ATTEMPT TO KIDNAP IS ALLEGED

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 October 1948, Page 2

ATTEMPT TO KIDNAP IS ALLEGED

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, This Day. Following their 24-hour remand, Malcolm David Glasspole, aged 31, a company manager, and Aino Alexander Birch, aged 29, a motor engineer, appeared before M*r A. A. McLachlan S.M. in the Magistrate's Court today to answer a joint charge of attempted kidnapping, and also of being in the unlawful possession of firearms. Senior Detective Callaghan is conducting the police case. Mr W. J. Stacey appeared for Glasspole and Mr A. J. West-Walker for Birch. The accused are jointly charged that on October 5, they attempted to take away a child, Deborah Janet Todd, aged nine years 11 months, with intent to deprive her parent, Bryant James Todd, of possession of the child. Glasspole is charged with being in the unlawful possession of a .32 automatic pistol and 34 rounds of ammunition and Birch with the unlawful possession of a .45 revolver and 20 rounds of ammunition. The charges relating to the firearms were not proceeded with today.

Police witnesses produced plans and photographs of the area in Wellington where, it is alleged, the offence took place.

Girl’s Evidence

Deborah Jane -Todd said, in evidence, that she was going one afternoon to the tennis courts near her home in Wesley road when she heard a man call to her from near a parked car. “Where does Mrs Beasley live?” There was another man sitting in the car at the driver’s seat. The man said again .“‘Will you have a look at this address?” Witness said: “I went over to him and he put'his head inside the car twice. Then, he said, ‘This is Wesley road.’ I did not make any reply. He showed me a book, which I did not look at properly. He then put his hand over my mouth and tried to force me into the car. He hurt my jaw. My head was forced into the car. on to the seat. I think the man in the driver’s seat then started the car, although I am not sure. I struggled with the man who pushed me into the Car. I got away and started running up Bolton street and then down again to my home.”

Witness said she and her schoolteacher, Miss Cody, went back into the street. The car and the men had gone. Miss Cody saw a magazine in the gutter. “I said it was the one the men had used. The two men were wearing gloves and they had dark glasses,” she said.

Identification Issue

Witness could not definitely identify some glasses exhibited in the court. She said the car the men had was green, with only one seat in front. She thought a window in the car had a little mark on it. Witness said she next saw the men at the police station. Then Senior Detective Callaghan asked witness if she could recognise the men in court. Mr Stacey objected, submitting that it was' not the right way to establish identification. Senior Detective Callaghan then asked witness when was the last time she had seen the men. Witness replied they were in the court, and pointed to the two accused in the dock.

Witness Questioned

Witness told Senior-Detective Callaghan she thought she saw one of the men looking over a fence at a friend’s house about a week later. Mr Stacey: Have Daddy and Mummy talked to you about it? Witness: Yes. Mummy is in Christchurch. I read all the interesting parts about it and the names of the men in the paper. Daddy pointed them out to me in court yesterday. “That’s Glasspole over there,” said Daddy. Mr Stacey: You like a bit of fun now and again?—Yes. -You didn’t mind a little bit of fun. You weren’t scared of these men?— I didn’t like the look of them.

Did one of them spank you with a magazine?—No. Are you quite sure?—l didn’t feel anything. You came back and laughed at them and made a face?—l called out to them, “I’ll get the police on you.” You poked your tongue out, screwed up your face and laughed at them?—No, I was too frightened to laugh. Tutor Describes Return Ellen Mary T. Cody, temporary private tutor to Deborah Janet Todd, described the return of Deborah after the child’s departure to play tennis. “She was in a most terrible state, screaming and chocking, and gasped out, “Two men tried to kidnap me.” The Magistrate ruled the evidence of what Deborah had said was admissible, but noted an objection by Mr Stacey. Senior-Detective Callaghan: Did she say anything else? Witness: She repeated it over and over again. She said it was the truth—the truth she was telling me. We then went out into the street, but did not see anybody—the street was empty. Witness said Deborah stated that the incident happened near a paper lying in the road, to which Deborah pointed, and witness said she took the paper and later gave it to Mr Todd.

Cross-examined by Mr Stacey, witness said Deborah did not have a vivid imagination. Boy Gives Evidence Christopher Graham Bond, aged eight, described in evidence how he had gone to the tennis court to play with Deborah. “I saw a car. And the men in the car watched us. I could not not see how many there were, but the car had stopped so that the men could-see us on the,tennis court.” Witness said no one got out of the car, which was a two-seater coupe, painted green. “I stopped at the tennis courts while Deborah went back to get her shoes. My attention was attracted when the car roared. I then went over to the fence of the tennis court to see what it was. It was the same car and it finally went out of sight down Wesley road. I next saw this car at the police station.” The case is proceeding.