WOMAN ON TRIAL

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 136, 4 March 1936, Page 6

WOMAN ON TRIAL

Charged With Setting Fire to House MANY CROWN WITNESSES Dominion Special Service. Wanganui, March 3. At tbe resumed sitting of the Supreme Court, Wanganui this morning, belore Mr. Justice Ostler, a married woman named Florence Alberta Birss, aged 29, appeared for trial on the charge that on December 22, 1935, at Ohakune, she set tire to a dwell.ng-hou.se, occupied by \\ illiani G. Towns, thus committing arson. Represented by Mr. L. N. Ritchie. It::e--tibi, accused pleaded not gui.ly, Mr. .X. It. Rain (Crown proseeilior i, t <">l' ■■ 1 the case ofor the Crown, in which 28 witnesses arc io ue ca.«.u, >■ • case will last two days.

O. D. Bell, .Public Works Department draughtsman, produced plans of the locality and of the bedroom, in which nine holes were burnt in the flooring. I. V. Dobbie, solicitor, said accused went into the house in 4-P ril > 1934, but was evicted by a court order in April, 1935.

William George Towns, stumping contractor, said he. his wife, and child left the house for the pictures at 7.-15 p.m. on December 22. They returned at 10.20 and found the house partly burnt and the furniture destroyed. Before leaving be saw' accused, who lived opposite, standing in her front doorway. Finding the house burnt, witness and J. H. Watson stood guard over it They saw the door of accused’s house open slightly at midnight, 2.30 a.m., and 4 a.m. Witness noticed lights on in the house and the wireless was going very low. The following day be examined the debris and looked for some buttons where the wardrobe bad been, but be found no trace of them. Ou December 24 witness accompanied Constable Frost to a birch tree at the rear of accused’s bouse. He found shallowly buried near the roots six of Mrs. Towns’s dresses which were in the wardrobe on the night of the fire. Other articles were also found, but the mirrors were not his property. Cross-examined, witness said ou only one occasion bad there been trouble with electric fuses in the house. This was three months before the tire.

Ivy Mary Towns, wife of the previous witness, said the lire iu the kitchenette on the evening she went out with her husband and child was completely out by 6 p.m. She identified six dresses hanging in the wardrobe on the night of the fire as hers. Witness bad no trouble with accused prior to the fire, but their relationship afterward was cool. Cross-ex-amined, witness said it was common knowledge Mrs. Birss had been held responsible for the fire. The electric switchboard in the house was never touched.

Stanley Robert Townson. superintendent of tho Ohakune Fire Brigade, gave evidence of his investigations into the scat of the fire, which he found to be in the bedroom, where holes were burnt through the floor. He said he did not see the switchboard after the fire. The whole wall near the switchboard had been burnt away. John Henry Watson, labourer, stated that he had taken Towns and Mrs. Towns and the child to the pictures in a car. On the way he saw accused standing iu the doorway looking toward the car. On December 24 he assisted Towns and Constable Frost to find the articles at tho birch tree. He had seen Mrs. Towns wearing he dresses. When keeping watch over the house on the night of the fire he saw a figure appear for a moment in accused’s doorway. The Ohakune borough electrical engin-

fcer, Frank Woodward, said he had been called to the house in question when accused was living there. The calls were due to the iron being used off the light socket in the kitchen. The installation was in perfect order. Three months before the fire he went to the house in response to a call and found the meter fuse blown, through a lamp being shifted by Towns‘when papering a room. The seat of the fire was in the bedroom. In his opinion it did not start at the switchboard, but was caused by human agency The court adjourned until to-morrow