SHOOTING OF WOMAN

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 February 1947, Page 4

SHOOTING OF WOMAN

FORMER HUSBAND ON TRIAL AT NAPIER ’ ACCUSED GIVES EVIDENCE (PA..) NAPIER, February 18.. The- circumstances of the arrest of Cyril Walter Goodman, aged 34, on a charge of the attempted murder of his divorced wife, Kathleen Lucy Christiansen, at Dannevirke, in October, were described when his trial was resumed in the'Supreme Court td-day. Sergeant R. E. Megittingan, of Dannevirke, said he arrived at the Christiansens’ house at 10.5 p.m. on October 12 and found Mrs. Christiansen lying on the floor. The witness heard muttering coming from the kitchen. After the wounded woman had been taken to hospital, the-witness and Constable Guy kept a watch on the back door. The witness heard a .man’s voice say: “They taught me to shoot —and can I shoot.” Shortly after, a man came out of the back door carrying a rifle. After the witness reasoned with the accused he surrendered the rifle and was arrested. He considered that Goodman was not badly intoxicated, although he smelt strongly of liquor. “Hazily Remembered.” Goodman said in evidence that although he had written to his wife regularly while he was serving in Italy, letters from her had not been regular. On his return to Dannevirke on November 1, 1944, he was met at the railway station by his wife, who showed deep affection for him. After two days, however, he found that his wife had been unfaithful while he was in Italy. They subsequently agreed to separate.

The accused said that he hazily remembered the events of October 12. At the time, he was working in Palmerston North, but visited Dannevirke, where he drank a quantity of beer at a friend’s place in the afternoon. The next thing he remembered was knocking at the Christiansens’ door and saying something to Christiansen. He remembered fiddling” with a wireless, and vaguely recalled sitting on a sofa with a rifle in his hands. To Mr. J. C. Fabian, counsel for the accused, Goodman said that he and Mrs. Christiansen had always been friendly. He never had any intentions of murdering her as he thought too much of her. Alexander McLean Streater, a butcher, of Dannevirke. said he and the accused indulged in extensive drinking on the afternoon of October 12. Just before 6 p.m. a barman refused Goodman another drink and said he was drunk. The witness did not think the accused was in a fit condition to go home unaccompanied, and offered to go with him, but the accused declined the offer. Daniel Ryan, a freezing works’ employee, of Dannevirke, said that in October he was employed as a part-time barman. He remembered the accused entering the Junction Hotel about noon on October 12. At 5.45 p.m. the witness refused the accused a drink, because he considered the accused had had enough. Counsel’s Plea. Addressing the jury, Mr. Fabian submilted that the prosecution had to prove that Goodman, with murderous intent, had gone to kill Mrs. Christiansen. The irrational conduct of the accused showed that he was not capable of forming such an intention. Mr. Fabian “said that society had taught Goodman to shoot, and because of the experiences which the accused had been through while serving overseas, society must accept some sense of responsibility. Counsel for the'accused had appealed to their sympathy, said Willis addressing the jury. Counsel’s reasoning, he submitted, was tantamount to saying that a man who had fought for his country should be lei. off. Nothing less legal could be said. The hearing wa.s adjourned,