SHOT IN THE BACK

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 14, 17 January 1930, Page 10

SHOT IN THE BACK

SHOPKEEPER'S STORY

YOUTH PLEADS NOT GUILTY SENSATIONAL CHARGES Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post.") CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. A climax in fho hearing of the charges against tho Gray brothers was reached in the Magistrate's Court yesterday, Charles Eobert Gray, the younger of the brothers, being charged with attempting to murder Edward Hammond on 18th July. A. plea of not guilty was entered. Accused was further charged with breaking and entering tho shop of Hammond and Turner, 132, Oxford terrace, on 10th July. Another charge was one of breaking and entering tho same premises on 21st July. He pleaded guilty to these offences. On Tuesday and Wednesday tho accused and his brother, James Wilfrid Gray, pleaded guilty to 31 charges of arson, attempted arson, aiid burglary. The 17-year-old accused remained quite composed while the charge was read out, and appeared to be very little perturbed as the hearing of the case proceeded. Among the witnesses called by the police was Edward Hammond alleged to have been shot in the back by Gray. In. evidence Hammond identified the accused as the man alleged to have done the shooting. Iv reply to a question Hammond said, "I have no doubt at all that the man in the dock is the man." The Court was crowded with spectators. In a statement read by the police the accused admitted shooting Hammond. Mr. E. D. Mosley, S.M., was on the Bench. Mr. M. J. Burns appeared for accused, and Chief Detective Carroll conducted proceedings for the police. Giving evidence, Edward Hammond said: "I went away at the usual time, 5.15 p.m. or 5.30 p.m., in tho afternoon, and at 9.30 p.m. I returned to do some work. I drove up in my car and entered by the front door. I took the padlock off and put it on tho counter inside the front door. 1 locked tho front door after me. It was securely fastened when I arrived. I went down to the shop and saw a suitcase ou tho counter packed with goods, and an empty one on the floor. . I saw a jemmy on the counter, and'saw the communication door open. I heard a noise from tho back store, and knew someone was there. I took off my coat and went through. I saw a young fellow there in the light of my torch, and asked him what he was doing. He replied: 'Thieving.' He said he came in through the roof, but denied that he had been there before. When I told him he had to come to the Police Station with me, he asked to be allowed to get his coat. As he was getting it he asked to be let off, and said something about a shock to his mother. I said he would have to come to the station with me, but that I would try to make it as light as possible. He put his coat on, and I went down the shop with him, and as I was unlocking the door I was shot in the back. I heard him running back down the shop, and knew I would have to unlock tho dopr and get assistance. I just managed to unlock the door and get to the footpath. There were two ladies on the footpath outside. I also hailed a passing motor-cyclist. Another man came along shortly after, and I told him all about it. The police came along very shortly, and I was taken to St. George's Hospital. I was there about three weeks. The bullet is still in the lung. I had no recollection of seeing the man who shot me before." CERTAIN OP IDENTITY. "Have you recognised him since?" asked Mr. Carroll. "Yes, he is the accused." "Have you any doubt about that?" asked the Magistrate. "None at all," replied witness. Mr. Burns: "How far was he away when you were shot?"—"He must have been right behind me." "There was no sort of a struggle as was reported in the newspapers at the time? "-—"No." Milton. Edgar Halliga)!, proprietor of a garage at the back of the Combined Buyers' premises, said that on the evening in question he saw a young man in tho rightLof-way. Witness asked him what he wanted, and the man said he wanted to use tho .lavatory. Witnesa showed him, but saw he did not leave the right-of-way. Witness heard the door open and heard sounds inside Hammond and Turner's building, but did not investigate. He could not identify the accused as tho man in the right-of-way. Henry Pickup, a clerk, said that on tho evening of 16th July he was at the V.M.C.A.. He left there a little after 9.30 p.m. He went across tho Cashol street bridge and he heard a shout along Oxford terrace. He did not take much notice, but he saw Hammond lying on the footpath. There were two ladies and another man. Hammond was holding his back and his head. Hammond and the other man then went into the Combined Buyers' doorway. "A man then camo out of tho Combined Buyers' right-of-way," said witness. "He walked along between the tram lines to the Hereford street bridge, ran over the bridge, and turned to the left along Cambridge terrace. I didn't know anything had happened, and I went into tho Square and caught a tram. Tho man was either dark-complexioned or* unshaven." LIFE IN DANGEB. Dr. W. H. Simpson said he examined Hammond at St. George's Hospital on 17th July. An X-ray showed a bullet in tho loft chest cavity just behind the heart. Hammond was then suffering from shock. Later he developed a pneumonic condition, which cleared up without the bullet being removed. The bullet had entered about two inches higher than where it finished in the lung. It was pointing downwards. Two X-ray photographs wero produced in Court. Witness said that he thought that the bullet had touched the top of a rib, but could not be definite about that. The Jung healed surprisingly well, there being no foreign matter other than tho bullet. The bullet was still in the lung. It would be dangerous to attempt to remove the bullet. "When I saw tho bullet I couldn't make out why he wasn't dead, considering the size of the bullet." said Dr. Simpson. "His lifo was definitely in danger." Constable A. T. Gillum said that at 2.15 a.m. on 18th December he had arrested the accused in. Manchester street, and found that his homo was in Antigua street. He found a German automatic (produced) on tho premises in a washhouso. A discharged cartridge (produced) was in the chamber. Acting-Detective Halcrow said that he took the accused's fingerprints and forwarded them to the Finger Print Department and police headquarters at Wellington. Claude M. Fiancis, fingerprint expert at Police Headquarters, Wellington, said that on 19th July, at the Christchurch Detective Office, he examined numerous articles (produced in Court) for fingerprints. The articles had been found in Hammond and Turner's by Detective-Sergeant Young on a rifle stock which was in a suitcase. Ho found three fingerprints on

