WESTFIELD HOLDUP

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 9 January 1929, Page 6

WESTFIELD HOLDUP

ACCUSED BEFORE COURT

AUCKLAND, Bth January. Charged in connection with the Westfield hold-up on the night of 26th November, David Mackenzie Stewart, alias Stoner (Mr Buisson), and Boy Patrick Kitchiug (Mr Cocker) appeared at the Magistrate’s Court, before Mr I'. K. Hunt, S.M. (says “The Post's’’ correspondent). The Court was crowded. Charges of having obtained goods bv false pretences, and of passing valueless cheques, were also preferred against Stewart, who during November represented himself on various occasions as an aviator with an interest in the inauguration of an air service in the Dominion. The principal charges were that the two accused, being armed with an automatic pistol and Colt revplvei;, committed robbery of Samuel Henderson, Grace Angus .Henderson, George Albert Holland Leonard Malcolm Manson, and Robert Eric Manson, at Westfield, and that further, with intent to do. bodily harm, .they fired a revolver at llenry Bert Fletcher, Percy Fletcher, and Douglas Stewart Wallace. Samuel . Henderson gave a detailed account of the hold-up. He said lie Wag driving home from the Te Kuiti races, and,-his wife, the Manson bro-

thers, ,and Holland were passengers in the car.. When the ear. approached < the crossing at Westfield deviation about 1 a.m. witness was compelled to pull up. Two men, wearing black masks, rushed out, and jumped on the running boards of the car. One said to witness:, “Not, a .word,” and be was next told to put the car .in second gear. A' short distance further on witness and the other four members of the party. were lined up behind the, car on the side of the road. Their coats and vests were taken off, and were thrown with Mrs Henderson’s handbag into the car. The two men then drove off. To witness the time during which the party were under threat of the masked men seemed about ten minutes. At first he did. not; consider himself in personal danger, but the situation became more serious. -• ;- - .“The shorter man said they wouldn’t shoot us,” said Grace Henderson. “The taller man,” she explained, “kept jumping about on the running board at the back.” She did not think the men would shoot, because they were more nervous than the members of the party.

STATEMENT BY ACCUSED

According to ; ,the police evidence, Stewart and Hitching Were arrested at Kaikohe on a charge of issuing a valueless cheque. When interviewed by De-tective-Sergeant Doyle both the accused made statements.

When Detective-Sergeant Dovle step--ped into the witness-box and was about to read a statement made by Hitching, objection to the statement being read aloud was made by Mr Cocker, counsel for Hitching. Counsel said objection would be taken to it being admitted as evidence against the accused in the . Supreme Court.' He did not wish to give liis reasons for objecting, but he would do so if'forced. He said if the statement were read out it would seriously prejudico the trial of accused in the Supreme Court. No exception would be taken, of course, to the silent reading of.the document by the Magistrate. Chief-Detective Hammond: “It is most unusual.”

