Alleged Murder Of Woman Taxi-Driver

Northern Advocate, 30 June 1943, Page 2

Alleged Murder Of Woman Taxi-Driver

i (P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, Tuesday. ! The preliminary hearing of the case i against James Hector McAulay, lab- ! curer, 19, charged with the murder of j Mrs Margaret Wilhelmina Webster, 36, I taxi-driver, commenced before Mr !H. Morgan, S.M. Mr A. T. Donnelly, ,j the Crown Prosecutor, and Mr A. W. j Brown, Assistant-Prosecutor, appeared j for the Crown. Accused was represented by Mr D. W. Russell and Mr jV. W. Russell. Inquest proceedings ! were taken in conjunction by the iDistrict Coroner (Mr E. C. Bathurst). 'Fifty-five witnesses have been sub- ; poenaed and it is expected the case will last three days. I Edward Cholerton. optician, identified I ;as the property of Miss M. Wright a pair! iof spectacles produced by the Crown, sayiing the person wearing them could not

I drive a car more than 100 yards without |a tendency to get off the road. ! John Bainbridge Kearton, police photographer, stated that he found in the rear ‘compartment of the car abandoned on Laghmor Road, the neck of a broken ibottle, with a crown top attached and unbroken, also the head of a torch which !appeared to be bloodstained, and a lower set of false teeth In the front seat was the stem of a torch bloodstained. Witness described the bloodstains on the car. In Garbage Pit ! Witness then described visiting a section iin Timvald, where the burnt remains of a (body, with the lower limbs covered by a j piece of tin, were smouldering in a pit. A photograph showed d small three- ; cornered piece of material, similar to a

must coat, beside the hip. There were | signs of a vehicle having travelled to ;the garage through a gate 'that showed jit had been recently opened. At Christchurch Hospital witness took a photo of [the body showing a ligature round the neck. The ligature was a man’s pocket handkerchief. :] Dr Arthur Bushby Pearson, pathologist at thi> Christchurch Public Hospital, 'described the condition of the body jrj ja sump hole. . It was extensively burned and blackened. A ligature round the] 'neck was revealed on removal of a covering of material. A post-mortem showed ;|a wound above tlie prominence of the ' occipital bone on the scalp. It was of irregular shape and could have been caused by a bottle which broke when it struck tin' head or by the edge of the ‘ top of an electric torch. ! It was unlikely that it was selfi inflicted. By itself the wound, which appeared to have been made shortly before death, would not have caused death but ■ would cause unconsciousness. The wound above the left eye had been affected by fire and it. was more likely to] ' have been made by a torch than a bottle, ; but he was unable to say if it. had been] ; inflicted before death. It was possible,i from the presence of the ligature, that . deatii was due to strangulation. Owing ,to burning the genital organs were prac- . [ticall.v destroyed, and it was not possible Ito ascertain if sexual intercourse took place shortly before death. The luncheon adjournment then took place.

Pathological Test Dr. Kenneth Art ley, assistant to Dr. (Pearson, stated that blood taken from I the body belonged to the same human blood group as that found on the front and hack seats, also the running hoard 'of the taxi. Witness received from Dr. j Pearson articles of clothing. On one shirt Rvere stains which gave negative results. !indicating; either not blood or too old in (origin, Such condition might result if the jsliirt had been washed. Positive results were obtained from stains on the right '.and left pockets of trousers, indicating ; I they were possibly made by human blood land' stains on a blue coat were, in his (opinion, also caused by human blood. Ex-| lamination of a tie pin given him by Dr.i :Pearson on June :i revealed the presence Jof a few cells of the characteristic apjpearaneo of human blood I Arthur Russell, senior dental surgeon jar t lie Christchurch Public Hospital, (said he examined an upper and lower (set of dentures which he believed were i

|made for the same person, i Joseph Tft nry Taylor, manager of a eolflon retail firm in Wellington, identified a (handkerchief as the same type as the firm 1 Iliad been selling for many years. It was (obtained from Belfast and should not he (obtainable from any other source. Witness produced a handkerchief identical With the damaged one that had been used as a ligature. The firm in July, I!M2, sent 19 dozen handkerchiefs to Sergei's • Ltd., I Ashburton. i First Spell on Late Duty I Harvey Roy Drew Porter, assistant {manager of Mid-Canterbury Transport, I Ltd., said that he supervised the com-

pany's fleet of five taxis. Mrs. Webster -drove the only white Terraplane in the {fleet. She was a good driver and a const nations servant. When she went on (duty she was given 30/- change, 10/- he- , dng in sixpences. She also carried £3 of jher own to change fivers. ! On March 15 Mrs. Webster went on (duty at 1.15 p.m. and would have rejrnained on duty till 1.15 the following morning. It was the first occasion that Mrs, Webster had undertaken late duty.|‘ Witness last saw Mrs. Webster at 5 p.m. I mi March 15. ' A running sheet found in the taxi on

March 15 showed 87.748 miles for March 1 15, and the speedometer of the taxi when 1 {found showed 87,831. showing that it had 1 {run S 3 miles since the entry for the pre- y vious day. The running sheet showed {that Mrs. Webster owed the firm £2/3/-. 1 (Over the previous fortnight, her fares < (averaged 10.3 ponce a mile. The last | ieutry made in the day-hook was made at < [midnight for a distance of four miles. ] [Witness identified a leather shopping bag 1 [and leather pouch as Mrs. Webster’s, i William John Wright, brother of Mrs. , [Webster, identified the ' body found at j (Timvald as that of his sister. ■ Raymond Ernest Spicer, bus driver for ! lAt id-Canterbury Transport, said that on l iMarch 15 Mrs. Webster left; the garage j about 11.50 with service passengers. The t last entry in the day-book before witness - left was one at 10.30 to the hospital. Constable William Francis Staff oe<l TCil- t Patrick said that about 11.25 on March 15, he saw several youths at n pie-cart in

(Moore Street. One left, cycling toward c jlOast Street. Witness could not say if [accused was among the youths. A white ■Terraplane taxi drew up near the transIport garage nearby. Later witness found J [the garage doors wide open. Witness saw j 1 (Ihe Inst entry in the day-book “11 p.m.. :j Welcome Club.” - Proceeding.