Samurai sword swung at police

Press, 12 July 1988, Page 18

Samurai sword swung at police

After stabbing a young woman with whom he flatted, Martin Paul Tait swung a machete at a detective sent to investigate the incident. The detective, soon after, aimed a revolver at Tait and warned him he would be shot if he did not put down another weapon which he carried “as though it was a rifle,” but which proved to be a samurai sword. Evidence of this was given during a preliminary hearing in the District Court yesterday, when Tait, aged 20, unemployed, faced three charges. After hearing depositions or statements of evidence of prosecution witnesses, Mr J. H. Christensen and Mrs C. M. Holmes, Justices of the Peace, committed Tait for trial by jury in the High Court on the charges of wounding Vicki Davis, aged 21, with intent to cause her grievous bodily harm; assaulting Detective L. E. Barkel, and having with him a machete in circumstances which, on the face of it, showed an intention to use it as a weapon; and of possessing an offensive weapon, a samurai sword, in circumstances which

showed, on the face of it, an intention to use it to cause injury.

Tait was remanded on bail pending a date for his trial.

Special conditions of bail were that he live with his parents, remain at home between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. daily, and not attempt to get in touch with the complainant. Counsel, Mrs D. M. Orchard, reserved the defence.

Detective Sergeant D. M. Quested prosecuted. Miss Davis, aged 21, a shop assistant, said that on the evening of Saturday, May 14 she and Tait went to a friend’s house in Sydenham, and left shortly before midnight to return to their flat, by taxi.

Tait fell asleep in the taxi and when she nudged him to awaken him he snapped at her and told her not to push him. Inside the house, she went to bed and Tait fell asleep on a couch.

She then went to check whether she had left a heater switched on, and saw Tait urinating in a fireplace.

She asked him what the hell was going on, and went to the kitchen for a bowl and sponge and be-

gan cleaning up “the mess.”

She told Tait to get out of the house as, while she was cleaning up, he threw the bowl across the room.

He then "wiped” the ornaments from the television set and mantelpiece, on to the floor with his hand. She screamed at him to get out of the house, and held the front door open, but he threw her out.

She returned by removing louvres at the back.

Miss Davis said she intended to continue cleaning the fireplace. She saw Tait sitting in bed with blood on his hands. She did not know at the time how he got the injury.

As she reached the lounge she saw Tait run towards her along the hallway calling: “You’ll get more of the same.” He pushed her “and that was when he stabbed me.”

She did not know she had been stabbed until she lifted her pyjama top and saw a gaping wound and blood down the left side of her chest. She did not see what Tait had been carrying.

She told him to telephone for an ambulance, and changed into other

clothes in her bedroom. She tried to stop the bleeding with the pyjama top she changed out of. Returning to the lounge she saw a knife about 22cm long stuck in a wall. She took it and threw it under a couch. She did this to cover up for Tait as she did not want him to get into trouble.

She was not concerned about her injury at the time, and was in shock, and went outside to wait for an ambulance to arrive.

While waiting, she saw Tait and asked him what she should tell the police. He said something like he was going to get done for it, and it was too late. An ambulance and the police then arrived.

She told a detective she had been stabbed in Barbadoes Street while walking home, because she “didn’t want Martin to get into trouble.” As a result of the stab wound, which was 15.2 cm long, she was admitted to hospital, where the wound was stitched. Shown various exhibits, Miss Davis said the samurai sword was a gift from her for Tait’s twentieth birthday last August. It and a machete (exhi-

bited) were displayed on a wall in their house. Cross-examined, Miss Davis said that when they arrived home Tait was very drunk.

She agreed he looked surprised when she said he had stabbed her, and showed him the wound. He then went to call an ambulance.

Re-examined, the witness said Tait walked from the taxi into the house without assistance. Detective L. E. Barkle said that while on patrol he answered a call to an alleged stabbing incident.

He saw Miss Davis’s injuries before she left in anambulance and he then called for more police assistance. He heard the sound of breaking glass from inside the house, which he had believed was vacant.

Tait then approached, holding a machete, and

swung it at him. Detective Barkle said he ran towards a patrol car, and saw Tait throw the machete into an adjoining vacant section. Tait then returned to the house. The detective then took a baton from the police car, and called for more assistance, including a police dog patrol. Tait then reappeared at the front door, holding a long thin object as though it was a rifle.

He then crouched behind a fence. Detective Barkle said he drew his police-issue revolver, took aim at Tait and told him to put the weapon down or else he would be shot.

Tait then slowly raised his hand, showing that he held a large sword. A police dog was released and knocked Tait down.

Police then rushed forward to arrest Tait, but the police dog was seen to be distracted by another dog, and Tait yelled to this dog to attack them. Tait swung the sword in their direction, but was struck by a baton and dropped the sword. He then picked up a knife from beside the fence, but was again hit with a baton. Tait then told Detective Barkle he had stabbed Miss Davis, with a knife, because she “got him mad.”

He said he had consumed a few beers a couple of hours before, but had not taken any drugs. Cross-examined, Detective Barkle said Tait was about an arm’s length away when he swung the machete at him.

Three other patrol cars arrived after he had called for assistance.