to murder Terrence Norman Gordon on August 21. Norton-Bennett has also denied an alternative charge of wounding with intent to injure. Mrs Shorthouse said she had gone to the house with a friend, Graeme Wright, and the complainant, Mr Gordon, after Mr Wright’s estranged wife had insisted they go there to settle a domestic dispute.

She said that at the house she was grabbed by NortonBennett’s wife, Mrs Wright, and another woman and was dragged to the floor and kicked and punched. Mrs Shorthouse said she was dragged into the lounge where she saw Norton-Ben-nett holding a knife and Terrence Gordon was sitting on a couch clutching his side. She could see blood “everywhere,” and Mr Gordon was saying, “I’m dying, I’m dying.” The witness said she was later thrown down stairs and ran to her home. The trial is continuing before Mr Justice Vautier and a jury. Mr Duncan Percy prosecuters for the Crown and Dr Martyn Finlay, Q.C., with him, Mr James Boyack, appears for NortonBennett