SHOTS AT NIGHT

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 102, 11 April 1933, Page 7

SHOTS AT NIGHT

• ALLEGED ATTEMPTED MURDER FARM HAND CHARGED. THE MANGATOI INCIDENT. By Telegraph—Press Association. TE PUKE, April 11. On the evening of Sunday, March 26 when Mr and Mrs James Kerr Broad and their son and daughter were sitting at the table in the kitchen of their home at Mangatoi, nine miles from Te Puke, they were disturbed by a shot smashing through a window and lodging in the wall in direct line with Mr Broad’s head. Another shot struck a picture. Mr Broad extinguished the light and went outside, but was unable to discover anyone. The following day Colin Alfred Jensen, a farm hand, aged 25, was arrested and charged with attempted murder and appeared before the Court at To Puke and was remanded to Hamilton and again to Te Puke, where he appeared this morning before Justices. The accused pleaded not guilty. Detective \\ hite, of Hamilton, conducted the case for the police. Constable Naylor, of Hamilton, produced photographs of the locality, one showing the position of Mr Broad when the shot was fired. Reginald Jensen a brother of the accused, gave evidence that he purchased .32 cartridges on the evening of March 25 and gave them to his brother Frederick. Sydney Kerr Broad stated that he was sitting in the kitchen of his home with his wife, daughter and on e son on the evening of March 25. They had had supper about 9.25. He was disturbed by the dogs barking and went outside to ascertain the cause, but was unable to do so. He returned to the room, when two shots were immediately fired through the window. He placed his wife and children in the room adjoining, put out the light and went outside, but failed to discover the cause. He then took his wife and family to a neighbour’s half a mile away. He was unable to communicate with the police by ’phone and returned with a neighbour, Douglas, and his son George and searched the hut in which his son slept. He found that a revolver was missing. He then went to Te Puke for the police. George Broad gave evidence that a .32 calibre, five-chambered revolver which he kept in a drawer in his hut had not been seen. It had been taken out of the bag, in which it was kept for twelve months or more. He was at the neighbour’s, Douglas’s, on the evening of the occurrence. About 9 o’clock he heard a noise as though the telephone line had been struck with a stick. About 10 o’clock his family arrived and reported the incident. On searching the hut he found his rifle and shotgun ammunition still there but the revolver was missing. His was the one produced in Court.