Barr guilty of biggest N.Z. hold-up

Press, 12 May 1984, Page 1

Barr guilty of biggest N.Z. hold-up

By

DAVID CORBOY,

High Court reporter

Alistair John Barr showed no emotion when found guilty yesterday afternoon by a jury in the High Court of the biggest bank robbery in New Zealand’s history. His wife, seated by a woman constable at the rear of the court, began to sob silently. Mr Justice Roper remanded Barr in custody to a date to be fixed for sentence. The jury took three hours and 40 minutes to reach its verdict. Eight uniformed policemen were in the court when the verdict was announced. Barr was found guilty of robbing Lewis Graeme Steele of $106,722 while armed with a revolver at the Bank of New Zealand at Lumsden on March 17,1983. Mr Steele was the relieving bank manager at the time and at first thought it, was a joke when he heard the sounds of the hold-up while in his office. Two heavily disguised men wearing crash helmets, masks and wigs and armed

with a revolver and sawnoff shotgun raided the safe and tellers’ drawers while the staff, who were subjected to obscene abuse, were made to lie face down on the floor. The two offenders fled at high speed on a motorcycle. The jury of five women and six men retired at 10.40 a.m. after his Honour had summed up for little more than an hour. On the first day of the trial, after Mr R. H. Ibbetson had opened for the Crown, a male juror was discharged because the juror knew one of the witnesses who was to give evidence. During the 10-day trial more than 80 witnesses gave evidence for the Crown and defence and 75 exhibits were entered, including $396 in notes found scattered along a country road near Lumsden, a sawnoff double barrelled shotgun, a partly dismantled revolver, a black leather holster, and crash helmets.

Strict security was maintained in and around the courtroom throughout the trial, which was followed by a packed public gallery. On the orders of Mr Justice Roper persons entering the courtroom had to consent to being searched, and their briefcases examined. A woman constable searched females. Each personal search took only a few seconds as the person stood with legs apart and arms out from their sides as the officer ran his hands over legs and arms. On occasions the contents of pockets were also examined. At least half a dozen ol the team of uniformed and plain clothes policemen guarding the courtroom, its precincts and entrances, were armed with revolvers carried in shoulder holsters. The weapons were kept well concealed and no tell-tale bulges were obvious. One young man wearing an overcoat three sizes toe big for him and which reached almost down to his ankles looked very startled when told that he had to be searched before he went in. He hesitated momentarily, turned and took off out the door with coat tails flying. A tobacco-like substance in a plastic packet was taken for analysis from one would-be spectator, who changed his mind about attending after his name and address were taken. The mystery man in the case, Gibson Grace, was never mentioned in Mr lbbotson’s lengthy opening address. His name cropped up frequently in the evidence, but no-one explained how he fitted into the case. As the hearing proceeded it became apparent that the Crown alleged that Gibson had been the second robber in the bank with the sawnoff shotgun. Not long after the robbery Gibson Grace disappeared and his whereabouts was the subject of much speculation and rumour. Both the police and members of the underworld were convinced that “Mr Grace had bought it.” One persistent rumour in Christchurch was that Gibson Grace had been hacked to death and his body taken to sea on a yacht, and dumped overboard. Gibson Grace was last seen alive about May, 1983, and it was not until September that his badly decomposed remains were dug up from beneath the floor of a garage of a house in Titirangi, which had featured prominently in the evidence. Death was caused by bullets in the head and one witness firmly denied that he had put a couple of shots into the back of Gibson Grace’s “swede.” No-one has yet been changed with his murder. The $106,000 question which was never answered was why a bank in a small country town the size of Lumsden had such a huge sum of money on the premises on St Patrick’s Day last year. According to remarks allegedly made by one of the robbers there was at least double the $106,722 which

