MURDER CHARGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23326, 19 October 1937, Page 7

MURDER CHARGE

THE ARUNDEL TRAGEDY LOWER COURT HEARING THIRTY-EIGHT WITNESSES (Per United Press Association) TIMARU, Oct. 18. Randall Reginald David Smith, aged 26, a labourer, appeared in the Magistrate’s Court this morning on a charge of murdering William Gaby, the 73-year-old storekeeper of Arundel, near the southern approach to the Rangitata traffic bridge, nine miles north of Geraldine. Gaby, who was a bachelor, living alone on the premises. was found dead with a severe wound on the forehead on the morning of September 11. The police will call 38 witnesses, and it is expected that the hearing will occupy two days. Mr W. D. Campbell (Crown Prosecutor) is taking the Crown case, and the accused is represented by Dr A. L. Haslam, of Christchurch. Neighbours’ Evidence John Alexander M'Comb, a farm labourer, of Arundel, said he had known Gaby for 19J years. He described the location of the store, where, he said, he had seen Gaby between 2.30 and 8 o’clock on the evening of September 10. Witness spent some time in the kitchen with Gaby and at that time the store was open and lit. In addition there was a hurricane lamp in the kitchen, standing by the back door, where there was also a pig bucket. When witness left Gaby was alone. Charles Goodwill Johnston, a labourer, of Arundel, said he went to the store about 10 a.m. on September 11, but the building was shut. The bowser in front was open. Witness went round to the back and noticed the door of a hut, which Gaby used as a dairy, was open. He could not find Gaby there and so he went to the back door of the house and called: “Are you there, Bill? ” There was no answer. “ I opened the door and saw him lying there,” witness continued. “He was face down on the floor with his feet about a yard from the door. He was fully dressed. I did not touch the body, but surmised that he was dead.” Witness then went to the nearest neighbour, Edward Mathieson, and the pair returned to the shop. Mathieson went to telephone the police. Witness remained at the shop all the time until the police came. The body was not moved or touched. Clarence May Mathieson, wife of a neighbour, described how Gaby came to her place every day to collect scraps for his pigs. The bucket was always left at the back door. On September 10 the bucket was left, and next morning it had been removed and another left in its place. Witness did not see Gaby take the bucket away. She was in the store about 7 o’clock that evening and saw Gaby chatting to Johnston. He appeared to be very happy. Hugh Harkness Pattison, a farm hand, of Ruapuna, said he was travelling to Geraldine on the night of September 10, and about 8.15 he passed Gaby walking south about 50 yards from the store. Gaby was carrying a lantern. When witness passed on his way home about 9.30, there were no lights in the store. Constable D. Callanan, of Geraldine, said the front door of the building was locked, but the back door was closed but not locked, laying at the back door were a hurricane lamp, which had been upset, a tin bucket, a paper bag of potatoes, and a box of matches. On the kitchen floor he found Gaby’s body lying face downwards. The wrists and ankles were loosely tied with boot-laces and there was another boot-lace lying across the feet. On the floor were scattered some sweets and a sixpence. On the floor of the bedroom was another sixnence. In the shop near the ' till there was more money lying on the floor, and on the floor near Gaby’s head there was blood. Medical Testimony Dr Charles Stanley Fraser, of Timaru, who performed a post mortem examination of Gaby’s body, said that he formed the opinion that death was due to concussion and shock. The deceased apparently received a blow over the left eye, causing a lacerated wound one inch and a-half long and a quarter of an inch wide. The wound appeared to have been caused by a blunt instrument, used with some force. It would have been possible for the wound to have been caused by a piece of firewood. Agreement with the view that Gaby’s death was due to concussion of the brain, following a blow on the left temple, was expressed by Dr Edgar F. Thomson, assistant pathologist at the Christchurch Hospital, who also carried out a post mortem examination. Over the right eye there was a mark, and the ridging of the bone could be felt. There was no fracture of the skull. There were superficial abrasions on the neck and elbows. The wound on the head was typical of one caused by a blunt instrument, Witness produced i portion of the skull and the niece of skin which was stretched across it, showing an abrasion over the left eye. Witness said he took away specimens of earth from outride the back door of the store at Arundel The stain on the earth was human blood, as were two other stains found on the outside of the hack door He scraped some of the blood clot from the kitchen floor and found that it also was human blood. He received a fawn overcoat from Senior Sergeant Hewitt, and on it found several stains. He paid particular attention to a patch below the right-hand pocket, which looked as if it had been sponged. He removed a piece of the cloth, and a test had shown that the stain was due to human blood. Another stain above the hem of the coat was also made by human blood, A pair of grey trousers, which were handed to him by Senior Sergeant Hewitt, also bore human blood stains. There was a small reddish brown stain on a working boot which he received, and a test had shown that it, was human blood. Witness also described blood stains on the clothing which Gaby was wearing when found ‘There are (our human blood groups, and it is possible to test a blood stain and place it in its respective group, but it is impossible to sav that that stain is from any one particular individual,’ said Dr Thomson. “If the stain is of a different group from that of a particular individual, then one can say that that stain did not come from , that individual.” He placed Gaby’s blood in group B, but had not yet grouped the other stains.

Search of Shop Detective Sergeant Thomas, of Timaru, said he searched Gaby’s shop and found several lollies on the floor. In a glass jar on the shelf there were similar lollies. Lying on the kitchen floor was also a lucky charm watch. There were a number of stains on the floor, and one of these had the appearance that something had been dragged over it. The back of the deceased’s coat had dirt on it, as though it had been dragged. Just outside the back door was a box, which served as a step, and across this, and also across the floor to the left toe of the body, was a freshly-made mark. It appeared to have been made by the toe of the deceased’s boot. A till in the shop contained money, and he found in a bedroom a tin containing £l4 10s in notes. In an unlocked cupboard he discovered five half-crowns and four florins. He also found a leather glove on the floor, to which no mate was discovered- Another glove was found in a store room, and the mate to this was found outside. Constable Kearton, police photographer, detailed a large number of photographs he had taken. He said that he had photographed the sole of a boot found in Timaru. and the nails corresponded with nail marks found on the floor of Gaby’s shop. Sitting at Night The court sat for two hours tonight when a further 14 witnesses were heard, making 28 for the day. Ten witnesses remain to be heard to-morrow. The evidence to-night concerned the movements of the accused from a few days before September 10 until the day following the murder. It was alleged that he borrowed money from a friend at Alford Forest the day before the murder, and on the afternoon of the murder was seen in Gaby’s store, talking to Gaby. At 8.30 that night he was picked up by Alistair Langeson, on the Rangitata bridge north of Gaby’s store, and brought to Timaru, where a taxi-driver took him to a boardinghouse. Next morning the taxi took him to a men’s outfitter’s shop, where he purchased a complete outfit of clothes at a total cost of £4 6s lOd, for which he paid. He also paid his night’s board and paid taxi hire amounting to 12s. The accused left some old clothes at the outfitter’s shop and some at the boarding house, and these were secured by the police. The accused left Timaru by service car for Dunedin on the morning following the murder under the name of Leckie, which name he also gave to the boardinghouse keeper.

The case will conclude to-morrow.