BAYLY TRIAL

Hokitika Guardian, 20 June 1934, Page 6

BAYLY TRIAL

COUNSEL’S ADDRESS CONTINUED. LONG SPEECH 'FOR'. DEFENCE. (Pet Prei* 'Association — Copyright. / AUCKLAND, June 20. Mr Northcroit continued his address to j the. jury this morning,, when- the Supremo Court hearing, of the Ruawaio murder charges were continued Counsel had already spoken for a day and «, half. .' To-day is ’ the. twenty-sixth day of hearing. , Again the court was crowded, many being, unable to gain admission to the public portion, while it was only with difficulty (that officials .and poi'sons were able to get in the front portion of the court, where the .accommodation is •IfQenly sought. , Counsel: contended.; “Bayly, had he been a guilty man, would have gathert:d: the incrimiuatng' material, taken it away during : thm night and hidden it, where it never could have been found. Yet the Crown put forward tha fantastic..theory fchat "Bayly, knowing where:the, material- was; , took the extraordinary course of leaving it .where, it :Avas, . where -it' could easily, be founds

“Had. Bayly, knowing he-was suspected,, known' the guns were' in tho swamp, have left them there for a, single night? Clearly he would have i xemoved'.: tliem and thrown them in the- lake.

‘‘Bayly’s. dog . had. caught a. dog at his : place. If that dog were; Wright’s,' the Crown view was Bayly must have g}pne to [W-rigbPs.--'-and abducted it. How could the dog have got to Bayly? It must have gone there with its owner, or someone familiar with it.”

■ ( Counsel said' there were two methods of' conducting a' police- investigation Onei was by following every clue; and every piece of information with an open mind, and thb other to look for a , suspect, and then, having-found one see what clues can be found, and then fasten the guilt on the suspect. } “I am. ibound- to point out to you the; second method hlas been followed in. this, case.” He contended the danger in,, the- second- method was that the bides leading ,to the right person wer® ignored, or rejected because they did not fit in the-fastening of the guilt on tb<m suspect.

• When , the police had started their false assumption,, which was shared, by settlers in the district, - false evidence - could easily be built up by. the settlers . unintentionally, in their efforts to help:: the' 1 police/ Such lire c Enabled , the real criminal-To place dues where police could Snd _ them. - was 5 -no doubt suspicion .had attacked from the first to Bayly. On October 19,-• an elaborate search /wa s made-at . Bayly’s/. So imbued were the -poircc with the theory: that accused kad, taken. Lakey’s ’body away and /hidden- it, (that they searched the Bheepdip, while they also assumed that the paint marks at Bayly’s had to be blood .marks* They, had critically examined, no other farms, and had inspected 'no-, other, knives. They, had con"cehtiAted all' their attention on the Vaocused, oblivious of the possibility there might have ■; been - someone else

concerned , -C-ounisel then . the-results of tho police visit to Bayly’s with a ‘search Warrant. If the (pearifle cartridge was in the pocket of Bayjys trousers it would not have fallen. T e fact it fell pointed to the fact it was not actually in-the- pocket- Had the shovel seen in the-cowshed any simmer import, would Bayly have left it there? Ml he had to do was to swill it m the. dip or push it in cowdung to remove tany deposit. On October 21, the police found 'neither the pearifle or shotgun at Bayly’s. It might- be said they were then in the swamp, but they were not my were, taken from , the swamp on P° Her 30: They were then quite bright Rvt lluTrequest' of Mr Meredith, Ml' Northcroft. explained to the jury, tha Dr. Gilmour’s view, that-death was (ue to asphyxia, was. contained in his ie .port, not in the lower Court evidence. Mr Meredith then stated that- Mr Northcroft had said nothing had been he was arrested, bones had been found to justify Bayly’s arrest. When found by Allsopp in Bayly’s garden, •at 2 o’ciook that afternoon. Counsel then referred to the movements of cars reported to the police, which had not-been fully investigated. This , was an important and disquieting factor, in the case. Because the police ; had satisfied themselves that Bayly s car- had not been out of the shed, they attached no importance to the nioveTnents of a car, as they did not fit into the theory - of. Bayly’s guilt* - After the police bad seized further quantities of innocent material, dining :th 0 execution of. the second search

warrant, Bayly. had:left'the farm. His nerve goes, he is distraugli. H e writes a note to his.wife apparently • indicating suicide. Then he wanders off. He finally wanders into a solicitor’s office, declared counsel, The- police 1 then arrested Bayly-. and charged him with

murdering Mrs Lakey, because lor a short time they' were afraid of making a laughing stock of themselves, if Lakey turned- up alive. There was then no-evidence to show that Lakey was not alive, while there was then, as now, not a shrecl of evidence to connect. Bayly- with Lakey’s death. -.“When Bayly was safely' secured in

prison,.then and not until then, do the. police begin to find, material, which by any: stitch of imagination could incrim-

inate him,” declared Mr Northcroft. 'Up till the time Bayly was imprisoned, the Crown had no evidence against him. ; Counsel said he would then show how -ft he Crown had sought to improve their

case since the police • court hearing. .ln the ! lower court, only two vi had said there was froth-n on Lakev’s face. Now six or seven described as froth, what they previous y said was simply blood. Dr Gilmour, and Dr. Waddell had said that Mis Lakey was placed in the "' ater an( J died from asphyxia, but this did suit the Crown’s purpose, so Dr., unmoor now carried the evidence, a , step, further and declared death, was due to I drowning. , /’ • It is certain much important evi- ] dence ha s been lost sight of by the ; police, which might, had it been pur-j sued, have not only- proved Bayly-s W- ) nocence, but might have proved the i real circumstances under which this tragic mystery had developed, declaied counsel. It was obvious that there was'a third person at Lakey’s that Sunday, who was not Bay l ?'- '■ That third person must have been some person known and acceptable to Lakeys. The preparations for the evening meal included preparations for a third party. There was also a point to which the police' attached no importance, the preparation of a spare room, where a spare bed wa s made up.- t A set'.of lower, false teeth, which clearly did not belong to the Lakeys, was found at the house'. Apart from all'those circumstances, the most important evidence of the arrival of a third person was the return of Lakey’s gun. It was possible that some altercation occurred. Mrs Lakey was an- excitable woman and- might have rusjied out and loaded the peariHe. Dicing the quarrel, anything might have occurred. An altercation of a most innocent character at the inception, could have developed into a most desperate character. Before the Crown could invite the jury to believe Bayly committed. the crime, they must bring forward some proper circumstance showing Bayly in contact with the Lakeys. They had not done so. At the same time they had ignored circumstances which shrieked that some I other third person was at . Lakeys., On the. very facts as we have them at Lakey’s, there is a m"rfi more probable view to be taken fdim the set circumstances than that the Crown invited you to take, declaeid counsel. I have suggested to you a base, on which there can be erected an infinite variety of reconstructions of the crime, not involving Bayly. Mr Northcroft then referred to a prowler , a t Bayly’s or. the evening of October 25. It is certain there w:is someone there. The indications were that it wag not somebody living in the •district.; Apart from the ash from the 1 oildrum,- which contained bones; which might be innocent, there was no evidence against Bayly at the time of his arrest. The evidence was found after he was arrested. I put it to. you that this intruder after his experience of October 25 when he was chased bv Bayly, wins put to some difficulty to place more material at -Bajlj s , L continued, but, when Bayly was safely under arrest, the police began to imci /things -at his place, three or tonrs days later. Counsel then detailed the results ot Die police searches at Bnylv’,s beiore :hc was .. arHasted.