another rifle. He found one fingerprint on both articles, and on several other articles there were numerous linger markings and smudgings, none of which were clear. He took tho exhibit to Wellington on 23rd July, and the next day tho officer in charge of the fingerprint branch and witness photographed the finger-prints on the rifles. On 19th "December the finger-prints of Charles Robert Gray wore received in Wellington. On tho same day they identified tho three prints on ono of the rifles as being those of tho left middle ring and little fingers of Charles .Robert Gray, and the ono on tho other rifle as being that of his left little finger. On 9th January witness photographed and enlarged tho left middle ring and little finger-prints, and made enlargements of those previously taken on the rifles. The photographs wero produced. Witness enumerated the points of similarity. There was a total of 64 points. "I am satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt that the prints-on tho rifles and on the accused's finger-print form wero made by one and tho same person," concluded the witness. Detective-Sergeant J. B. Young said in evidence that he and Detective Thomas found Hammond in the care of several people. He was in pain, and had difficulty in breathing. As a result of what Hammond said, they conducted a hurried examination of the premises. Other police officers arrived and were stationed at the exits. There were smoko and powder marks on Hammond's coat where the bullet went in. A further examination of the premises showed that tho sliding door leading into the Combined Buyers' premises and a similar ono leading thence to a right-of-way at the back were forced open. There was a hole in the roof of Hammond and Turner's workshop. It measured about 12in by 7in, and had been made by removing some slates from the roof. This gave access to the whole of the premises.

Witness described tho finding of the suitcases. The smaller suiteaso contained an air pistol, an automatic pistol, and pistol ammunition. The goods disturbed in the shop were all revolvers or rifles and tho parts and ammunition thereof. STATEMENT TO DETECTIVE. On ISth December witness interviewed the accused, who in a signed statement said that he had gone to Hammond and Turner's and climbed on to the roof. He had a spanner, a torch, a jemmy, and a revolver. He had entered tho premises in the same way before. | "I got some ammunition from the shop, and was getting other goods when Mr. Hammond came in," said tho statement. "I shot him in the back. I had broken the doors into the Combined Buyers and from there into the right-of-way. I used the pistol. I stole from the Museum." Witness produced clothes found at the accused's Home which the accused said he wore on the night of the event. "That is the case," said the Chief Detective. "Ho pleads not guilty," said Mr. j Burns. The accused was committed for trial. Tho breaking and entering, charges were based on the same evidence. Detective-Sergeant Young said there were three occasions on which the accused had broken into Hammond and Turner's premises. There was one after the shooting episode. On that occasion he hacked the padlock off the front door, broke the glass, and got in that way. He stole pistol ammunition. Gray was committed for sentence on each of the three charges of breaking and entering those premises. On a number of summary charges, including theft and wilful damage, with which the brothers wore separately and jointly charged, they were convicted and sentence was deferred. POLICE CONGRATULATED. "We have come to the end of the hearing of a series of charges that are remarkable in tho history of Christchurch and comprise a tale of dastardly crime," said Mr. Mosley at the conclusion of the hearings. "I feel it my duty to express the thanks of the Bench to the police and to counsel for the expeditious manner in which they have aided the hearing of the trial so far. "I also wish to congratulate tho police on solving the great problems which beset them. I realise that they wero up against great difficulties. I am happy to say that no matter how hard their task is they generally get there in tho end. This time their success was due to the initiative of Constable Gillum in making the arrest and the ability and thoroughness shown by the detectives in their searching inquiries. It is a matter for congratulation that the community is now rid, for the time being at any rate, of two young men who not only endangered property but, as has been shown, people's lives as well."