Two Suspected Gunmen In Court ALLEGED HOLD-UP

NZ Truth, Issue 1204, 27 December 1928, Page 7

Two Suspected Gunmen In Court ALLEGED HOLD-UP

Stewart and Kitching Nonchalant Before Magistrate FURTHER SERIOUS CHARGES (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Representative). Unusual scenes were witnessed at the Auckland Magistrate's Court last week, when David McKenzie Stewart, alias Stoner, and Patrick Kitching, alias Newman, were brought before Magistrate Hunt on charges of being concerned m the Westfield hold-up.

A CROWD of in-' ** terested spec- ' tators congregated outside . the main public entrance for gome time before the court opened, and when the police van hove m sight there was a rush for the side entrance to catch a glimpse of the two men. Doing their utmost to dodge a battery of Press cameras, Stewart and Kitching succeeded m concealing their, faces. As soon as they stepped from the van both took elaborate precautions to beat the cameras, hats and hands being brought into service as masks. No sooner ' had they entered . the court than there was a wild rush among the spectators for points of vantage inside the building. The two men stepped briskly into the dock. Both presented a neat and tidy appearance. Stewart,- the taller of the two men, has scholastic features, enhanced by rimless glasses, and dark hair receding from the forehead. Kitching is a much shorter man. He was neatly attired m a light grey suit, his fair hair being parted down the centre. The charge of holding up Sam Henderson, the jockey, and his party, who were returning from the Te Kuiti races, at the point of revolvers, was read out.. Neither of the two men seemed to take the slightest interest

m the proceedings, which were purely formal. Chief -detective Hammond applied foi*a remand, intimating that a more serious charge would be preferred against the suspects. When Stewart and Kitching reappeared before the court a few days later, the public "gallery" was again crowded. The chief- detective informed the magistrate that he was not prepared at that stage to go on with the preliminary hearing, as further charges of a serious nature were pending-. A fm'ther adjournment was suggested, Hammond intimating that he would be ready to go on with the case on January 7. The remand was granted. Bail was not asked for.

Sensational evidence is promised ■when the case is proceeded with.. It will be remembered that Sam Hen ders o n, the well-known jockey, his wife, Len and Eric Manson and George Holland, also jockeys, were held up by masked and armed rifen when returning m Henderson's c a r late at night from the Te Kuiti races. The scene of the hold-up was the site of the new concrete bridge at Westfield, not far out of Auckland. Henderson, under threat of an automatic pistol which was pressed into his ribs, was compelled to drive the car along the road for a quarter of a mile to the Otahuhu stone- crushing plant, beneath the shadow of which the car was halted and the occupants ordered out into the roadway. The bandits there ordered the male members of the party to doff their coats and vests and throw them into the back of the car.- ' . This order was complied with under continual threat at the pistol's point. - . The approach of a motor-cycle, owned by Douglas Wallace, /who was accompanied by two friends — one on the carrier seat and the other -riding the cycle, Wallace being- m the sidechair — disturbed the bandits, who made off m Henderson's car. A thrilling chase followed. ' One of the bandits discharged a re-

volver at the pursuing cycle. The tyre of the side- chair wheel was punctured simultaneously with the firing of the revolver, but it is a matter of some speculation at present whether* the puncture was caused by a bullet or by several of the large tacks with which the bandits had carpeted a portion of the roadway. The bandits, finally abandoning Henderson's car 1 , made good- their escape m another car, which was waiting about two miles from the scene of the hold-up. ' Stewart and Kitching were arrested ten days later at Kaikohe, m North Auckland, on a charge of false pretences. ' • ' The full, story of the court proceedings will be narrated m the columns of "N.Z. Truth."