ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21830, 17 December 1932, Page 9

ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGE

GIRL SERIOUSLY INJURED “I WILL END EVERYTHING” ACCUSED COMMITTED FOR TRIAL In the City Police Court yesterday, before Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M., further evidence was heard in the case in which Thomas Poison was charged with, on November 14, at Dunedin, attempting to murder one Ruth Eleanor Corlet. The case was conducted by Chief Detective Young, and the accused was defended by Mr C. J. L. White. Dr Donald Young Allen said he saw Miss Corlet in the Dunedin Hospital shortly after her admission, and found she was suffering from shock, two head injuries, and injuries to the left arm. One of the head an juries was a depressed fracture of the skull. She was operated on for the head injuries in the afternoon. The injuries might have been caused by a blunt instrument, such as the hammer produced. The head injuries definitely indicated a degree of violence. She was a patient in the hospital from November 14 to December 0. Miss Corlet had made a good recovery since the operation. To Mr White; The accused, when he entered the hospital, had a superficial gash in the neck, but had cut no important structures. Ruth Eleanor Corlet, a single, woman, said she had known the accused by sight. In September witness and Miss Cottrell went to live in Queen street, where they had a flat. After witness had lived at the house for some time she met the accused. On the night of November 13 witness and Miss Cottrell wont to bed shortly after midnight, witness occupying a couch in a bed-sitting room and Miss Cottrell an adjoining bedroom. She was awakened by some cause about dawn. She could see. objects in the room. She saw a man standing by a small table behind the door. She asked him who he was, and he walked towards her bed without making any reply. Witness said, “ Oh, it’s Mr Poison,” and accused said, “ Yes, you are not Clare?” Witness said, “Miss Cottrell is in her own room.” The accused walked to the fireplace, then came back and sat on the bed, saying, “ You’ve been having a high time.” Witness said, “What do you mean?” She could not say whether he replied. That was all that was said. The accused then hit her on the head with something, the blow being given on the left side. She put her arms up to protect herself. The accused again struck her, she thought, four times, on the left arm and on the right hand. The watch produced was being worn by her at the time: it was damaged by the blows. At present the small hand was between 3 and 4 and the large hand at 8. Witness did not lose consciousness, and went to Mr Mauneell’s room for help. She was taken downstairs for attention. Later on Mr Maunsell brought accused downstairs, and witness recognised him as the man who had hit her. The accused did not speak. She knew of no reason why the accused should have attacked her.

To Mr White: Witness said the accused was a stranger to her personally. She saw him once at the house. She understood ho had been to her rooms before, but not when she was present. The only occasion on which she had seen him was when she answered the door to him once, and she had seen him twice on the street. He never spoke to witness, and witness never spoke to him. Mr White: Were you a friend of Miss Cottrell before you went to live at this house? —Yes.

Did you know the accused by sight before you went to live at Queen street? —No.

How long was the man in your room before he struck you? —It must have been a few minutes.

Did he act queerly in the room prior to hitting you?—l could not say whether he did; I had just wakened. Witness, continuing, said the key was left in the door every night for the convenience of those who had flats. When she left her room she did not see what Poison did. If he had wished to get away he could have gone after he had hit her, or while she was in Mr Maunsell’s room, and nobody in the house would have known who it was, except herself.

Mr White; Did he give any reason for hitting you?—No. Did you think he was going .to strike you? —No. How did you get away from him? —1 lay there for a little while, and then got up and went for help. What made him say you had been having a good time?—There were some bottles on the table.

And glasses? —No, no glasses. The bottles had contained liquor? — Yes.

Clare Cottrell said that before going to live in Queen street she knew the accused. She was friendly with him, but was trying to keep away from him. When she lived in Queen street he rang her on the telephone on several occasions. On the morning of November 14 last she was awakened by someone turning the handle of her bedroom door. She saw the form of a man at the door, and asked who it was. The man walked nearer to her, and she saw it was the accused. He asked for a drink of water. He was carrying a torch in his hand, which he switched off. Ho said to her that he was going to end everything, and spoke in a rambling manner. He did not seem to know what he was talking about. He asked for a drink of water again, and witness said he would have to go to the kitchenette for it. She was trying to calm him down. He repeated that life was not worth living, and he was going to end it. Someone came upstairs, and accused left her room. Mr Maunsell came into witness’s room and took the accused downstairs. After the accused had been taken away witness found in her room a note, written on cigarette paper. The note read as follows; “ The girl Ruth Corell is a rotter, and the other girl has deceived me, so I end the lot, and thus rid the world of a pack of nogoods. The coroner may (sentence incomplete). God is my judge.” To Mr White: The accused was strange when he was in her room, and seemed stupefied. She knew now it might have been the effect of drugs. She had known accused about six months. They got on well together, and went out often. After she went to Queen street she met him by appointment on two or three occasions. He wanted her to become engaged to him, and said his wife was dead. Nothing definite was arranged about marriage. She last saw him two or three days before the assault. Witness was rather angry, because she did not want to see him.

