ATTEMPTED MURDER

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13905, 12 November 1908, Page 6

ATTEMPTED MURDER

SENSATIONAL CASE, ' ATTACK on a constable . A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE. TWENTY YEARS' SENTENCE. A tall, powerfully-built man, named William Richard McLean, was tried at the Auckland Supreme Court yesterday, before Mr. Justice Edwards, on a charge of having, at Taumarunui, on July 30, attempted to murder John Maher, the local police constable. Further counts were preferred against the prisoner of having assaulted tho constablo on the same occasion so .as• to cause . actual bodily ; harm, and of having used obscene language. To tho various counts the accused, for whom Mr. J. R. Reed appeared, pleaded not guilty. The Hon. J. A* Tole, K.C., Crown solicitor, prosecuted. Mr. Tole, in opening tho case for tho Crown, explained that accused, on the date in question, was a passenger by tho train which arrived at Taumarunui from Auckland at 6.60 p.m. ,On the journey he behaved in a disgraceful manner, and on got-. ting off at Taumarunui he was observed to be carrying a case,' evidently containing bottles of whisky. .. Tho King Countrv. bovin? a no-license district, Constable Maher, who was on tho station platform, followed the prisoner, and, as a result, was murderously assaulted by him. ' ' THE CONSTABLE'S STORY. The constable said that on tho arrival of the train 'from Auckland on July 30 he met Constablo Murphy, who drew his attention to the prisoner. He was carrying a parcel. and witness followed hint. His action •was noticed by the prisoner, who stopped, and called out to him to come on. Witness did so. 'Ho asked accused what ho -was carrying, and the reply was,'' Oh, only a few bottles of whisky. ' Will you have a slackerV Witnoss said he did not drink.. McLean then said, "Oh, come along then, and I'll tell you all about it." Ho then walked on along the line, and witness accompanied him. On getting to the railway crossing witness said he could not accompany him any further, and asked bird if the package was labelled, as required by the ' Licensing Act. McLean wanted to know what that had to do with him, and used all sorts of vile language. Having exhausted his vocabulary in this respect, he informed witness that' one' of these mornings," he (witness) would find himself dead in a sack, weighted with lead, at the bottom of the Wanganui River. Witness asked him his name, but he refused to give it. Ho further added, "It would take more than you and Murphy to arrest me." Just- then two persons passed. Witness recognised one of these as a man named Whitehocn, and' ho asked him in a low voice to get Constable Murphy to come along at once, which lie promised to do. On turning round witness noticed accused crossing the cattle-stop, '■ ">h the opposite side. , He. went- after him, with the intention of detaining him, while he got assistance, and he overtook him about 30yds farther on. Witness informed the accused that he could not allow him to;go any further, as he must arrest him for the obscene language he had used. With that the accused dropped the package he. was carrying and made a rush at him. Witness tripped accused, and he fell. On recovering, himself /McLean drew a whisky bottle from his pocket and endeavoured to hit witness over the head with it. He, however, missed his mark and then closed with witness. After a short struggle he threw witness into the ditch at the side of the line, in which there was Water. He fell on top of witness, 'and straightway put his hands into witness' mouth and tried to dislocate his jaws. Witness ; ultimately got the roan's ,fingers out, and accused then tried to tear his mouth out. 'Ho said: 'I have got you now, you ——. lam going to murder you." All the time he was trying to for.« witness' head undei tho water and hold it there. , • Mr. Tole; Did you call out? Witness: No, not just then ; I never had a chance. 1 was nearly drowned when I succeeded in getting his hands out of my mouth. He then seized me by the throat and endeavoured to again force . my' head under the water. I succeeded ultimately in getting clear of him, and crawled out on to the bank. The accused then • tried to drag me back : into the water. Finding that he could not do this, he jumped up 1 and kicked >me on the left 6ide, under the heart, with the result that .he disabled me. r 7 ' A;; TERRIBLE ' THREAT, • • v Continuing,. witness ".said that accused then kicked him about the face, and head, and tried to Strangle him by using the strangle hold. Fortunately, witness knew the 6top-grip : and prevented him from attaining his object. He again kicked witness about the face and head, and. then turning witness over on his back, attempted to gouge his eyes out, saying: "I'll tear your eyes out." Witness by this time was almost unconscious. He heard accused say, however, "If I can't settle you this way I'll cut your throat, and when you are dead I'll put your body across the rails so you'll be cut up by the engine and nobody will be any the wiser." He then felt in his pockets, evidently for a knife, and the next moment went away, and returned later with 1 a piece of ,timber. He struck • witness with this, saying, "I'll murder you." At the sound of voices McLean desisted in his efforts and walked away. Witness was confined ■to his ; bed for nine days, and i could not resume duty until well on in September. Ho was unable to eat any solid food for three days, he was deaf in bis left ear for three days and his right, ear for nine days, and he was also unable to see out of hie left eye' for a consider-' able period. He was satisfied that ac- ; cused, but for the arrival' ot assistance,' would have killed him, and placed his body on the rails, as he had threatened.; If accused had given his name tho whole trouble would have been averted. In reply to Mr. Reed, witness eaid hie object in following the raan was to get a look at'him, and then to go back, . The. accused, however, invited him to accompany him, and as witness had intended to* go that way, and accused said he would make an explanation, he accepted the invitation. He was, now of opinion that the accused's object was U. decoy him away and' murder liim. . The accused was the most powerful man he bad ever had to deal with. OTHER WITNESSES. Joseph Hawkes, a passenger by the same train as the prisoner, said McLean, ; used filthy language' in the railway carriage. Witness told him he had better look out, as a constablo was on board. McLean . replied that ,if it was>•" that-doing constable from Taumarunui," he would settle him. . " Bertram Anderson Beatty, a commission agent at Taumarunui,; gave evidence as to haying heard the obscene language, and alee sounds of » scuffle*

