ALLEGED MURDER

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 71, 21 September 1933, Page 12

ALLEGED MURDER

OHIRO ROAD TRAGEDY

ENGINE-DRIVER CHARGED

PRELIMINARY HEARING

George Edward James, an enginedriver, aged 57, who was rescued from drowning at Thorndon on June 30, the day on which Mrs. Cecilia Smith and her four-year-old son wero found dead under tragic circumstances, appeared before Mr. E. Page, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court today on a charge of having murdered Mrs. Smith. The body of Mrs. Smith, with wounds in the neck, was found in a flat at 27 Ohiro Road, and that of her son on the rocks at Point Halswell. When James was charged this morning he was represented by Mr. W. E. Leicester and Mr. T. P. McCarthy. The prosecution was undertaken ,by the Crown Prosecutor (Mr. P. S. K. Macassey). The hearing of evidence for the prosecution will probably take two days. On tho application of counsel, James was allowed to leave tho dock and sit close to the witness-box. Mi-. Leicester said that the accused was very deaf, and' was anxious to hear all the evidence. After James had taken a seat near the box, Mr. Macassey said that following the usual practice in murder cases he did not propose to make an;- opening address, but to proceed to call evidence. The first witness, Senior-Sergeant Dinnie, produced a number of photo graphs of the flat at 27 Ohiro Road (referred to as James's flat), Mrs. Smith, and her son. Mr. Leicester asked that the Court should record his objection to the admission of the photographs of the boy. Whether or to what extent that evidence was admissible ho could not in the meantime decide. Tho objection was noted. Plans of the flat in which the body of Mrs. Smith was found were produced by Philip Rex Rose. Harold William Falkner, chief surveyor employed by the Wellington City Council, produced plans of the district surrounding the flat at 27 Ohiro Road. AVitness gave details of the distances by various routes from the flat to a fisherman's hut on the beach at Shelly Bay Road, and from the fisherman's hut to shed No. 45 at Thorndon. The distances from the flat to the hut were in the vicinity of 4J miles, and from the hut to shed No. 45 1\ miles. An objection by Mr. Leicester to the admissibility of these plans was noted. LETTING OF THE FLAT. Eileen Jean McKenzie, a married woman, who occupied a room in the middle flat at 27 Ohiro Road, said that the house was owned by Mrs. Mullions, of Whangaroa, Witness had authority to let the bottom flat when it became empty. Prior to June 7 the flat was occupied by a Mrs. Goss. When the flat became vacant she advertised in a shop window, and on the evening of June 6 the accused called on her and witness showed him over the bottom flat. James said he liked the flat and .asked if he could take it. She understood him to say that he' had got married on Monday and wanted his wife to see the flat. Ho said that he had a little boy. Witness gave him the key to enable him to show his wife the flat. She told the accused that the rent was 15s 6d a week. The following day the accused moved into the flat and paid rent for one week in advance. On June 8, witness said, she met a woman going upstairs with a little boy. She addressed her as Mrs. James and asked her how she liked the flat. The woman said that she was not Mrs. James. Witness had since learned that the woman was Mrs. Smith. About a week later witness went down to the bottom flat and saw the woman 'again. She again stated that she was not Mrs. James, but said that she was going to get married on Monday. The accused said, "Yes." Mrs. Smith sail that James had a lot of worry and a Court case, and they were not going to be married until the case was fixed. Witness called to collect the rent on June 27 and obtained 15s Gd from Mrs. Smith. When tho accused talked to Mrs. Smith he referred' to her as "Badge," and she called him "George." Cross-examined by Mr. Leicester, witness said that Mrs. Smith seemed concerned about the state of worry that James was in. In reply to Mr. Leicester witness said that she was tired when she first met James and she could not be sure exactly what he said about being married. Telford Richard Williams, who lived in the middle flat at 27 Ohiro Road, said that when James and Mrs. Smith came to live in the bottom flat he knew them as Mr. and Mrs. James and thought that the little boy was their eon. HAPPENINGS ON JUNE 30. Mr. Macassey: I want you to tell us in your own. words what you heard and what took place on the morning of June 30. Witness: On tho morning of Friday, June 30, I was awakened by a scream from Mrs. James or Mrs. "Smith about 7.30 a.m. The scream lasted about two seconds. The boy Noel gave a short scream or cry, and Mrs. James gave another scream. There was no cry for help in any shape or form, therefore I took no notice. How long would you say the screams lasted altogether from the boy and Mrs. Smith? —About three or four seconds altogether. What was tho next thing that you did! —I went down to the bathroom from my flat, and as I closed the door I heard Mrs. James say, "Oh, George, go for the doctor, lam done." I heard no more after that. And when you heard that remark, where did it come from—from their bedroom? —Yes. Were you familiar with Mrs. Smith's voice, and are you sure that it was Mrs. Smith who used those words, "Go for the doctor, I am done"?— Yes. Did you hear the accused speak at alii—Not. at all. Nor the boy?— No. When did you next see the accused? —I was washing my breakfast dishes between 8.30 and a quarter to nine. My front door was wide open, and I saw the accused and the boy, Noel going up the top flight of steps towards Ohiro Bond. Did you notice whether or not the accused was leading the boy?—He was. holding the boy Toy the hand. Witness said that after a time James went down Ohiro Road towards Aro Street, but he could not see the Boy, as his vision was obscured by a hedge. About 6 p.m. that day, in consequence of a conversation he had with a Mrs. Boyton, and from what he saw in the paper, witness communicated with the police. Witness said that Constable Downes arrived about 6.20 p.m., and they forced a door of the accused's flat. In the bedroom they found the body of Mrs. James on a, bed. It was covered with a dark blanket, and all they could see was the face. A blood-stained tabl« knife was found near a chair in the

room. Witness said that he later identified the body of the boy Noel at .the morgue. RIDE ON A BICYCLE. Bichard James Brown, a student at the Wellington College who lived at 29 Ohiro Boad, next door to the James's flat, said that on June 30 he left home about 8.30 a.m. As he walked down tho footpath he saw a small boy come out of the gate of No. 27 Ohiro Boad. A i man came out after the boy wheeling i a bicycle. He leaned the bicycle against the fence. Witness passed quite close to the man and the boy. As he passed, the boy said, "Are we going for a ride on the bike, daddy?" The man replied in the affirmative. Later, witness saw the man and the boy going up Willis Street on the bicycle. The accused was riding and the boy was sitting on tho bar. That was the last he saw of them.

Similar evidence was given by Albert George Clifford. Leslie Bichard Moore, a tramway motorman, said that on June' 30 his tram left Seatoun about 9.16 a.m. When it was going up Crawford Boad towards Constable Street he noticed a man going clown with a little boy on a bicycle. He noticed them particularly because there was a motor-lorry and a motor-car coming down, and the bicycle went very close to the lorry. It appeared to witness that the man on the bicycle did not hear the lorry, which was trying to overtake him. The little boy was apparently between three and'four years of age. At an identification parade at the police station he identified the accused as the man who had been riding the biejrcle. "THE KIDDY WAS LAUGHING."

Mr. Macassey: What caused you to remember what happened on June 30? —The kiddy was laughing like anything, and it just reminded me that it was my own kiddy's birthday, and it was our pay day.

The finding of the boy's body was described by Francis John Gay. Witness said that when he was gathering mussels in the vicinity of the fishermen's hut he saw the body of the boy on the rocks. The tide was going out and the body was lying at high-water mark. AVitness informed the police.

Constable J. E. Fitzgibbon said that the boy's body was found at 12.30 p.m., and had apparently been dead for three or four hours. The clothes were wet. (Proceeding.)