Witness finally agrees to give evidence

Press, 31 August 1984, Page 10

Witness finally agrees to give evidence

After spending about three hours in custody yesterday, a prosecution witness agreed to give evidence in the District Court trial of her brother and her boyfriend. On Wednesday afternoon a warrant had been issued for the arrest of Debbie Jean Margaret Cannon when she failed to appear to give evidence against her brother, Robert Geoffrey Matthews, aged 24, unemployed, and her boyfriend, Warren Bruce Flutey, aged 23, unemployed, who faced charges involving property worth more than $30,000. When she was called into the witness box yesterday morning she refused to give evidence and said she was aware of the implications. After a brief adjournment Judge Pain said he appreciated her reluctance to give evidence, but she was a “compellable” witness and did not have a just excuse. He ordered that she be detained in custody overnight and called again this morning, but about three hours later she agreed to

give evidence. Matthews (Ms E. H. B. Thompson) and Flutey (Mr S. C. Barker) faced nine joint charges of burglary, 11 charges of receiving stolen goods, two charges of theft, and one charge of unlawfully taking a car. The burglary charges and nine of the receiving charges were laid alternatively. Flutey faced a further count of burglary, alternative charges of theft and receiving, and another receiving charge. All the charges were denied.

The Crown alleged that the offences were committed in April and that much of the property was found in flats in Fitzgerald Avenue and Chaucer Street, allegedly used by the defendants.

Miss Cannon told the Court that she rented the Fitzgerald Avenue flat. She said her brother, Matthews, had visited her at the flat twice and Flutey visited some times. All the stolen property had been put there by a Maori girl, she said. After examining his wit-

ness for a time, Mr B. M. Stanaway said her evidence was contrary to her statement on a number of issues and he was given permission to cross-examine her. Miss Cannon admitted making a statement implicating the defendants, but told the Court that this was not true. The defendants did not commit the burglaries and did not know the property was at her flat, she said. She said she had already been dealt with by the Court on charges of receiving. She said that she made the false statement because the police said the defendants were involved and because she wanted out on ' bail. During cross-examination by Mr Bark, Miss Cannon said the defendant Flutey had been involved in a motor-cycle accident at the end of March in which he was badly bruised. She said he could not have taken part in any of the burglaries in April because he was too sore. “He couldn’t run, couldn’t walk, he couldn’t do anything,” she said. Detective John Brent Thomson said he found a roll of undeveloped film in a rubbish bag at the Fitzgerald Avenue flat on April 24. When developed it contained photographs of both defendants. He also found an envelope upon which descriptions and serial numbers of some of the stolen property were written. 1 On April 26 he went to the Chaucer Street flat and noticed some of the items he had seen at the Fitzgerald Avenue premises two days earlier. Detective Thomson gave evidence of interviews he had with both defendants. Flutey said he had nothing to say and Matthews denied knowledge of any stolen property. Matthews said his sister was storing some of his things at Fitzgerald Avenue for him.

The .trial will continue, today. \