AUCKLAND PRISON BREAK

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 113, 6 February 1941, Page 9

AUCKLAND PRISON BREAK

Four Men Stand Trial

ALLEGED ASSAULTS ON WARDERS

Events At Jail Described

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, February 5,

Liberal use of the right to challenge jurymen was exercised by prisoners who were charged in the Supreme Court today before his Honour Mr. Justice Blair that on October 1 they escaped from the Auckland jail by violent means and they rendered three warders incapable of resistance. The accused included John Henry Silva, against whom there had been a charge of attempted murder of a warder, but on the direction of the judge the grand jury threw out the attempted murder charge. Silva pleaded guilty to the two remaining charges.

The other accused, Allan Roy Duff Bryan James O’Hehir, Randall Smith, and David Watson, pleaded not guilty. Duff was represented by counsel, Mr. W. Noble.

Smith exercised the right to challenge six jurymen, Watson challenged five, and Duff challenged two—every second juryman called being challenged.

Before the hearing commenced the jury, counsel and judge visited the jail to view the cells and layout of the buildings at the point of the alleged escape.

When the trial of the four men who had pleaded not guilty was resumed in the afternoon, the Crown Prosecutor, Mr. V. R. Meredith, said the two counts related to two quite distinct offences. The accused were all captured out of the prison and that left no doubt that they had broken away from the prison. The effects on the warders showed that the assaults had been of a particularly cowardly and murderous nature.

The charges were extremely grave, Mr. Meredith said. Warders who were in charge of such men had to be protected. The law made each one engaged on such an enterprise responsible for each of the acts done by any of the others. When these men made their plans of escape they knew they had to get possession of the keys and that necessarily involved violence to warders. There were used in the process of escape three weapons —two hammers with wristlet thongs, and a weight with a leather handle, a particularly dangerous form of weapon. It would appear that the intention was, after the three warders at the central dome had been got rid of, to deal with the fourth warder at the front door, but by the accidental use of the wrong key they were unable to get access to that part and had to find some other way out. Alleged Attack On Warders. The Crown, prosecutor described the. movement of the three warders. Bur gess. Scholium and Crawford. Burgess was bending over a table doing clerical work when he was struck on the head from behind and knocked out, though he actually put up some resistance afterward. Scholium came to see what was wrong with Burgess, when he, too, was struck on the head and his skull injured. The warders, bleeding and helpless, were taken and thrown into a ceil Crawford suffered the worst of all and it was not till five weeks later that he recovered consciousness. The at tack on him was a particularly violent and savage one and the medical evi dence would be that he was ruined for life and was a complete wreck. Accused made their way to the padlocked grille leading to the yard and by using their weight together they burst the chain holding it. With a hammer they smashed the padlocks which held the ladders and put one of them against the wall. Warder Carson, who lived just outside the prison walls, saw the prisoners escaping over the wall, and when he went in pursuit he caught sight of Duff coming at him from ‘behind with a baton he had taken from Warder Burgess. Carson over powered Duff and took him back to jail. Statements By The Accused. Mr. Meredith read a statement given by Duff in which he described their plans for escape and said they had decided to knock the warders on the head with something. He also read statements made by the other accused The hearing was adjourned.