CHARGES OF MURDER

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 77, 1 April 1943, Page 3

CHARGES OF MURDER

HEARING PROCEEDS

NEIGHBOURS' EVIDENCE

The evidence of neighbours as to what happened in Terrace Gardens in the early morning of January 7, when two United States marines were fatally shot at No. 17 and a girl senouisly wounded, was given in the Magistrate's Court today at the continuation of the hearing of two charges of murder and two of attempted murder against John Sidney Crawford, a South African seaman, aged 26. One witness said a bullet entered the wall of his house next door, approximately three inches above the head of his daughter's bed. Mr. J. L. Stout, S.M., is presiding. The Crown case is being conducted by Mr. W. H. Cunningham, and Mr. W. J. Stacey appears for the accused. Crawford is charged with murdering two United States marines, Sydney Samuel Sparrow and Elmer William Geti, and attempting to murder Hazel Josephine Salmon, aged 19, and Constable T. W. Illes. Evidence was given yesterday afternoon after "The Post" went to press by Joyce Barbara Turnbull. milk bar attendant, Ellen Dooley, milk bar attendant, who said her husband was overseas with the American forces, and Ngaio Florence O'Sullivan, waitress, as to happenings at 17 Terrace Gardens that night. Miss Turnbull said she was in bed trying to go to sleep and heard one shot, followed by three in quick succession. When she started to go downstairs the accused, who was byßunty's door in the front hall, said. "Get back up there and stay there." Crawford then said, "Open the door." Sparrow replied. "What will happen if I do?" and the accused said, "I'll blow you to hell." Two or three more shots followed. _ , _, _. ' • Leonard Harry John Power, Post and Telegraph inquiry officer, of 10 j Terrace Gardens, almost opposite No. j 17, said he was wakened by the sound j of a shot at about 1.20 a.m. He saw a torchlight on the verandah at No. 17, moving along the bottom of a bay window. The person holding the' light smashed the window nearest the door, and before that witness heard someone shout, "Let me in or I'll put a bullet through you." The lights in the room, which had been off until the window was smashed, went on and one or two shots were fired. A woman's voice cried out, "Dont shoot, Jack, I'll do anything you want me to, but don't shoot. 11l irtarry you. Don't shoot, think of my mother." Tbe woman repeated those words hysterically several times. : SHOTS AT POLICEMAN. Realising that someone was in danger, witness rang the police. Shortly afterwards he noticed a policeman under a street lamp, making in the direction of No. 17, and saw his head and shoulders silhouetted against the "broken window. It seemed that he was not. there more than a fraction of time before a woman shouted "Look," and a shot was fired over the policeman's shoulder. The policeman appeared to fall beside the window, and Witness then heard him running down the steps towards the gate. Someone came to the window and fired two shots at him and, witness thought, a third shot before he reached the gate. The person firing tlie • shots had his back to the light and witness could not describe him. Before the arrival of the civil police and marines he saw someone climb out of the window. By the silhouette .it appeared to be a marine.

Giving evidence today Cecil Winfield McGregor Cameron, a clerk living next door to 17 Terrace Gardens, said he was wakened by the sound of breaking glass. He heard two shots and got out of bed. He saw a man on the verandah of No. 17 and he-seemed to be trying to get through the front door. The man held a torch, and witness heard the remark, "Come out of that or I'll well pull you out." Mr. Stacey formally objected to evidence of statements made by an unidentified person. Anyone apart from the" accused, he said, could have made •tlje'Tettiark. .' The Magistrate said that that was a matter of comment for the jury and he would allow the evidence at the present stage. Witness continued that he rang the police. A little later a constable arrived and put his/head through an open window. The attention of witness was distracted and he then heard a shot. Looking round, he saw a man ximhing down the steps, but he was not sure that it was the constable. There was a bundle lying on the verandah, most of which was in shadow, and thought that perhaps the constable had also been hit. SCENE INSIDE ROOM. From his position in a sun porch he could see the inside of the front room at No. 17. A man in marine clothes was slumped over the arm of a chair in the far corner of the room, motionless. A girl moved over from the right side of the room towards the door leading to the passage. She was wearing a white blouse and the back of it was covered with four or five big patches of blood. She tried to get-out into the passage, but it apB eared that the door was locked on ne outside. The girl then climbed through the open window nearest the front door and disappeared into the house. Shortly afterwards the police arrived. He had heard s six shots (dtogether. l The following morning witness saw a bullet-hole in the bay window of No. 17 nearest his house and he thought that the bullet must be in his wall somewhere. He found a bullet-hole upstairs in his daughter's bedroom, approximately three inches above the head of the bed.

Cross-examined by Mr. Stacey, witness said he had had occasion to complain about certain articles thrown over his wall from No. 17. He had complained three times. Mr. Stacey: It was a filthy collection? —It was not very nice. • Mona Daisy Duggan, film librarian, of 15 Terrace Gardens, said she was frightened when she was wakened by a shot and hid under the bedclothes. She stayed there for about ten minutes. After that she heard a man say, "You had better come out, Bunty, or I'm coming in." Later there was a ripping sound and a " girl said hysterically, "Don't do it, Jack, think of my mother." Witness thought eight shots were fired altogether. Laurence George Malvern Paddi, a musician, of 8 Terrace Gardens, told of going down to Willis Street to get Constable Illes. At No. 17 the constable called out, "What's going on?" Witness did not hear the reply, but a shot was fired. The constable ran down the steps and he, the witness, and another man who had gone for the police went back to No. 8. Two more shots were fired as they ran. Amy Leslie James, cabaret attendant, of 8 Terrace Gardens, said she heard someone say after a noise like a car back-firing, "Hurry up, Jack, you have done enough damage." Then someone ran away from No. 17. She also heard a man say, "If you don't open the door I'll smash the place down," and later a girl cried. "Don't do it, Jack, I'll .do anything you say." Witness went down to wait for the police,' and after the constable went up to No. 17 she heard a shot. Everyone ran. She heard someone running behind her and did not know whether it was the police or the man with the gun. Her legs would not carry her, and she lay down in the grass for half an hour. EVIDENCE OF POLICE. Constable T. W. Illes said lie was approached by a man unknown to him at 12.40 a.m., and on the way up to No. 17 Terrace Gardens they were met by Paddi. Paddi stood at the gate of No. 17 and the other man accompanied witness up the steps. Witness went along the verandah to a lighted window, and as he approached he heard a woman's voice say, "Oh, don't. I'll marry you." "I looked in the window and saw the accused standing at the foot of a single bed, holding an automatic pistol. He appeared to be working the breech of the pistol. There was a woman sitting on a single bed near the window and a marine was lyin£ on his back alongside the bed. parallel to the window and with his head towards the door. The accused then looked up, saw me at the window, and said, 'Get out.' At the same time he levelled the pistol in my direction. I immediately ducked, and the shot which he fired