Suspect said ‘I’m not killer’

Press, 15 July 1987, Page 4

Suspect said ‘I’m not killer’

A murder suspect being interviewed by the police claimed that the person responsible for the death of a man in a High Street upholstery shop could be found at a motor camp, Mr Justice Williamson and a jury were told in the High Court yesterday. The Crown case against Ernest James Brown, aged 46, unemployed, is continuing. The trial began on July 6.

Brown has denied a charge of murdering Robert William McTague, aged 39, at the Mr Tack upholstery shop early on the evening of Friday, July 11, 1986.

Messrs David Saunders and Mark Zarifeh appear for the Crown. Messrs Philip Hall and Andrew Mclntosh represent Brown. Detective Lionel Ernest Barkle said that he interviewed Brown on the afternoon of Saturday, July 12, 1986. After Inspector Mai Griebel left the office, Brown said that he was a straight shooter.

Brown had said: “I’m not a killer. I know Mr Griebel ... I told him I didn’t do it, and that’s the truth. If Mai thinks I did that murder, he is wrong. He’s got the wrong bastard. Why should I kill him?

“The first I knew of it was when I read it in the

papers. I rang my mate and he told me that he had been spoken to about it, so I rang old Mai. That is not the sign of a guilty man is it?” Detective Barkle said that he put a series of questions to Brown.

You didn’t like Mr McTague did you? No mistake about that.

In what way? — I always used to fix that bloody van of his. What did he give me for that? Nothing. r

Brown said that he worked for Mr McTague and lived above the shop. Asked why he had to leave, Brown had replied: "He just got sick of me. I used to get on the piss and then I took a bird up there to live. The bird’s name was Corinna and she used to belong to a Hell’s Angels or bikie outfit. He had met her at the Excelsior Hotel. Mr McTague never paid him for anything he did.

“Just remember it was me who rang you. I told you where to find me. You would never have found me if I hadn’t rung Mai,” Brown had said. Asked about threats he had made to Mr McTague, Brown admitted them, and said that Mr McTague had been making $3OOO a week in his business and the police

should have been looking to see where it was going. “I’ll swear on a pack of Bibles, it’s not me,” Brown had said. Asked how he had come to move in with Mr McTague, Brown replied that he had stayed with him for about four months.

“He had this thing about looking after me. He was trying to reform me. I met him at the Bridge Programme. He’s got it licked. We got on quite good. Oh, we were always bitching at each other though. I used to call us ‘the odd couple.’ “What’s happened to my girls — the ones from the motel? I call Louise my sister and the other one Bertha. They’re good kids. I’ll be mad if you start leaning oi) them. I’ll do some damage. I’ve already told Mai what would happen,” Brown had said.

Asked if he was getting the girls to cover for him, Brown had replied: “Look, you bastards are all wrong. You just leave those girls alone. “They don’t know anything. You should be out looking for the real killers. I’ll give you a clue, that’s all. I’m no nark, so I won’t be giving no names. The guy you want is out at the Riccarton Motor Camp. The guy

who killed Bob (Mr McTague) would have to have blood on him; right?”

Detective Barkle had then said: “Maybe you were there. You tell me?” To which Brown had said: "The papers say that he was stabbed. Whoever did it would be hurt... Take my jacket and get it tested. I’ll bet you won’t find any blood on it. “Bob was a placid bloke, but when cornered he would go. He wouldn’t give up without a fight,” Brown had said. Dr Leonard Lawrence Treadgold, a pathologist, said that he examined Mr McTague’s body in the High Street shop just before midnight on Friday, July 11. The back of the head was covered with clotted blood. There were typical defensive type injuries to the hands.

Because of the minimal bleeding from the wounds in the genitals he was of the opinion that they were inflicted at or just after death.

On Monday, July 14, he conducted a post mortem examination on the body. There were several gashes in the clothing, which had to be cut from the body. The scissors were still embedded in the chest. There were 12 wounds

in the skull. The two on the back of the head had caused slightly depressed fractures in the skull bone, but in the rest, on top of the head and in the forehead, large pieces of skull of varying size had broken loose and in many cases had been driven into the brain.

All the injuries to the scalp — front, top and back of the head — could have been inflicted with a tack hammer found at the scene.

On the front of the trunk were 16 stab wounds.

In his opinion, the cause of death was severe head injuries associated with the blows to the skull.

The two injuries to the back of the head would have made Mr McTague very groggy. Mr Justice Williamson: Would those blows have killed him? — No, they caused slightly depressed fractures of the skull; but, on their own, I doubt very much whether they would have caused death.

To Mr Hall, Dr Treadgold said that the two blows to the back of the head would have been inflicted, while Mr McTague was standing. This was the first time he had postulated the theory that two assailants were involved.