they got away with and he lamented the fact that they did not have sufficient bags to take the lot. Apart from a few hundred dollars which was left in the wake of the getaway motorcycle as it sped from the scene along a country road, none of the money has been recovered. Messrs G. S. Noble and R. H. Ibbotson, of Invercargill, appeared for the Crown and Mr D. C. Fitzgibbon and Mrs L. V. Smith, of Auckland, for Barr. When Mrs Smith went to visit Barr in Paparua Prison last week-end she had to consent to a strip search by a female prison officer before being allowed to see her client. Later, when she returned to the room where she had been searched, she noticed mounted high on a vantage point a video camera for the closed circuit television surveillance system. She was not pleased. Well-known members of the underworld were regular attenders at the trial and they were subjected to very thorough searches before being allowed in, and police kept a close watch on them. A standover man who has a number of convictions for violence protested loudly and strenuously when refused entry. After a long debate with the officers guarding the door he flung a biblical quotation — “An eye for an eye” — as he sauntered across the street. The only outburst from Barr during the hearing came when Richard Graeme Morgan, a principal Crown witness, was giving evidence of a discussion between Gibson Grace and Barr about the Lumsden bank robbery during an allnight drinking session at the house in Titirangi, Auckland. “He’s lying his head off,” Barr shouted, and in unison Mr Fitzgibbon and the Court crier ordered him to keep quiet. Barr was found guilty on his third trial. His first two trials were heard in the Invercargill High Court and the first one was never completed because it was discovered, after it had been proceeding for a few days, that the forewoman was the wife of the justice of the peace who committed Barr for trial after the taking of depositions in the Lower Court. Mr Justice Holland discharged the jury and ordered a new trial but, after deliberating for 12 hours, the jury was unable to reach a verdict. On the application of the Crown the Chief Justice, Sir Ronald Davison, granted a change of venue to Christchurch and the trial began on April 30. A young woman called by the Crown had a dramatic attack of amnesia almost as soon as she entered the witness box on the third day. She was able to give her name and telephone number and then her mind appeared to go blank. The witness explained her loss of memory was due to head injuries in a motor accident and when Mr Noble asked her where and when the accident occurred she said that she could not remember. Mr Justice Roper declared the witness hostile and gave Mr Noble permission to cross-examine his own witness, but persistent questioning elicited no further information and the woman could not recognise her signature. Shrugging his shoulder Mr Noble sat down with the comment: “It appears I’m just wasting my time.” It is believed that the woman was not paid witness expenses. Cross-examining an Auckland detective Mr Fitzgibbon said: You have had

dealing with Mrs Smith (junior defence counsel) before this incident. Witness: Yes. Mr Fitzgibbon: And by dealings we mean normal intercourse that takes place. His Honour, interposing: It’s getting worse. Mr Fitzgibbon: I’m sorry I put that badly. Even greater security measures were put into effect before two convicted murderers from Paremoremo Prison, the maximum security prison for New Zealand, were called by the defence to give evidence. The two men were brought to Christchurch on a special flight and held in the cells beneath the Central Police Station. They were brought to the court separately and taken back as soon as they had given evidence. Dean Hugh Tekahu William Wickliffe, a small man, who has been in prison for more than 12 years, was the first to arrive in a white van which drew up in a reserved parking space immediately in front of the court entrance. A team of prison and police officers closed round Wickliffe as he was led up the steps, handcuffed to a prison officer. As he entered the witness box to take the oath a stocky plain clothes policeman stood in the box immediately behind him while two uniformed prison officers stood behind the box. Wickliffe gave his evidence in clear, concise tones. He looked very gaunt in the oversize blue denim prison jacket whch contrasted with his sallow skin. A person who saw him give evidence remarked later that he looked like an emaciated concentration camp victim with a death pallor. Wickliffe told the court that he had been locked up for 24 hours a day for seven or eight years, at his own choice. For him it was an idealistic form of protest for the way he had been treated in the past. He refused to co-operate with the authorities in any way and refused privileges so that he could refuse to obey authority because of injustices which had been done to him in earlier years.