Teenage murderer appeals conviction

Press, 9 December 1988, Page 14

Teenage murderer appeals conviction

PA Auckland A youth, Simon Webb, aged 16, is appealing against conviction for the murders of his mother and brother and the arson of their Parnell home in Auckland earlier this year. Papers filed in the Court of Appeal in Wellington list the weight of evidence in Simon Webb’s trial last month as the predominant grounds for appeal, and include criticism of the Judge’s summing up to the jury. The jury took more than eight hours to find Simon Webb guilty of murdering Elizabeth Kathleen Webb, aged 47, and David Nicholas Webb, aged 14, in their beds on March 28 and setting fire to the house.

The defence case was that Simon Webb was sleep-walking when he hit his mother and brother on their heads with a hammer and lit four fires. The Crown alleged a sleep-walker would not have had the co-ordina-tion to aim the blows, then wash the hammer and remove bloodstained pyjamas. Until the appeal is heard next year, the youth is in medium-secur-ity Waikeria Prison, near Te Awamutu.

The deputy superintendent of Waikeria .Prison, Mr Derek Johnson, said Webb, previously studying a year ahead of his age group at a highlycompetitive school, would have opportunities for further ,