BLACKMAIL CHARGES

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 February 1938, Page 7

BLACKMAIL CHARGES

DYER FOUND GUILTY SYSTEMATIC EXTORTION [PEB PBESS ASSOCIATION.] CHRISTCHURCH. February 9. Allegations of systematic, blackmail over a period of four years lay hehin two charges of making threats for the purpose of extortion, which were preferred against Joseph Dyer in the Su - preme Court to-day. The jury found Dyer guilty, and accused was remanded for sentence. The charges against Dyer were that on November 1, 1.J33, and August 6, 1937. with intent to extort money, he accused the complainant of a crime punishable by imprisonment with hard labour for five years or upwards—indecent assault on a male. Mr. Justice Northcroft was on the T. Donnelly conducted the case for the Crown and Mr. J. T. Watts was counsel for accused. “This is a very bad case of a very bad class,” said the Crown Prosecutor. It was asserted, and practically admitted by the accused in his statements to the police, that, over a period of four years, accused obtained an ' other working man, a friend, £6O or £7O in instalments by threats. Mr Donnelly said that it was usual in such cases for the Court to make some direction about suppressing the name of the victim. His Honor: I do not think that will be necessary. The Press, in the veryproper discretion they exercise, will withhold the name. The case was sad and sordid, continued Mr. Donnelly. Blackmail such as in this case was a kind of slow murder. In 1932 accused and the victim were on friendly terms, and occasionally the latter slept at the home of the former. On such occasions he slept with one of the accused’s boys, but not complaints of impropriety were made until a year later, when accused, in the first place, wrote to the victim and later saw him personally, accusing him of having assaulted the boys. The victim denied any such suggestion, said Mr. Donnelly, but whether the allegation was true or not had nothing whatever to do with the present case. The victim was afraid of losing his job, and the respect of his workmates and friends, and -was also afraid of unpleasant publicity which would accompany the prosecution. Accused called to discuss the matter, and said he was doing the friendly thing by shutting his mouth for a sum of £lO. This was to be paid in fortnightly instalments: but accused continued to extort money. After £lO had been paid in May, 1936, accused demanded a sum of £lO because he wanted to start a business. Accused was a war pensioner, said the Crown Prosecutor. In 1937, the Unemployment and Pensions Departments started inquiries into accused’s position. “Here accused did another shabby and disreputable thing,” said Mr. Donnelly. The victim, under further threats, jvas forced to make false statements as to who owned the business, and to support accused in his frauds on the Unemployment and Pensions Departments. Near the end of 1937, accused wanted £3O to pay accounts, and the victim was then very nearly at the end of his tether. Before further demands were satisfied, however, departmental inquiries resulted in the case being brought by the police. The complainant gave evidence along the lines of Mr. Donnelly’s address. Detective J. J. Halcrow produced a statement, in which Dyer admitted havng accused the complainant of indecently assaulting his boys. Mr. Watts submitted that the complainant’s replies under cross examination showed no indication of his having acted under compulsion or extortion. Accused would say that, w’hen he gave a statement to the police, he was aware only of a charge at the instigation of the Pensions Department. He did not realise that a charge of extortion could be brought against him, and consequently, was not accurate in his replies to questions. Accused, in evidence, said that any money that changed hands was in repayment of loans between the two. There had never been any discussion or reference to assault charges in connection with the money payments. Mr. Donnelly: You have accused. Detective Halcrow and Watt of fabricating part of your statement? —No. Mr. Donnelly: Were the statements you made to them true? Accused: Some were partly true, and some were not.

Accused said that many of his answers to the detectives’ questions were given on the spur of the moment. Both the statements that he made to the police and to the Pensions Department were incorrect. The jury was absent 12 minutes before bringing in its verdict of guilty.

CONSTABLE’S DEATH. i NOT CAUSED BY ASSAULT. DUNEDIN, February 9. The trial of John Edward McElroy on five charges, including one of manslaughter, arising out of a struggle at the Dunedin police station, when the accused was arrested for drunkenness on Christmas Day, was concluded in the Supreme Court before Mr. Justice Kennedy. The events were alleged to have caused the death of Constable James Butler, who assisted to place McElroy in a cell. After a retirement of four hours, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on the major charge and two other charges, and guilty of assaulting Constable Butler so as to cause actual bodily harm, and resisting a sergeant and other constables in the execution of their duty. The jury added a rider that the actual bodilv harm inflicted on Butler was in no way connected with his death. McElroy was remanded until to-mor-row for sentence. DUNEDIN, February 10. In the Supreme Court, John Edward McElroy, who was acquitted yesterday on a manslaughter charge, was sentenced to fourteen days’ imprisonment, for assaulting Constable Butler. ROBBERY WITH VIOLENCE. AUCKLAND, February 9. A series of charges of robbery with the violence of assault, so as to cause the actual bodily harm of assault, and of theft from the person, were heard against Alfred Norman O’Meara, a labourer, 41, by Mr Justice Fair, at the Supreme Court. A younger man, Bernard Kilkolly, who was charged jointly with O’Meara with the same offences, was found mentally unable

to plead and was committed to the Auckland Mental Hospital. It was alleged that the accused attacked an elderly visitor from the country, Philip Moore, in a public convenience on New Year’s Eve, and after seriously injuring him, robbed him of £2 10/- in money and a gold watch and chain valued at £l5. Mr V. R. Meredith outlined the

Crown case, and said that after the assault Moore was taken to hospital, covered with blood and suffering from concussion. For some time he was in a very serious condition, but eventually he recovered. The jury convicted: the accused on the charge of robbery with violence. i The accused was remanded for Sen- ! tence.