Two infamous murders acts of bombers

Press, 19 February 1986, Page 8

Two infamous murders acts of bombers

Two of New Zealand’s most infamous unsolved murders were the acts of bombers. A suitcase bomb exploded at the Wellington Trades Hall on March 27, 198'4, killing the caretaker at the building, Ernest Abbott.

More than 20 years earlier, a Dunedin solicitor, James Patrick Ward, was killed by a parcel bomb which exploded when he opened it in his office. In the Trades Hall bombing, the blast shattered walls and doors of the building. The suitcase holding the bomb had been placed in the floor hallway of the building, possibly early on the morning of March 27. It exploded when most

workers had left the building. Police inquiries centred on the suitcase, which was made between 1964 and 1971. It was of a type used by intermediate and secondary school pupils. The police posted a $25,000 reward—the biggest in New Zealand criminal history —for information leading to the conviction of the bomber. No-one has yet claimed the reward. James Ward died of injuries six hours after opening the parcel bomb on February 5, 1962.

“Who could have done this to me?” he said as he was taken to hospital. Police handwriting experts could not link the writing on the parcel with that on any correspon-

dence he had received. Detectives questioned a suspect at length, but had insufficient evidence to lay charges. The most prominent bombing in New Zealand history happened in Auckland Harbour on July 10 last year, when French agents sank the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior. A Greenpeace photographer drowned.

An extensive police inquiry began and what has taken place since then has been well documented.

Two French agents, Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur, are now in jail serving a 10-year sentence each after being convicted of manslaughter and wilful damage.