Man denies holding $53,000 from robbery

Press, 28 July 1986, Page 9

Man denies holding $53,000 from robbery

PA Auckland One of two men accused of the murder of Gibson Grace has told the High Court at Auckland that it was not true he was holding Grace’s share of the Lumsden bank robbery.

Before Mr Justice Prichard and a jury are Alistair John Barr, aged 34, and Richard Graham Morgan, aged 27, charged with the murder of Grace at Titirangi on April 21, 1983.

Cross-examined by Mr Peter Williams, for Barr, Morgan said it was not true he was holding $53,000, Grace’s share of the bank robbery.

Mr Williams: I suggest to you you shot Grace so you could hold on to the money? Morgan: As long as Grace was in my care he was my meal ticket. It was not in my interests for him to be shot. Witness said he received money from Barr, some of which was for Grace’s expenses Morgan said he had been on bail awaiting trial on the murder charge.

He said he drove Grace to Auckland because he was on the run from the police. He was paid only expenses. He was also given a considerable amount of money, above expenses, to buy marijuana, and as far as he was concerned his profit was intended to come from the purchases.

Witness agreed he had lied in a statement to. the police in August, 1983. He said he had, in fact, told a man called Bill Oldham that Barr had killed Grace. He could not remember whether he told a person named lan Monk that he had shot Grace. He had intimated to a person named Warren Rodd that he had shot Grace in the head.

Morgan said he had been trying to do drug deals to get the money for Barr’s legal expenses. He agreed he had told the police he said to Rodd he had killed Grace in an effort to impress Rodd.

“I said I had killed Grace because I was trying to impress,” he told the Court. The trial will continue today.