WESTPORT TRAGEDY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 316, 1 October 1908, Page 8

WESTPORT TRAGEDY.

CONNOLLY CONFESSES TO MURDER. SENSATIONAL END TO THE TRIALS. ■ INNOCENT MEN IN GAOL. ■ (BY 'TKLEGEAFH—FRES3 ASSOCIATION.) . • rtokitlka, September 30. Connolly ,lias : confessed to the murder ,of Bourke at Westport. His confession is to the effect that he took the man out of the hotel with thia intention of robbing'him'. He went to a shed, where he stood Bourke up against a dray. : In the-struggle he hit Bourke, knocking him-down. Connelly then'lost-his temper, and kicked Bourke, inflicting fatal injuries/A knife was not used.. A. knife and one of the pipes found on Connolly were Bourko's. Mrs. M. Pearoe, who gave evidence, was not about at the time of the attack; Halinen and Andorsen, now serving a sentence of seven years for the manslaughter of Bourke, aro innocent men. .The story of their connection with the crime and reference' to. the tobacco, as a connecting link were concocted by the prisoner while in gaol, in order to save himself. Connolly avers that he did not wilfully commit the murder, robbery being his only desire. ' Chief Detective M'Uveney received .the confession from the prisoner when he interviewed him' 'after the trial and sentence last night. The' asked Connolly, now that ,he had had'a full and fair trial, if the verdict was a just one. hanging his head,' replied : " Yes, sir:"', and .in. reply-to-further questions, agreed to tell the true. story to M'Dveney. . He then did so,' his statement being reduced to..jrriting by the; detective;. Afterwards the statement .was read oifcr to prisoner in the presence of the gaol officials; Connolly assenting to its correctness,' arid signing. the document in plain, bold hand-, writing, " 'William Connolly."- .. . - . • After- the, Nelson when Halinen and Andersen were' sentenced, Detective M'llveney at that time. went to Connolly, in company with the Crown- Prosecutor, Mr; 'Myers,-' arid . asked him if the verdict was correct. Connolly then adhered to his former version of the three being implicated. The'case excited great interest; here, and last night the Court was. packed to , hear, the; verdict. - The judge's summing up was generally in favour (of accused. He told the jury they were practically trying . the same 'issue as the Nelson jury. - The jury woro nearly four hours absent, and their reversal of the Nelson finding is now vindicated by Connolly's confession, which will be a great relief to the public' mind.

THE JURY CONGRATULATED. Later. the Court assembled this morning, his Honour said he supposed Mr. Hannan, for the defence, would not proceed with his application^for a new trial in; the Connolly case. :Even assuming that'the prisoner had not made a confession, he would not grant a new trial; as he had indicated when passing sentence. 'He desired to say.that'the result showed the absolute: correctness of the verdict of the jury. Last night he had omitted to .tender his thanks to the'jury, : and now he' desired to do so, both for him- . self and on behalf of the country, for their a long , and patient servico. He desired to publicly jthank them for the great care and consideration exercised over the verdict. The subsequent confession by . the'prisoner would , relieve the mind of the jury, as to their correct ptimate, and it had relieved his mind . over, an extremely difficult, '-intricate, - and puzzling caso. Mr. Herdman and Mr. , M'Donald, solicitor, Westport, were to : be . congratulated on the steps taken, to vindicate; their two clients, Halirien: and Andersen. His Honour, had communicated/the result'of the proceedings to thel Minister for Justice,;and no doubt the Executive would take the 'matter into their immediate ' con-' Bider&tWn. The' Nelson jury had giveii 7 tll6ir verdict'i on the faots before them. He repeated that the confession had relieved his mind, .and that: of the jurymen: also, over a very complicated case, and he asked the press ;to publicly express thanks-to the jury-; men for their services to the country. STORY OF THE CRIME. REMARKABLE SERIES OF TRIALS. : The crime which Connolly now slates he committed has furnished two of the most remarkable .trials ever held in the Dominion. /Shortly after, eight o'clock on the evening of May 8, a groom named Duncan, who is' employed at; av stabling establishment in Westport, found a man named Ernest John Bourke, aged about " forty years, lying on. his ; back' ■ inside. a wagon shed, which was open. f at both ends. Bourke's - waistcoat was torn, one of his boots was off, ; and his face was covered with blood. Medical examination revealed the fact that he; had sustained a severe wound over the left eye; that his nose, and both upper jaws were frac-; tured, and that he bore a large bruise on the side of his chest. One of his trouser pockets was found to have been turned inside out. At first it was thought that Bourke had been killed through ; being kicked by a horse. •, Afterwards, however, Connolly made certain ••••' allegations, in consequence of which two sailors.Tielongingtbi.the steamer Canopus— Olaf Halinen, a Russian Finn, 23 years of , age, and Anders Andersen, a Norwegian, aged . about 35—were arrested on a-charge of having murdered Bourke. were: in ' due course brought before Sir. Rawson, S.M., who, after'hearing evidence'which'occupied four days, committed them for trial. : CONNOLLY'S EVIDENCE AT NELSON. Halinen and Andersen were tried at Nelson . before Mr. Justice Chapman and a jury. The trial, .which commenced on June 23, .did not '. conclude until July 1. Mr. 'jell, of Nelson, with Mr. Myers, of Wellington, conducted the prosecution, and Mr. Herdman, of Welling-. ' ton, instructed ; by Mr; M'Donald, of Westport, represented' the prisoners!' ; Connolly, who is only 18 years old, and hails from the 'North of England, was the principal witness for the prosecution. He deposed that; early on the evening in question he met' the prisoners in an hotel. Halinen said to him: ."There's sixpence; go down to the Q.C.E. One of our sold some tobacco for us. Fctch him back with you, and'we will meot you against the roller.'. 1 Subsequently he went .-into the Q.C.E., where he found a man (whom he , now knew was Bourke) in an intoxicated Btate! . he took .him outside he heard , a whistle, and the prisoners came up .'.from tho direction of the roller. . Bourke said ho had got no money for the tobacco.' The ; .prisoners then took Bourke to a shed, where Halinen went through his pockets. Upon Bourke commencing to struggle Halinen struck him on the face. He (Connolly) then gavo Bourke a little tap on the face, not hard enough to hurt. Andersen next knocked down Bourke, whom Halinen kicked'at least three times. After they, had again visited an hotel a constable told him that a man had. been found dead in the shed. He (Connolly) went over to the shed, felt Bourke's pulse, and sent for hot water bottles, which he placed over his heart. Later on, when he said he felt mad with drink, ho visited a fish shop, from which he was ejected. As • a result of breaking a window, for which he was sent to gaol for eight days, he had blood all over him from the cuts on his hands. 'Whilst serving his'sentence, Halinen, who with Andersen was in custody on a charge of smuggling tobacco, asked him not to tell - who committed the murder.- - PRISONERS PROTEST INNOCENCE.; The principal evidence in corroboration was . that of Leonard John Cockery, licensee of ; the Royal Hofel, who stated that on tho ■ morning following the murder he thought he noticed blood on Andersen's overcoat and on Hali'non's clothes. Halinen boasted that he had had a fight the previous evening, and that after striking his opponent with his hands he had settled him by' kicking him. Whilst Halinen was speaking Andersen told him to keep quiet, _ , Further'corroborative evidence was given by the barmaid of Lennie's Hotel, and by the proprietor and a man named Bull. It was to the'effect that Halinen and Andersen were in the hotel before the row took placo at tho fish shop,' and that Halinen had blood on bis sleeve and hand* It was alleged on

