Alibi defence raised in bank robbery trial

Press, 9 May 1984, Page 4

Alibi defence raised in bank robbery trial

I The defence of alibi has I been raised in the trial of II Alistair John Barr, aged 32, I who has denied a charge of I aggravated robbery involv--8 l ing the largest sum ever J stolen from a bank in New II Zealand. || The trial began in the | High Court at Christchurch | on April 30 before Mr Jus- || tice Roper and a jury and || the Crown concluded its case yesterday morning. Barr has pleaded not guilty to a charge that with another person, who is not named, he robbed Lewis Graeme Steele of 5106,722 while armed with a revolver, at the Bank of New Zealand at Lumsden on I March 17, 1983. | Barr was under crossexamination when the trial | was adjourned until today. The defence intends to call | more than a dozen witnesses. Two heavily disguised men armed with a revolver | and sawn-off shotgun made their getaway from the bank on a motor-cycle rid-

den at high speed after the bank staff had been ordered to lie face down on the floor. Messrs G. S. Nobel and R. H. Ibbotson, of Invercargill, appear for the Crown and Mr D. C. Fitzgibbon and Mrs L. 0. Smith, of Auckland, for Barr. Opening the case for the defence Mrs Smith said that it was based on alibi and that it was physically impossible for Barr to have been one of the two persons in the bank who robbed Mr Steele. I Evidence would be given by Barr that it was impossible for him to ride a motor-cycle because of injuries he had suffered. Alistair Proctor, Barr’s brother-in-law would give testimony supporting Barr’s evidence of his alibi on March 17. “At the end of the day after hearing the evidence called by the defence you will be left in no doubt as to the innocence of Alastair Barr,” Mrs Smith said. Barr said in evidence that on March 17, 1983, he left his home in Chelmsford Street, Invercargill, at 8.30 a.m. in a rental car. He

dropped his three children ' off at school and went to j the City Council to get rat poison for use at Wye Creek, between Kingston and Frankton. 'He headed off for Wye Creek and passed through Lumsden about 10 a.m. After spending three or four minutes at Wye Creek he drove to Queenstown to get some saucers or tin lids for the poison. He had obtained a job as caretaker for the house for the power station. It was a perk job which only paid $3O or $6O a week. The house was at the top of the hill and the power station at the bottom. There was a switch in the house and he had to notify the town if something happened at the power station. About 11.30 a.m. he arrived at the home of his brother-in-law, Alistair Proctor at Arrowtown. He passed a police car on the other side of the Frankton Bridge. Mr Proctor was outside fixing a motor-cycle and they had a yarn. They talked about Wye Creek and he asked Mr Proctor if he had any tin lids. Mr Proctor offered to poison the place for him. Around 2 p.m. he drove in the direction of Cromwell intending to see some fruit farmers on the way. He also wanted to see someone at Alexandra. About 6 p.m. he arrived back in Invercargill. Next day when he returned the rental car he saw a note on the desk from Detective Criddleton about himself when he was alone in the office. The rental car people wanted the car back and he was upset about that because he had given them a lot of business over the years. The Toyota Starlet rental car seen on Wicks Road on March 16 was certainly not the one he had, Barr said. Later he discussed with John Lynch the purchase of a car in the vicinity of $lOOO to $l5OO and he mentioned that he knew of someone who had a vehicle in that price range for sale. When he arrived back at his home in Chelmsford Street he noticed big footprints on the windowsill leading into the kitchen and diningroom, area and he commented: “The police have been here again.” On the Saturday he went

to see Ross Kelly about a car in the company of John Lynch and his girlfriend. He purchased it for $l5OO and paid in cash. Most of the time he dealt in cash, Bansaid. Because he was a bookmaker’s agent he handled many thousands of dollars and had a safe at his home. His moneybelt held $lO,OOO at the most A previous safe at his home had been burgled and he lost almost $50,000 in cash. Asked about his cannabis dealings Barr said that he had nothing to hide and agreed that he did deal in that drug. On his return to Chelmsford Street he was having a shower when he heard loud banging on the door. He rinsed the soap out of his hair and when he came out it was just in time to see a car disappearing out of the driveway so he returned to finish his shower. After driving away in the car he had just purchased he saw Detective Sergeant Glen Smith in the middle of the road, waving his arms and yelling for him to stop. They returned to his home 100 yards away. Detective Owen Heney was also present.

As they had a cup of tea the detectives interviewed him about the Lumsden bank robbery. He laughed at them and they wanted to see the money he had. “I said, ‘l’m not listening to none of this nonsense, I’m going to the dump.’ I went outside and they followed me,” said Barr.

Detective Smith suggested that he knew accused was not in the bank but probably knew who was. The detective asked for the names of the robbers but accused replied that he did not know who they were. If the police could recover the money quickly with his help he would get 10 or 20 per cent of the sum which was more than $lOO,OOO.

“I had dealings with Detective Sergeant Smith before as a matter of fact. I discussed with him the possibility of getting back on the racecourse. The conversation took place at the C. 1.8. office. I told him I needed the police’s say-so to get back on and it was important that they give me the green light,” said Barr. It was in 1981 and fie told Detective Sergeant how important it was for him to go on a racecourse as he was banned at the time.

Detective Smith told him that he knew Doug Williams, the racecourse inspector, and could put in a word for him.

