Love triangle motive suggested in slaying

Press, 17 March 1987, Page 6

Love triangle motive suggested in slaying

PA Auckland A love triangle between three men might have been one motive for the murder of a young man at Whangaparaoa, a Crown prosecutor said yesterday.

Charged with murderng Graeme Lewis, aged 27, on May 31, 1986, are Stephen Clifford Curtis, aged 33, a sickness beneficiary, and Colin Harold Jerry aged 24, unemployed. They are appearing before Mr Justice Thorp and a jury in the High Court at Auckland. Also before the Court is Lawrence Beatie Jerry, aged 27, a sickness beneficiary, who is charged with suppressing evidence to enable his brother to avoid arrest.

All three have pleaded not guilty to the charges. In his closing address to the jury, Mr Roy Ladd, for the Crown, said the evidence was that Colin Jerry became upset and jealous of the special relationship Mr Lewis enjoyed with Curtis. Colin Jerry became more aggressive and cruel, the jury might think, towards Mr Lewis. Curtis, said Mr Ladd, said he and Colin Jerry had four talks about killing Mr Lewis.

There was evidence that Colin Jerry had made sexual advances to Mr Lewis and had been rebuffed. He turned his intentions to Curtis and was made welcome, only to find

later in the week Curtis was giving his attention and affections to Mr Lewis. “Here we have the classic dilemma, the ultimate sexual or love triangle,” said Mr Ladd.

The jury might think the dilemma provided one of the motives for killing Mr Lewis and that Curtis was fuelling the fire. Whether for revenge, money, jealousy or passion, Colin Jerry was prepared to kill Mr Lewis, and Curtis was instrumental in planning his friend’s death. Mr Ladd said that, although attempts had been made by the defence to establish that the accused were under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the evidence at any material time pointed to the reverse.

There was no suggestion that Curtis had anything but a clear recollection of what occurred on May 31. Mr Barry Hart, for Lawrence Jerry, said it was important for the jury to realise the difference btween the charges faced by Curtis and Colin Jerry, and the charge faced by Lawrence Jerry. It was important the jury did not allow the murder charge to colour their thinking about Lawrence Jerry. The jury had to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Colin Jerry was guilty of murder before Lawrence Jerry could be convicted

of being an accessory after the fact. Mr Simon Lockhart, Q.C. - for Curtis, said that on June 3 police decided to charge Curtis with murder following a 13-hour 1 and thirty-minute interview.

He said Mr Lewis’s death was inexplicable and the circumstances might revolt the jury. But the jury had to decide in an unemotional manner what the Crown had or had not proved.

Mr Lockhart said it was Curtis who reported the homicide to the police which set into operation the discovery of the “whole bizarre episode.”

Curtis did so at the first opportunity, hardly the actions of a person guilty of taking part in a murder, he said.

Mr Paul Trehey, for Colin Jerry, said it was Curtis who invited Mr Lewis to Ferry Road. He suggested the reason for the invitation was because Mr Lewis had been and would be during that week a homosexual partner for Curtis. He submitted that the substance of Curtis’s statements were not much more than “a tissue of lies,” but he did admit a relationship with Lewis.

“The only reasonable conclusion is that this murder was planned and carried out by Curtis, using the Jerry brothers as scapegoats,” said Mr » Trehey.