After reading the statement made by Kitching, the Magistrate said he had, no power to suppress >frdm pnblica tioni any statement,. and that once :t w.as handed into Court the Press had tne right to it. “If you desire to attack the statement, you should do so here,” said the Magistrate to cpunsel. “I have no jurisdiction to withhold it from the Press.” In his statement Stewart said he was an American, having left his country < for, Australia about a. year ago at the end of October last. He left Melbourne, accompanied by Kitching, for Auckland, with £IOO, He boarded at a city hotel for four days, and then they both rented a house in Liverpool street, Epsom. Stewart stated that the overdrawing of his. bank account caused them to decide upon holding up as a means of getting more money. “I regretted it, and we finally devised a means of meeting the cheque,” . said Stewart, when referring to the £23 lie had obtained' from the hotel clerk. “So we went out to the. Great South road on Sunday, and selected a suitable place for the holdup. p r . .. .. • Continuing, Stewart said .that, armed with two. .guns and carrying two masks they made out of black stockings, they drove in. a car which they hired from a city garage to Westfield on Monday night. After describing how they put obstructions on the road near the deviation, Stewart said: “We waited there for some time, and several cars came along and stopped at.the barricade. We arranged that Kitching should do, the talking, but when the cars stopped at the .obstruction neither of us had the courage to accost the driver. Finally, however, a car came along containing five people, and we. decided we might be able to. cope with them. I climbed on the .running board, and Kitching got on the other, and we made them drive up the road a bit and stop at the stone crusher, where we ordered them out and got them to remove their coats and vests, which were in the back of the car. We then drove away, after telling them that, we would leave their car a short distance up the road. “VERY MUCH ALARMED” “Although the automatic pistol was empty and inoperative, we figured it would be the most impressive of the two, so Kitching had this as he was on the driver’s side. I had another gun in my pocket, as I was holding a flashlight, and needed the other hand to hang on with.” When they had driven along the road, Stewart continued, he left Henderson’s car and got a hired one, while Kitching searched the clothing in Henderson’s car. “We had ample time to go through the clothing,” he said. “I had seen one of the men put some money under the back seat, but due to our excitement and fear we made a very poor job of searching their clothing, ami I completely forgot about the money in tlie car. We then saw a motor-cycle approaching, and we got into our car very much alarmed. We hurried away. Before going, however, we sprinkled some lacks on. the road to discourage pursuit. I was driving the car, and Kitching was leaning out of the front window, watching the pursuing cycle. It was then I heard a shot, and ashed, ‘Did you shoot?’ as wo had decided prior to the hold-up under no circumstances to shoot. He replied in a very nervous tone cf voice, ‘No, it just went off in the air.’ lam positive he had no intention of discharging the gun. The result of the shot caused the motor-cycle WHISKY WARNING When ordering Bell's Whisky—tho brand which has been on Ihe market for 30 years—he certain that you are supplied with SCOTCH WHISKY from ARTHUR BELL & SONS, LTD., Perth. Scotland, and take no other. • ’ Arthur Bell and Sons, Ltd.—the POTTLE WITH THE YELLOW LABEL for AGE and PURITY.

in slop, and we proceeded quietly to our house, retiring to bed on our arrival.

“Leaving the masks and guns in the car, wo spent a very sleepless night, expecting the arrival of the police at any moment. That afternoon wc left. Auckland, and on passing Newmarket we stopped at Hutchinson's and negotiated ,i cheque for £5. , All wc got out of the hold-tip was some private papers, which we returned to the owners before leaving Auckland, as wo did not wish to cause them any inconvenience. After leaving Newmarket we took the car to Devon port and proceeded to Kaikohe, and from there to Scott’s Point. Later we returned to Kaikohe, where we were arrested in connection with the cheque to Hutchinson.”

REGRETS EXPRESSED

Regrets were expressed by Stewart on behalf of both accused. “As for (lie people who have lost their money through our actions, we shall make every effort to reimburse them,” continued the. statement. “We are quite able to do this, as we are both in a position to cable (o our families for funds.” .

According to Kitchiug he was born in Victoria, and plot- ; Stewart, whom lie knew as Donald M. Stoner, a year ago. In Melbourne lie worked ~ with him for six months. One day Stewart told hint lie was "in a hole” as far as money was concerned, and suggested the only thing to do was to,.make a run for it. Hitching said that .Stewart then prevailed upon him to accompany Stewart.. Stewart.had a. car, and both left for Sydney, where the car was sold and Stewart got £250.. Eventually they sailed for Auckland, Hitching having £5. : ■ • .... ..... '

Regarding the hold-up, Hitching said it was Stewart's, suggestion to get the money. The tacks were purchased by him at. the suggestion of Stewart, and after the hold-up Hitching said Stewart spread the tacks on the ground. .“Stewart gave me the loaded revolver, and I was watching how close the cycle was getting,’.’ lie said. “I was leaning out of the window, when the revolver went off accidentally,” Hitching' said he was relieved when lie was arrested. because lie was anxious to get awav from Stewart.

Both the accused pleaded not guilty, and were committed to the Supreme Court for trial.

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