Committal in arson case'

Press, 22 September 1984, Page 4

Committal in arson case'

Westport reporter The two defendants in the Grapevine arson case have been committed for trial in the High Court at Greymouth on October 15.

At the end of the two-day depositions hearing in the District Court at Westport yesterday Messrs Jack Dellaca and Wilf Pettigrew, Justices of.the Peace, found that a prima facie case had been established.

The defendants, Lynette Jean Walters, aged 33, a manageress, and John Anthony Gibbons, aged 18, an apprentice boilermaker, pleaded not guilty to a charge of setting fire to the Grapevine Fun Parlour on July 1. waiters has also pleaded not guilty to another charge of arson in relation to the White Heron Growers Market on June 9. Both defendants have also pleaded not guilty to unlawfully interfering with a motor-vehicle on June 19, and have been remanded to the District Court at Westport on October 2 when a date for the hearing of depositions on these charges can be fixed. After the defendants’ High Court committal they had their bail renewed. Walters, who had surrendered her passport at the initial remand hearing, was granted self-bail of $2OOO and a surety of 52000. Gibbons has ?500 self-bail and a $5OO surety. They must report to the Westport Police Station thrice weekly. An order was made prohibiting the defendants from having contact with any of

the Crown witnesses before the High Court trial. After the completion of witnesses’ depositions the Crown prosecutor, Mr David Saunders, gave notice that several witnesses had not been called as they were not in Westport and he believed were not needed, as sufficient evidence had been estbalished for a prima facie case. In his submissions, Mr Orchard said his client, Gibbons, had no case to answer. The evidence given did not connect him either directly or indirectly with the alleged arson. Mr Harding, for Walters, submitted that the answer to “this whodunit’’ was to be found in the statements by Hoopa McDonald and Tony Boyer relating to their evidence at Walters’ house on the Tuesday after the fire. Mr Saunders in reply said that they were only two of a number of witnesses. He again referred to two sections of the Crimes Act, that if a person was a party to or counselled, incited, or encouraged arson he could be found guilty.

Mr Saunders referred to the “curious coincidence” whereby Boyer had been paid $4O shortly before the Grapevine had been destroyed by fire. The inference was that the people counting the nght’s takings had known the place was to be burnt ad that they had withdrawn the money beforehand. There was more than adequate evidence to commit the defendants for trial, Mr Saunders said. "