It was suggested in a joking manner for a start that for a few dollars anything was possible. “I then realised that this guy might be on the take. Money subsequently changed hands — $3OOO in $2O notes the same night,” said Barr. He told Detective Smith that he was quite welcome to check the trailer load of rubbish that he was taking to the dump. “He said, ‘come out here for a minute, I have something I want you to look at.’ So I tagged along behind him. He got in the police car and I went around the other side and went to get in but there was a crash helmet on the seat. His exact words were: ‘Put that bloody thing on the floor.’ Like a fool I picked it up and put it on the floor,” said Barr.

For a start he had not suspected the incident with the crash helmet because he had nothing to fear and it did not register. Later he was told his fingerprints had been found on the helmet.

As he drove to the dump it became obvious that he was being followed so he deliberately went to the out-of-town dump. Questioned about the bad blood between himself and the police, Barr said that there had been allegations about him blowing up a house. He was able to prove that he had no involvement but from that day on he suffered nothing but harassment He was frequently stopped for no reason and the police made a general nuisance of themselves. In March last year the harassment became so persistent that he had to leave home and stay at the Ascot Hotel. “I thought that if I was

out of the vicinity they might keep away from my family as I had had a gutsful. It was sort of suggested to me that it might be advisable to leave town to let things blow over,” Barr said. On the Wednesday or Thursday he decided to fly to Auckland to take the pressure off his family but he returned to Christchurch the next day. The evidence given that he told a detective that he was separated from his wife was absolute rubbish. Because he was a bookmaker and dealt in cannabis he never gave his real name when he was out of Invercargill but he had to use his own name when hiring rental cars. When he booked into a hotel he usually gave another name.

On May 4, 1983, he was apprehended by the police and taken to the Christchurch Central Police Station. Present at the interview were Detective Soper and Bushy Bell. Detective Soper played the bad guy and the other detective the good one and telling his colleague to keep calm and keep things on a good footing.

Barr said he told Detective Bell that he was innocent of the charge and that he was never in the Lumsden bank. Morgan was wrong when he said he had not met accused before March, 1983. Over many months he had- been involved in cannabis deals with Morgan. Evidence given by Morgan about going to Invercargill with accused to pick up money was false and a second trip to pick up Gibson Grace. Those things never happened. The gloves produced by the Crown in evidence were very common when he worked at Tiwai Point. The gloves were of Australian design.

“I was employed as a labourer but was actually a union delegate. I really didn’t do any work, just sort of walked around most of the time,” Barr said. He had seen the holster produced in evidence and he had bought one from the Bargain Corner but it was much bigger than the exhibit. He sold the gun and holster on February 21, the day after he had a birthday party in Queenstown.

In 1967 he had suffered a broken pelvis and leg in an accident and was in hospital for more than two months. While a front seat passenger in a car in Sydney in 1977 he had been involved in another accident and suffered pelvic and rib injuries. Because of those injuries it was impossible for him to ride a motor-cycle because he was unable to spread his leg sufficiently to mount the machine. Since his arrest he had been held in a number of prisons including Paremoremo where he received a letter from Morgan through Dean Wickliffe.

The letter was screwed up into a small tight square and bound with Sellotape. In the letter alleged to be written by Morgan he said

the police had forced him into giving evidence against him (Barr). The police had told him (Morgan) that if he did not play ball with them to “nail” Barr they would get him (Morgan). Morgan said that he was now prepared to state that his testimony was false provided he was given certain guarantees. Because he did not want the prison staff to get hold of the letter he kept it hidden, Barr said. Morgan was known by the name Joey. Asked by his Honour why he had not passed the letter on to the prison superintendent Barr said that he did not trust the staff because he had been doublecrossed on a previous occasion. He did not have much trust in the prison service. On the instructions of Mr Fitzgibbon, Barr put on a wig that had been produced in evidence and was then told to wear a crash helmet put in as an exhibit by the Crown. It appeared that Barr was unable to get the helmet on. “I was not the man who stole $106,722 from Lewis Graeme Steele at the Bank of New Zealand at Lumsden on March 17 last year,” said Barr. Earlier Detective SeniorSergeant Brian Hamilton Bell, of Invercargill, the officer in charge of the case, said that he had asked Barr to explain how his dabs (fingerprints) came to be on a crash helmet discarded by one of the bank robbers. Barr had replied: “Bullshit. I don’t believe you.” Barr said he could not give an explanation when he did not know what witness was talking about. It was admitted by Barr that he knew Gibson Grace but he denied that he had had any dealings with him. Told that Grace’s telephone number had been found at his home Barr said that he would not know what had been found there.

When charged Barr replied: “I am innocent.” He was not present with Detectives Lynskey, McMeeking and Burrowes when Michelle Hyland was informed that Gibson Grace’s body had been found. He flew to Whangarei on the afternoon that meeting was held where it was alleged that the police were out to.; get Barr by hook or by crook. To Mr Fitzgibbon, Detective Bell said that he had received letters from Barr’s solicitor in Invercargill complaining about police harrassment of Barr and his family but it was not correct.

Witness denied the suggestion that there was an undeclared war between Barr and the police before the Lumsden bank robbery but he admitted that there was some feeling among certain officers. That dated from the time a detective’s house was damaged by a bomb. Detective Bell said he doubted if there had been any unauthorised searches of Barr’s home, but anything was possible. Proceeding