Murder charge hearing begins in Hokitika

Press, 2 July 1985, Page 4

Murder charge hearing begins in Hokitika

Greymouth reporter “I’ve just shot my wife, you had better get out here,” Graeme Allen Climo, aged 32, a psychiatric hospital assistant, is alleged to have told the Hokitika police when he telephoned them on the night of March 12. The trial of Climo on a charge of murdering his wife, Lynnette Barbara Climo, aged 25, began in the High Court at Greymouth yesterday, before a jury of

nine men and three women. Mr Justice Heron is pre- ' siding. Mr G. K. Panckhurst, with him Mr D. L. Caruthers, appears for the Crown, and Climo is represented by Mr K. N. Hampton, with him Mr S. J. Hembrow. The trial is expected to continue tomorrow. Mr Panckhurst, in opening said that at 9.43 p.m. a constable at the Hokitika Police Station received a call from a distressed man,

saying, “You had better come out, I’ve just shot my wife.” He then identified himself as the accused. The constable had asked if his wife was dead, and he replied, “She’s dead alright.” Asked if it was an accident, the accused had said, “No, I shot her.” The police then made arrangements to go to the house and collected the accused and his two children. A policeman found the body of Mrs Climo in the kitchen and saw that she had “grievous head injuries.” Mr Panckhurst said that

Mrs Climo had been shot between the eyes. He said that an armourer would say that there was no way that the .308 rifle in question could have been accidentally discharged other than applying normal pressure to the trigger.

Mr Panckhurst said evidence would be given that the Climos had gone to a meeting which had been cancelled and picked up their children from a sister of Mrs Climo, with whom they had been left. The accused in a statement to the police had said that at their home, the children had been put to bed, and the accused himself had got into bed. An argument had then apparently started, Climo telling the police in the statement that his wife had accused him of an involvement with another woman, and talked of leaving him. There had been a separation of two days about New Year. The accused had told the police that as the argument continued, he got out of bed, and the talk continued in the dining room. The accused had then taken a chair or stool and used it to stand on, and reach a rifle rack above a doorway. He loaded the rifle, and said his wife was still “carrying on” at him. She had told him, according to his statement, that he was “too gutless” to use the rifle. The rifle, he said, “went off.” He then dropped it and immediately telephoned the police, said Mr Panckhurst.

Michael Stuart Hamer, a psychiatric student nurse, gave evidence of fishing with the accused in the Hokitika River from 6 a.m. until about 11 a.m. on March 12, using the accused’s boat. During this period, the accused seemed normal. To Mr Hembrow he said the accused had been teaching him how to fish properly. Calvin Clifford Keats, a retired hotel manager, the father of Mrs Climo, said that after their marriage, the Climos had lived at Haast, and then at Hokitika before building at Southside.

At the time of the incident he was working as the relieving manager of the Empire Tavern at Kaniere. During the afternoon Climo had come into the bar and drank with two other men for a short time when Mrs Climo appeared at the door and said she was ready to go, and they had both left the premises.

He saw the Climos at a Jim Beam Club meeting at the Club Hotel later in the evening. Because of lack of attendance, the meeting was cancelled and he left at 8 p.m. to return to Kaniere. He telephoned the Club Hotel at 9 p.m. and told the accused that he (Climo) still had the biggest entry in the Kaniere shop’s trout fishing competition. At the Kaniere Tavern, Mr Climo and the family had been visiting Mrs Keats while the accused was in the bar. To Mr Hampton, witness said that the accused’s

father had been a great friend of his and after his sudden death, a father-son relationship had developed between him and the accused. Climo was a quiet person, but was always ready to help people in various ways. Climo was one of those “invariably saddled” with a “difficult ward” at the Seaview Psychiatric Hospital, and was often called back to work on his days off because of staff shortages. Climo had complained that in the six years he had worked at the hospital, he had had only two Christmases at home. Climo worked a lot of night shifts, had talked about leaving the job, and had applied for two others.

In more recent times he noticed that the accused had become subdued and had lost weight. He put it down to the strain of his work.

On New Year’s Eve, the accused had helped behind the bar at the hotel until about 10.30 p.m., when he left for work at the hospital. He was upset at having to leave the family before seeing the arrival of the New Year.

■ Jennifer Daphne Mahuika, a" married woman of Arthurstown, near Hokitika, and a sister of Mrs Climo, said her sister was an enrolled nurse. On New Year’s Eve witness said she attended the hotel function, and the next day had a number of visitors, including her aunt and uncle from Christchurch.

Several of them, including Mrs Climo and the children had gone to the mardi gras in Hokitika. Later, Mrs Climo returned for a while before going to her home to awaken her husband for night shift again. She returned to witness’s house again, and was “very upset and crying,” and left the next day for Christchurch.

Climo had gone to Christchurch a day or two later and brought her back. On March 12, the Climos had assisted her in training her dogs in the afternoon. They returned in the evening to leave their children with her while they went to a meeting. The Climos came again about 9.30 p.m. to uplift the children. Constable Kelvin Michael Mcßride gave evidence of receiving a call at the Hokitika Police Station, saying that he had shot his wife, and urged him to “hurry up and get over there.” Constable Stanley Petrie Dawson said that when he arrived at the Southside house, the accused met him with his daughter in his arms, and told him his son was still asleep in the house. Witness said he went into the house and saw the body of a woman slumped over a chair. She had severe head injuries and there was blood on the carpet. He identified her as he had known her for some years as a resident of the Hokitika area. The constable said he then went to a bedroom where he found the boy still

asleep, awoke him, dressed him and carried him out to the police car. The accused was taken to the Hokitika Police Station and the two children taken to their uncle’s place. At the police station, the accused said, “We had a hell of an argument. She accused me of playing around, something which I haven’t done.

“We had been arguing for about four weeks. I thought things were coming right. But she started up again tonight. She said I was running around with a woman at work, but I have never done anything like that.”

After the argument, he got the rifle, and “Lynette said you wouldn’t do it, you gutless bastard. “I asked him if he cocked the rifle, and he said that he did,” said witness. “He said it then went off. I didn’t know what to do. It was stupid.” Cross-examined by Mr Hampton, witness said he had had a speaking relationship with the accused over a number of years and appeared to be prepared to talk to him about what had happened. It was not a continuous narrative. The accused sat with his head in his hands for a considerable time, smoking cigarettes, having cups of tea and still shaking slightly. (Proceeding)

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