Edward Thomas Whitehorn, a labourer, at Taumarunui, deposed to having gone for Constable Murphy, at Maker's request. On his return he heard the sound of blows, and heard someone say, "I'll murder you, you —Witness called out and the accused then walked away. Frederick ward Mann, a mill manager, j who accompanied the last witness, gave corroborative evidence. ' Edward- Edlington, a labourer, said that on passing the Ecene of tho assault, at about 7.30 on the night ir question, he mot tho prisoner, who asked, " Did you sec tho .man who knocked Maher about?" HOW THE ARREST WAS MADE. Constable Murphy ; said' that on receiving the summons he proceeded to the scene. The accused ran away upon his arrival, and took refuge in a swamp. Witness and several others searched the place with a lantern, out without success, and the crowd then dispersed, while witness and another man remained behind. They had been standing out thcro ; for several minutes when they heard a cough, and oh going into the swamp again, they found accused lying face downwards. Witness informed him who he was, and as hQ was rising he said, " Did 1 kill the —— ? •He hit me with a lemonade bottle. It serves the —— right." He walked along quickly for tho first 100 yds, and then resisted, but witness and his companion overpowered-' him.. He ' then ■ said, ■" I tried to 'do' Mahcr to-night. I tried to drown him, but there was not enough water." After a night's lodgings. in'the. lockup, tho accused said, "I've got such a temper. In the state I was in last night I would stop at nothing. .1 was like a bull." • To Mr. Reed: He expressed regret next day for what he had done, and inquired after Constable Maher. Henry P. Lomax gave corroborative evidence. DOCTOR'S EVIDENCE. ; Dr. Cairns gave evidence as to-the injuries inflicted. On first seeing' the constable he was hardly able to recognise him, owing to his face being so swollen. There were three severe cuts on the scalp, the constable's left eye was closed for three days, tha inside of the gums on both the upper and lower jaws was badly lacerated, three teeth wore knocked out, one of his ears ; was torn, and * rib was fractured. He I was also severely bruised about tho body. This concluded the case for the, prosecution. " Mr. Reed addressed the jury, after which His Honor summed up., . THE JURY'S VERDICT. Tho jury retired at five clock, and at 5.50 brought in a verdict of guilty on all counts. ' : V ' The prisoner, who was considerably excited, was asked whether lie had anything to say. In reply he male a lengthy statement, in the course of which he said that Maher pretended to him that he was a civilian. When ho offered Malier a drink the latter accepted the invitation, but said he would only take it further up.' the line. He suspected that Maher was , a constable, and put the question several times; Tout Maher denied it. On getting to the crossing, said the prisoner, "Maher had a taste,"' and the.i crossed over to speak to someone. With that he (the prisoner) picked up his . case, arid walked over'the crossing, with the intention of going home. He had not gone far, however, whenMaher caught hold of him. He (McLean) turned round and dared Maher to do it again. " I said," declared the prisoner, "do that again, and I'll knock your ear off." Hearing Mahei rattle something, which sounded like a lemonade bottle, -he • tackled him, and . a struggle ensued. He admitted that in the coin-so of this ho caught Maher by the throat and also put his fingers in. his eyes, but he declare*! that he only did this by exercising the " bridga" hol<>. After a somewhat lengthy struggle, lie said, Maher got up and procured the, wooden'stamper produced. Maher made a dart at him with it, and he was endeavouring to wrest it from him ■ when sounds weid heard. "I had," said the prisoner, in conclusion, r.o need to Use a stick. I closed . with him several times, and threw him down like a rat."

• HIS HONOR'S REMARKS. His Honor: It seems that you have been already convicted of a. crime which must have involved considerable violence from the nature of tho sentence. Prisoner: Yes. His Honor You wore convicted at Wellington on December 23, 1903, "for tho crime of robbery, which necessarily" involved considerable violence or must have been very. bad for you. to have got five years' hard labour. - • ' His Honor went on to state that there were also a number of previous convictions against th<* prisoner, which involved violence: For .instance,, ho had been convicted one® for breach of the peace, and on several occasions for assault. He had also been convicted of breaking and entering. ' ' - V'-- •' Prisoner at tho bar," continued His Honor, impressively. That you deliberately attempted to murder Maher it is absolutely 1 !. impossible for me to doubt. That he did the things you have just described is quite incredible, for tho sufficient reason, which is quite apparent-to everyone, that, it would have been- madness for him to have attempted a personal conflict with you." ' " • . " Prisoner: Do you think, Your Honor, it would be necessary for me, if I had wanted to. kill him, to have used a stick like that? I claim to be the catch-as-catch-can champion wrestler of New Zealand. His Honor said-he could not argue with the prisoner. His past record was one o' violence, and that he should continue to bo at large was a source of great danger. Ho had begun in a small way, and had gone on to worse "Already in your heart you are a murderer, and it is only by good fortune that you are not at present receiving the" last great sentence of the law. Had.it not been for, the timely arrival,of assistance - there is no doubt that you j would have , succeeded in your intention and would have placed Mailer's body on : the rails, as you threatened, and, unless you had escaped! the consequence of your crime, you would.have stood in this Court ! to receive the last great sentence of the law. Now it is quite impossible that you can bo allowed to remain at large for many 'years." . • ,y;. SENTENCE OF 20 YEARS. ' A sentence of 20 years' imprisonment was then passed. ( The closing scenes, which were of most, sensational character, are fully recorded elsewhere. :