MURDER ALLEGED

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 107, 9 May 1938, Page 11

MURDER ALLEGED

SWANSON TRAGEDY

SUPREME COURT TRIAL

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, This Day,

A lightly-built youth, aged 19, Francis Borgia Spensley, was charged in the Supreme Court today with the murder at Swanson on February 7 of his 'father, Robert Fitzroy Spensley. In a clear, firm voice he pleaded not guilty. The trial is being held before Mr. Justice Fair and a jury. Mr. V. R. Meredith, with him Mr. N. I. Smith, is prosecuting and Mr. Allan J. Moody is appearing for the accused. Mr. Meredith outlined the case along similar lines to the Lower Court proceedings. He said that the murdered man was aged 64 and had been three times married. He was a widower at the time of his death. The murder was not brought to light until March 13 when the body was found in a heap of hay alongside the house where he and the accused had been living together. The accused was the child of a second marriage. Spensley was last seen alive on February 6 or 7. An unopened newspaper of February 8, found in the house, suggested February 7 as the date of death. A married daughter would say that it was her father's habit on account of asthma, ] to sleep propped up by pillows. He { usually slept in a shirt and undergarments, and when the body was found it was clad in shirt, underpants, and Mr." Meredith added that evidence would be called to show that the accused went to stop at a neighbour's place a day or two after February 7, taking with him clothing, blankets, a gun, pea rifle, and rifle cartridges. He said his father had gone away prospecting for gold at Waihi and would be away for about fourteen days. Some days later the accused stopped milking the cows on his father's farm, stating that they had gone dry. Evidence would- also show that he sold the cows and received money for them. When the body was found by a neighbour's sons it was sewn up in a blanket and a sheet. Mrs. Pender, the deceased's daughter, called at the house on March 12 and found an upper set of false teeth under the pillow in her father's bed, but the blankets and sheet were missing. She took the accused home to her place at Auckland. ALLEGED STATEMENT. When the body was found the upper set of teeth was missing. While Constable Naughton was awaiting the arrival of detectives, the evidence would show, Mrs. Pender, with her husband, brother-in-law, and the accused, drove up. Constable Naughton would give evidence that he then took the accused aside and asked, "Where is your father?" The accused was silent a while, then said, "I will tell you the truth. We had a row and I shot him with a rifle." On the advice of a relative he said no more.

The evidence would show that these were tw;o holes in the skull directly between the eyes, about three-quarters of an inch apart. Mrs. Selina Winslow, in evidence, said that the accused was a friend of her three sons. He came to stop at her place, spending money freely. Cross-examined, the witness said that the accused appeared to be a neglected sort of boy, and would have lived a lonely life but for the acquaintance of her sons. The hearing is proceeding.