To Chief Detective Young: Witness said she gave him clearly to understand that she did not want to have anything further to do with him.

Mrs Maria Ellen Grant said the accused stayed at her house in Cumberland street. On the night of November 13 he said he had taken three tablets; she did not know why he took them. One day ho said he had a very bad headache. When she went to his room on the morning of November 14 she found it empty. Later on she came across a note which road: “Dearest Clare, live a good life and take no partnership with those who drink. You know how your father drank, and he should be a lesson. Farewell, I am going to a place where no one knows. I loved you, but you

prefer the company of young wasters. I could see to-night the kind of life you live. Drink is no good. Be straight with the one you love and do not tell lies. Good-bye.” Detective Power said that when he and Detective Turgis interviewed the accused at the hospital at 9 o’clock on the morning of November 14 they told him he would, be charged with assaulting Miss Corlet. The accused, “ I wish to God I had killed them both.” The accused then made the following statement and signed it: —“I am 47 years of age and a widower. I have been employed as a canvasser recently. I know a young lady named Ruth Corlet. I have known her for about two months. She is a friend of a girl named Clare Cottrell, with whom I have been on friendly terms for about six months. I first knew her when we were boarding in the same house at 220 St. Andrew street. I became very fond of Miss Cottrell and used to go out with her regularly. About six weeks ago Miss Cottrell went to board at 3 Queen street. After that I could see she was trying to avoid me. Miss Corlet went to live at the same house as Miss Cottrell. After they had been there some time I learned that they were holding parties and drinking and having men in their rooms. I visited Miss Cottrell at Queen street on two occasions and know the bed-sitting room'and small bedroom that she and Miss Corlet share. When I learned of the girls’ conduct at this house I. blamed Miss Corlet’s influence and felt sore with her. I have remonstrated with both Miss Corlet and Miss Cottrell about their conduct, but it had no effect. Some time about 4.30 a.m. to-day—it was not daylight—l went to Queen street. The front door was closed, with the key in it. I opened the door and walked upstairs to the girls’ room. I knew that one of the girls occupied a couch in the window, and the other a bed in a small bedroom. I know the girls used to change about with their beds and did not know which girl was sleeping in which bed. I opened the door into the bed-sitting room. Against the light of the window I saw a girl’s head and thought it was Miss Cottrell. I had a torch with me, and by its light I saw some beer bottles and glasses on a table. I spoke to the girl and said they had been drinking, but this she denied. I still thought the girl was Miss Cottrell, and thought she had told me a lie about the drinking and became annoyed. I slapped her face, and then pulled a hammer handle out of my pocket and struck the girl. I remember hitting her two or three times on the head. After I had hit her I realised it was Miss Corlet. I had borrowed a hammer from my landlady, Mrs Grant, 368 Cumberland street. I put the handle of the hammer in my pocket, but did not remember about it being there until I pulled it out to hit Miss Corlet. I had been worrying about Miss Cottrell’s coolness to me and have not been sleeping lately, and early this morning I decided to go and see her, and have the matter of our relationship definitely settled. I had not been drinking, and I was quite sober. The note written on cigarette paper was written by me on my way to Queen street. I left it on the dressing table. The reference to ■ ending the lot ’ does not mean that I meant to kill them, but that I intended to persuade them to lead a different life. After leaving Queen street I went home and tried to commit suicide by cutting my throat. I threw the handle away in a vacant section in Pitt street.”

Detective Turgis said that accused when charged on November 28 with attempted murder said: “That is not the case. I never meant that.” This closed the evidence for the prosecution. The accused reserved his defence and pleaded not guilty. He was committed to the Supreme Court for trial. Mr White said he would not make any application at present for bail. His Worship said he would not consider the granting of bail. To the charge of attempting to commit suicide, the accused pleaded guilty. He was convicted, and the matter was then adjourned sine die.