Crossbow sought for murder contract—Crown

Press, 11 September 1986, Page 4

Crossbow sought for murder contract —Crown

A “go-between” in a $lOO murder contract, looking for a hit man, approached a fellow radio enthusiast to do the job with a cross bow, Mr Justice Hardie Boys and a jury were told in the High Court yesterday. Norman Patrick Kingsford, aged 38, a radio operator, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempting to procure Kelvin Joseph Goodwin to murder another person with a cross bow. The trial will finish today.

According to the evidence, the man who was to be "knocked off” was

Dennis Murray Drinkwater, who was rpurdered when he climbed into the cab of his truck at the Mogal Bin Services Depot, Waterloo Road, Hornby, on Tuesday, February 18, and a bomb wrecked the vehicle. Both his Honour and counsel for the Crown, Mr David Saunders, stressed that the case had nothing to do with the killing of Mr Drinkwater.

At 12.05 p.m. after the hearing resumed following an adjournment, his Honour made an order suppressing the name of a person, or anything which might lead to his identifi-

cation, who had been mentioned in Mr Saunders’s opening, which began about 10.40 a.m. By the time the order was made, radio news reporters had left the courtroom and news bulletins may have been on the air. His Honour did not mention who had made the application for suppression, but Miss Jill Pengelly, a solicitor, who represented a man who refused to give evidence when depositions were taken in the District Court, on her advice, apparently saw Mr Justice Hardie Boys in chambers

during the break. Up to this stage Kingsford’s name had been suppressed, but no application was made for the continuation of the order in open court, but one was made in chambers during the break and was refused. The crossbow, which had a 1251 b breaking strain and a telescopic sight, mentioned in the charge, has not been produced as an exhibit because it was sold about a month after the alleged offence on January 4. Messrs Saunders and Mark Zarifeh appear for the Crown, and Kingsford

is represented by Mr Colin Eason.

Opening, Mr Saunders said that the Crown alleged that there were discussions about Mr Drinkwater’s death at least six weeks before the bomb blast which killed him.

The basis of the charge against Kingsford was a conversation he was said to have had with Kelvin Goodwin shortly after New Year. Evidence would be given by Mr Goodwin that he learned that Kingsford was trying to make contact with him.

On returning to his flat in Ward Street in the city

one evening, Mr Goodwin found Kingsford in his lounge. Kingsford asked him to go outside so that they could talk privately. Kingsford asked Mr Goodwin if he wanted to do an easy job and earn an easy $lOO. Kingsford was alleged to have told Mr Goodwin that the job involved his crossbow, and that a friend of his wanted someone “knocked off.” At that time Mr Goodwin owned a powerful crossbow with a telescopic sight. He was told that he would have easy access to do the job “as the bloke worked for

Mogal Bin Hire.” Kingsford said that he was “just a go-between,” and that the man who was putting the money up to have the bloke knocked off wanted the job done within a month as he was getting pretty desperate. The nickname of Mr X, whose name was suppressed, was mentioned but he did not know if he was the person to be knocked off. Evidence would be given about a de facto relationship which began early this year in which Mr Drinkwater was involved. The proposition was

flatly rejected by Mr Goodwin, who said that he would not allow his crossbow to be used for such a purpose, Mr Saunders said. Kelvin Joseph Goodwin, a prison inmate, said that he had known Kingsford for about three years, mainly through their interest in the citizens band radio. They talked for about three-quarters of sin hour about the crossbow. Kingsford said that he had a friend who wanted the living daylights scared out of someone. The crossbow was accurate up to about 500

yards, and powerful enough to go through a door at a distance of 30 yards. The sum of $lOO was mentioned, and Kingsford told him that there would be plenty of cover at Mogal Bin Hire. He was told that if he decided to do the job a third party would get in touch with him. Was there any discussion other than the crossbow being used? — I think there was mention that if they couldn’t do it the silent way, the other mentod was to blow them up or something like that. Mention was made of dynamite, but it was more or less a joke. Norman (Kingsford) said “Keep it between ourselves. It’s just the three of us who know.” A couple of days later he told the police about it when he checked in at the watchhouse while on bail. He had to report.every day. Since then he had not talked to Kingsford about the matter, but they had had discussions on citizens band radio on other topics. When Mr Goodwin said that the only expression he could recall Kingsford having used was “scaring the living daylights out of someone,” Mr Saunders applied to have him declared a hostile witness.

After hearing legal argument in the absence of the jury, Mr Justice Hardie Boys granted the ap-

plication by the Crown to cross-examine its own witness.

Mr Goodwin admitted that he had used the expression “knocked off’ in a written statement he made to the police. He could not recall using that expression when he gave evidence in the District Court He only presumed that was what was meant by Kingsford. When he spoke to the constable while reporting on bail, he thought he used the expression “knocked off,” Mr Goodwin said.

To Mr Eason, Mr Goodwin said that it was not clear at the time that he was being asked to kill another person.

It was ridiculous to suggest that anyone would commit murder and risk life imprisonment for $lOO, Mr Eason said in his address to the jury. If there was a serious attempt to arrange a murder contract, as alleged by the Crown, it was highly unlikely that Mr Goodwin would have waited up to 10 days before informing the police, who did not take the matter seriously and did nothing for some time. The Crown evidence was confused. Everything pointed to the fact that this was not a genuine attempt to arrange a murder. The charge had not been proved to the required standard and Kingsford should be aquitted, Mr Eason said.