Man for trial on charges of murder, rape

Press, 19 April 1985, Page 8

Man for trial on charges of murder, rape

An Auckland man will stand trial in the High Court on charges of the murder and rape of a woman, aged 72, in her flat in Addington on the evening of February 1. After a two-day hearing of depositions or statements of evidence, by 32 prosecution witnesses, Messrs R. M. Naysmith and C. E. R. Wise, Justices of the Peace, held there was sufficient evidence to commit the accused, Samuel Dino Hohua, aged 34, a sickness beneficiary, for trial on charges of the murder and rape of Ellen May Dixon. They remanded him in custody to May 17, pending , a date for trial in the High Court. Hohua was also remanded to May 3, for trial in the District Court on associated charges of breaking and entering Mrs Dixon’s flat at 398 Linclon Road, and breaking and entering a neighbouring flat, occupied by Agnes Winifred Rawson, on the same evening. The Crown alleged at the hearing that Hohua broke into the two flats but was disturbed by Mrs Dixon during his search of her flat and attacked her, repeatedly kicking her head. He was then alleged to have sexually assaulted her. . Mrs Dixon’s body, partially unclothed, was found by a young relative the next morning. A pathologist’s evidence was that she had died of gross head injuries. Mr L. M. O’Reilly, who appeared with Mr M. J. B. Hobbs for the defendant, reserved his defence after the completion of the prosecution evidence. Messrs D. J. L. Saunders and R. F. Neave appeared for the Crown. Evidence by a detective of interviewing Hohua and a written statement Hohua made to him, were objected to by Mr O’Reilly on grounds which he specified. This evidence was suppressed from publication for the preliminary hearing. Josephine Margaret Chap-

pell, a daughter of Mrs Dixon, identified the remnants of a purse produced as an exhibit as being similar to one owned by her mother and in which she usually kept money in her handbag. Peter Matthew Melville, manager of the Black Horse Hotel, gave evidence of seeing Hohua in the hotel about 5 p.m. on February 1, and again about 10.45 p.m. after the witness had returned from an evening race meeting. Hohua wore different clothing each time. Julie-Anne Harris, a beneficiary, gave evidence of meeting Hohua in the Black Horse Hotel, on a Friday evening in February. Late in the evening she left the hotel with her group and saw him in Lincoln Road, near a bus stop. He appeared to have changed his clothes. Mrs Harris said that the next morning she was travelling into work at a fish shop in Lincoln Road, shortly before 7 a.m., and saw the defendant along the road, reading the front page of a newspaper. Vanessa Christina Piripi, a shop assistant, in a Lincoln Road hamburger bar, said Hohua called at the shop between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Friday, February 1, to buy food but said he had only $l. She gave him an extra piece of fish in his order. He said he had not been in Christchurch for long. He was looking for his family and was living on the streets. He appeared to be restless and to have a lot on his mind. Witness suggested he try the City Mission for accommodation and wrote down its telephone number on a piece of paper. After further conversation she realised he had not been telling the truth. He then appeared obligated to say what had really happened. He then told her he had been in Christchurch only a week. He left the shop with his order, walking in the

direction of a dairy along from the hamburger bar. Cross-examined, the witness said Hohua was not sober but was not drunk. He was restless and “hyped up” in the shop. He mentioned about recently having been seperated from his wife and children. He was distressed when mentioning this and “just sort of burbled out” these troubles. Detective Sergeant R. J. Hardie said that from his examination of the flats he concluded that the intruder entered Mrs Rawson’s flat first, and then entered Mrs Dixon’s flat through a bedroom window. He found Mrs Dixon’s handbag in this bedroom and scattered the contents on to a bed. During his search the intruder must have been disturbed by Mrs Dixon and attacked her and forced her on to a bed. He had then stood on the bed, supporting himself against a wall while kicking repeatedly at Mrs Dixon’s head. A sexual assault had taken place after the attack, the detective concluded. The intruder had then left the flat by the front door, pulling a security chain from the wall architrave in his efforts to open the door. Detective M. P. Brereton gave evidence of calling at a flat in Domain Terrace at which Hohua had been stopping with his brother and a woman. Witness took various items of property from a tallboy in the flat, including a jersey and jeans, and in an incinerator in the yard witness retrieved the charred remains of a purse. Police fingerprint officers gave evidence that fingerprints taken from Mrs Dixon’s flat, and from the neighbouring flat of Mrs Rawson, were similar to fingerprints taken from Hohua. Scientific evidence was given that a bloodstained shoeprint found in Mrs Dixon’s flat showed the same sole impression as that of a shoe produced by the police as having been worn by Hohua.