Couple face jury trial after gun found in car

Press, 5 December 1989, Page 30

Couple face jury trial after gun found in car

A man and woman face a District Court jury trial after a shotgun and cartridges were found in their car after an accident.

After a preliminary hearing in the District Court Dr J. F. Mann and Mr J. E. Mclvor, Justices of the Peace, committed Anaru Te Aohou Matthews, aged 27, unemployed (Mr Allister Davis) and Deborah Margaret Whittington, aged 24, an accounts clerk (Mr Kerry Flood) for trial.

The joint charge was of having a shotgun and cartridges in a public place, Ferry Road, without lawful purpose on August 22. They were remanded on bail pending a date for trial. Sergeant Max South prosecuted.

Prosecution evidence was that traffic officers investigated an accident in which a car, allegedly driven by Matthews, mounted the footpath and struck a fence in Ferry Road, near Olliviers Road, about 12.20 a.m. on August 22. Whittington was in the passenger’s seat. When Matthews was spoken to he took two items from a pocket which he said were pill bottles. They were seen to be shotgun cartridges.

A shotgun was then seen partly concealed under newspaper behind the driver’s seat.

The police were called and three cartridges were found in a pocket of Matthews’ jacket. He also dropped two cartridges to the ground, under the car. Two cartridges were found in the car, and two in a pocket in Whittington’s jacket. The shotgun, which was not loaded, had its barrel and stock shortened. Traffic Officer Bevan Seal said Matthews told him he had taken three or four Halcion tablets earlier that evening. The tablets were prescribed by a doctor. Cross-examined, he said that 30 minutes before this accident he had attended an accident in which Matthews had struck the rear of a parked car. Matthews had been issued with a traffic offence notice and forbidden to drive, and the car he was driving was considered to be extensively damaged and unable to be driven. Matthews told the officer he intended taking a taxi.

At the second accident scene the officer found that the tablets

Matthews said he had taken had had a dramatic effect on him, and he was arrested on a traffic charge.

Other evidence was that when questioned Matthews said he knew nothing about the shotgun in the car. He did not know who owned the car, but a relative of his might know.

Evidence of a detective’s interview of Whittington was suppressed from publication for the preliminary hearing, on grounds sought by Mr Flood.

Both counsel submitted at the completion of the prosecution’s case that the defendants had no case to answer to the charges. Their main submission was that the shotgun and cartridges were found inside the car, which was not a public place. The defendants, who were said to have had cartridges irt their pockets, did not leave the car except when instructed to by police or traffic officers.

The police had not proved that the defendants intended to have the cartridges in a public place. Sergeant South submitted the evidence showed the car was in . a public place.