behalf of tho defence that Halinen did not have • any blood upon him until after tho fish-sbop row, and that tho blood then on him was Connolly's. Tho defence was that tho. prisoners woro not present at the time of tho murder, and had.nothing to do with.it. It was contended that it was much easier to construct a caso against Connolly than against tho prisoners. ■After -a- retirement of four hours tho jury found tho prisoners guilty of manslaughter. Prisoners, who protested their innocence, were sentenced to seven years' imprisonment each. His Honour, in passing sentence, : observed that the jury .Svore quite justified in behoving Connolly's statement. Tli news of tho verdict'occasioned surprise to many, and there was talk at Westport of a petition being sent to tho Governor. Mr. M'Donald, tho solicitor for the defence, was almost overcome when tho verdict of guilty was returned. On his information Connolly was, next day, arrested on a charge of haying murdered Bourke, and subsequently Haaken Haakensen, a friend of the two pris-oners-and one of their witnesses, instituted proceedings against Connolly for perjury. 'When the case came on'at Westport on July ,18 no. evidence was offered in respect of '.tho_ major charge. : Upon the charges of perjury Connolly was, however, committed for trial. One of the witnesses, Mrs! Shaw, stated' that she saw Halinen and Andersen in the theatre at .the time Bourke was alleged to 'have .been murdered. Other evidence of similar effect was also given. . : THE PERJURY TRIAL. The charges which Connolly was required to answer were that he had committed perjury—(l). as to seeing- Halinen arid Andersen at Qualter's hotel on the Bth May and receiving certain instructions from them; (2) as to-meeting the-two men' outside the Q.C.E. and taking Bourke'into a shed in Bright Street; (3) as to Halinen and Andersen hitting and Halinen kicking Bourke; (4) as to hearing a'whistle outside the Q.C.E.,■and seeing the prisoners - .,standing" beside a jbller'-in* Bright Street; (5) as to the, two prisoners and himsolf .returning from the 'shed along Bright Street the way they had gone; (6) as to denial of.having spoken to Halinen or Andersen :in gaol about Bourke's death; (7) that he saw Halinen at the fishshop after the row but .not again until in the lock-up. The trial, which was held at Hokitika, before Mr. Justice Cooper and a jury commenced on September 21 and did not conclude until September 29!. Twenty-nine jurors - were ' challenged by the prosecution and four by • the defence. Halinen and Andersen, who did not givo evidence in the Lower Court nor at their own trial, were among the numerous witnesses. Both, asserted that' they never knew Bourko dead or. alive. With reference to the fish shop incident Andersen said he saw Halinen strike , a man whom he was afterwards informed was Connolly. Both got .blood on their clothes off Connolly, ■ who had out his hands in breaking a window. In gaol, Connolly had,' he said, told him that he took Bourke into the shop to save him being arrested for drunkenness, and a horse must have kicked'him. A Mrs. Pearce deposed to seeing Connolly assault Bourke. His Honour said the' issue was practically whether Halinen, and Andersen were wrongly convicted. After, a retirement of. four hours the .jury brought, in i a .verdict of: guilty, on all tho counts excepting an unimportant one. As was reported in yesterday's issue Connolly was sentenced to seven years with hard, labour. - -'T

STATEMENT IN THE HOUSE. ' > ' PRISONERS TO;BE LIBERATED. ' In the Souso of Representatives last evening Mr. J. Colvin- (member for Buller) asked the Minister for Justice (the Hon. J. M'Gowan) whether his attention had been called to the confession of Connolly, and whether steps would- be taken to liberate Halinen and Andersen. , ; The Prime Minister said that in the absence of the-Minister for Justice, he would like ,to say that the matter had engaged the attention, of the Government. They had been i'dvised of the position, and had received an official intimation-that- the confession had been signed by tho prisoner. The Government intended to take immediate steps to, do what was right and'proper. A certain course had to be followed in a matter of this kindy and that was being done, and would be carried out to-day. (Hear, hear.)