Wilfully Set Fire to Homestead

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 64, 17 March 1936, Page 2

Wilfully Set Fire to Homestead

Owner Suffers Loss of £4OO Accused’s Remarkable . Statement to Police At yesterday afternoon’s sitting of the Pahiatua Magistrate’s Court, before Messrs. L. C. Hartley and E. P. Badger, J’s.P., Walter Bishop, 21 years of age, who at present is serving a sentence of three months for yagrancy, pleaded guilty to having set fire to Mr. C. A. H. Beetham’s homestead at Pori, on January 25 last and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. He was further convicted and discharged for having assaulted George Albert Hull, a farmer, of Pori. Detective-Sergeant Bickerdikc conducted the case on behalf of the police. Accused made a remarkable statement of admission and there is a likelihood that a further charge may yet be made against him.

The Evidence, ' Charles Albert Hindmarsh, farmer, of Pori, and the owner of the residence destroyed, said that on January 22 last he had occasion to visit Masterton and did not return homo again for several days. His residence was a sevenroomed one and was fully furnished. Although the lock on the pack door was out of order the door itself was closed and all precautions were taken by him to see that everything was in order when he left. No firo was left burning in any of the fireplaces. Witness said that no one had any authority to enter the premises during his absence. There was a plentiful supply of tinned foodstuffs. A Loss of £4OO. Continuing,' witness related how on his return to his homo on January 2G he found it destroyed by fire and it was then still smouldering. It must, ho said, have been burned no later than the day previous, and could not have been caused by anything he had left on the premises. The insurance on the residence itself'was £720, while its furniture was covered for £l5O. He estimated the approximate cost of replacing the’house and its belongings ai £I2OO and his loss over and above the insurances available^ at £4OO. The nearest farm was situated some two miles away. Witness said he did not know the accused. Asked for a Oup of Tea. John Hector Ammundsen; farm manager for Mr. D. Morrison, of Ridge road, Pori, recalled a visit accused had made to SieJarmW January 25; when he asked for a cup of tea. At the time, said witness, he was engaged in painting the roof of the woolshed and told accused that the lire-was out and that he could not very well give him refreshment at the moment.. Accused then walked away and he was. the only stranger he saw on the road that day. Shortly after he had occasion to look in the direction of Mr. Beetham’s homestead and it was theu all right.. Witness said he went to Pahiatua .that day at about 2 p.m. and did not see anj stranger on the way to or from town and did not learn of the fire until the Saturday. - Assault on Parmer. Edward Thomas Byrnes, employed by Mr.' S. A.' Hull, farmer, also of Pori, told tho Court how the accused had called at the homestead and asked for a cup of tea. He was at the woolshed at the time and agreed to tho request of accused who then walked ia the direction of the house. Witness said that about five or ten minutes later he also walked toward tho house and met accused, who kicked a pup that crossed his path. Ho then told accused not to kick the dog as it was only a pup. Accused then became abusive and picking up a fence batten made for Air. Hull, hitting him in the lower part of the ribs. Accused then said: You Eventually they quietened him and after giving him a cup of tea and something to eat in the kitchen, sent him away. Witness said accused was a stranger to him. He ,did not learn of the firo until Monday, January 27. Georgo Arthur Hull, farmer, resident at Pori, gave corroborative evidence of accused’s visit. He said he became abusive when he could not be supplied immediately with a cup of tea. Witness then related how accused had assaulted him with the piece of wood. Later they managed to calm him, he said, and send him away after giving him a cup of tea and something to eat. Detective’s Evidence. Detective-Sergeant Bickerdike said that on March (3 he came to Pahiatua and saw the accused and told him he was making ati .investigation in connection with the Beetham lire, when accused admitted the charge. Subsequently they drove to within three miles of the property and walked the rest of the journey. Immediately they got out of the car accused pointed to Beetham's property and said: “There is the place where I set fire to tho house and this is the road I came aloiigl ’ ’ _ 'Witness said that, arriving at the scene of-the.fire, accused said “The house burned down all right.” He then

admitted having gained access through the back door which.was not locked. Accused had said it was dark when he arrived and that he. had slept in one of the single beds. Accused subsequently made a statement which he had signed. A Kemarkable Statement. Bishop, in his statement to the police as to what happened at Hull’s said: “I asked the two working in the woolshed for a cup of tea, and they told me to go to the house, where I stopped for a while, but as they did not come 1 walked towards them. A dog got in my way and I gave it a kick. There were some heated words between the men and me about mo kicking the pup, but I do not remember anything else that I said. I had already set fire to two places at that time and did not worry what else I did. During the argument I threw a batten at one of the men and hit him over the ribs. I did not mean to hit him, and I only did through being in a temper. They subsequently gave me a cup of tea, and after staying there for about 15 minutes I left towards Pahiatua. I think I slept out that night as I have often done before. The cup of tea and the bit of cake was the only meal I had had that day.” Bishop, in his statement concerning the burning of the house, said: “After I got out of bed and got dressed I went into the sitting room, where I saw the wireless set and somo almanacs and then I decided to set fire to the place. I did this because I felt fed up with things. I got a match out of my pocket and lit a cigarette which I had made. I then got some paper, which was in the house, and crumpled it up. I crumpled up several pieces of paper, set them on fire, and turned one of the easy chairs upside down and set it on top of the burning paper. I stayed there until I saw the chair well, ablaze, and this was about two or three feet away from the fender in the sitting room. She started to smoke very quickly and I got out of the place as it was too much for me, going out of the house the same way as I went in—that is by the back door. I do not know what made me leave the door open. There were other things in the sitting room but I cannot remember what they were—l think some photos, of which one was a woman. I only went into the sitting room and the room I slept in. I don’t know.what made me set fire to the place other than that I was fed up with life. 3 was born at Taihape and went to school there. My parents lived there too, but as far as I know they are dead, Tor I have been away from home a number of years. I have a sister in Carterton and one at Masterton.” Accused was then committed to the Supreme Court for sentence.