Old Man Facing Murder Charge: Mangaroa Shooting

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 December 1950, Page 5

Old Man Facing Murder Charge: Mangaroa Shooting

WELLINGTON, This Day (P.A.). —Harry Holtham, aged 73, a retired blacksmith, appeared before Mr J. Hessell, S.M., at the Lower Hutt court this morning, charged with the murder of Maxwell Burnard Just, aged 26, a farm hand, at Mangaroa, Upper Hutt, on November 25. Mr W. H. Cunningham, Crown Prosecutor, conducted the police case, with him Mr W. R. Birks. Mr C. H. Arndt appeared for the accused. Thirteen witnesses are to be heard and the hearing is expected to be completed today. The accused, who suffers from deafness, was permitted to be seated next to the witness stand to assist him to hear the evidence. He complained that he could not hear and was permitted to read the depositions. Constable M. H. Dedman produced photographs taken by him at the Mangaroa farmhouse and the Wellington city morgue. These showed the position of the deceased, seated in an armchair in the kitchen of the house, and bullet holes in the chair and walls of the room. Assumed Name

Frederick William Julius Just, of Tararua, Thames, the father of the deceased, said he had seen his son only once since the latter’s marriage in 1946, when he lived at Te Hoe, near Taupiri. The witness was not aware that his son had been going under the name of Hill.

Medical Evidence Dr L. F. J. Taylor, of Upper Hutt, said he had been called to Mr J. J. Maher’s farm at Mangaroa at about 2.40 p.m. The witness described the position of the deceased in an armchair in the kitchen. He then found the accused in his bedroom. He was standing near his bed in an agitated condition. He was shaking and was bleeding from a furrowed wound on the right hand side of the jaw. There were powder burns and contusions on the left hand side of the neck. They were consistent with grazing wounds by a .303 bullet. The witness said the accused was talking a great deal. Witness said to him, “you shouldn’t have done this, you know.” Holtham had replied: “I couldn’t stand their behaviour any longer.” The accused had said that he had fired three shots at, himself and that he had killed the man known by the witness as Max Hill. Sudden Death The witness said that further examination of the deceased revealed that he had died suddenly a short time previously, the wound being consistent with one caused by a .303 rifle at about 2.30 p.m. The witness said he saw a .303 rifle leaning against the wall of the kitchen. The wound was in the chest above the heart and was consistent with a .303 Jjullet passing through the body from front to back. (Proceeding)