Unanimous

NZ Truth, Issue 1148, 1 December 1927, Page 7

Unanimous

I Who- was the unknown man young 1 Mugford | { swore he saw kneeling at the body of the murdered | • . girl at the moment of discovery?

man named Les Arps, the girl Scarff and a girl named Winifred Capeswas made much of by counsel, who brought a good deal of practical psychology and common sense to bear m his interpretation of the relationship between Boakes and Scarff.

When the party arrived at a lonely spot m Dallington, Boakes went away with Capes while Gwen Scarff remained m the car with Arps.

„ "Now, if Boakes and the girl Scarff had been to each other what the Crown alleges they were, is it possible

to imagine that Scarff wouitt have allowed Boakes to go away with the other girl?" asked Lawyer Thomas. "No, gentlemen," he said, "certainly she would not have done, because had she allowed it it would not have been human nature as you understand it and as I understand it. And what of King and his cohflictr ing statements?. With the dramatic collapse of his evidence given, m the lower court, all circumstantial evidence as to the. minor charge -went by the board, and it was a foregone conclusion that the second count which was to have' been preferred against him of supplying a noxious thing to Gwen Scarff for an unlawful purpose would be abandoned. And ~so it proved. When acquitted on the capital charge he was remanded for a week on the lesser count, but on Friday last the case against him was abandoned. So exits Boakes from the scene of one of the most sensational and spectacular murder dramas of tlfis country. '■■■. With both judge and counsel for the^ Crown.; practically on his side, from,- the point of view of the flimsy evidence available, it is not surprising that Boakes won his ; way to freedom with such f ease, but, as already .stated, he was clearly entitled to win out. As for King,, his honor told the jury thai he would hot" hang a dog on his evidence. \ • There were many interesting sidelights thrown on the case by Lawyer Thomas m his impassioned address to the ; jury. l "You have all heard . the rumors concerning the spanner. There is not one single man among the twelve of you who, before this man was arrested, did not know, from rumor, that the man who murdered Gwen Scarff was the driver of the taxi-cab No. 22. ■'..■•". ■ . y

"Then you were told' that the spanner had been identified by a man at a

garage on the Marshland Road. EM was said to have supplied petrol tot a single-seater car which drova up and that he had left the spanner on tho running board. The man driving that car, rumor told you, was, yes, who wai it? Why, said rumor, Boakoa Of course. And then this same man at the garage was said to have identified the girl who was In the car with th« man at the time as Gwen Scarff— recognizing her from the photograph published m the newspapers. ;

"That rumor as well as the others were all lies," thundered counsel brlns* ing his clenched fist down on the table m front of him.

After stressing: the duty of a jury t©/ listen to nothing 1 but the evidence, Lawyer Thomas went on, a fighting ring m his voice: "I am now going to make an unusual statement and that if . this: That unless you listen to rumot and what you have already heard v about this case outside the, court— in ' v short unless you are false to your oaths you must bring back a verdict of not guilty." • , ( ■■

Counsel's peroration provided a dramatic climax to the trial which for brilliance of legal oratory has seldom been . bettered at the criminal bar m New Zealand.

Lawyer Thomas, as he moved swiftly to his climax, thrilled the packed court with his passionate demand for justice for Boalces. if "Either you send this man back to ; His wife' and children who now await ' him at home pr"-H:olirisel lowered ihite voice — "you send him to the dungeon and the gallows.' Surely that is going to make you hesitate; surely that la going to make you think before you return any verdict of guilty against this man 2" It took the jury barely 45 minutes to reach their verdict of not guilty. "And I may say, gentle* men, I quite agree with you," was his honor's comment. ; : /'■;;';■ And so ended a spectacular and sensational trial, which concluded witH the > /complete vindication of Boakes— r the man who for five months had en-., dured all the arrows of rumor and suspicion and the dread of the ordeal he was later called upon to bear. .'■■■. ". Boakes is innocent, but the mystery of the Burwood horror is deeper than : ; ever. Who killed Gwen Scarff? Was ; a mystery man, and if so who and where is he? Time alone can solve; the problem, but m the meantime there /; is every indication that the crime with; which the whole country rang will g# down m the annals of crime as still another unsolved mystery.