THE CUMBERLAND STREET SHOOTING AFFRAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 27

THE CUMBERLAND STREET SHOOTING AFFRAY.

TOOMEY COMMITTED FOR TRIAL. John Stephen Toomey. a boy, was brought up at the City Police Court on the 6th on remand and charged that he did, on December I J , 19C8, at Dunedin, discharge a rifle loaded with powder and a leaden bullet, with intent to do grievous bodilj harm to Dan:el M'Curdy, his step-father.--Mr W. G. K. Kenrick, S.M., occupied -the bench. Mr B. S. Irwin said Mr A. C. Hanlon had been instructed to appear for the defence, but he was out of town, and probably anticipated thai a further remand would be applied for and granted. lie therefore suggested that a remand should be granted to allow accused to bo represented by counsel. Sub-inspector Norwood objected to a remand on the ground that Mr M 'Curdy was no.v out of tho Hospital, and owing to statement* made by the young fellow it was feared he would again use violence towards his stepfather. Mr Irwin : The young fellow is in charge of his ancle, who has promised to look after him. The Magistrate said he did not think he would be justified in granting a further adjournment if it was a( all possible to go on with the case. Mr Irwin might, perhaps, see h:s \\uy to act for Mr Hanlon , in his absence? Mr Irwin : I shall be happy to do what I can ; but I have had no communication with the accused, and I am not familiar with the circumstances of the case. It wns then d?cid<H« to go on with the case, and th« follow intr evidence was taken: Daniel M'Curdy, a farmer, r^'.i'.]in,» in Cumberland stieet, stated thic ar-rus^d was his stepson, and resided with him. In the pa6t there had been some little differences between witness and accused. On the 14th December, betwer-n 5 and 6 p.m., when witness came home he found accused sitting at (he tea table. Accused remarked to Mrs M'Curdy \%hei> witness came in, '"He is home early to-night." Mis M'Curdy was sitting at the head of the table, in the place usually occupied by witness, and when witness \\pnt to the table Mrs M'Curdy rose, and witness wenf to sit in his usual place. The stepson then said, " I will take the head of the table tonight-." ; Accused (excitedly): " Yci are a liar; I I can prove that." I Witness, continuing, sa.d accused attempted to take (he chair, and he (witness) ', pulled it away. Accused tt-en placed a second chair in the position, and witness moved that alijo. He was not sure whether accused placed a third chair at the head of the table. Accused then picked up a knife fiom the table, and witness lifted a chair. Accused held the knife in a threatening position, and witness held the chair to keep the accused af a sofe distance, and after they both had stood in thi.« way for some timo accused put down the knife, and either said " I will do for you " or ; " I will fix you up." The accused then I went from the kitchen to his bedroom, and as witness suspected that he was going for his rifle he followed him. When Wi fness ai rived at the bedroom door it wa<* j locked from the inside, and accused was j making a noise ss though he was taking ! a rifle from a fhest of drawers. Witness then went to the front door., with the intention of sending for the police, and after- ; wards went i-ound to the back of the : house, where he henrd Mrs M'Curdy pleading with accused not to shoot. Pie could not see whether accused had a rifle, and witness went to the coalhouse to be out of the way, but, fearing he was not safe, he picked up a potato foi-k, and went to , the end of the passage of the house, where accused was, placing himself in as safe a position as po&iible- to {prevent a righthanded person from shooting at him. Accused : " You hid yourself I" Th« boy's mother, witness said, was at this time s=>t ill pleading with accused not to shoot. A shot was fired while witness was at the bathroom windoiv, and it struck him in the left thigh The shot was fired from the bathioom window. Knowing that the rifle was discharged, witness than followed accused with the fork, and saw him with the rifle in his hand, and he prei vented him" from going into his bedroom and forced him with the fork to go past the door. When accused passed the bedroom door he raised the rifle as though ho intended to club witness with it. The rifle was a single-chambered one. Witness used the fork vigorously, and wounded accused on the arm. The accused then dropped the rifle, and witness dropped the fork and caught him by the back of the neck. Accused struggled and screamed and called "Help! Murder! Oh, mother, I have shot him, and he will kill me." During the struggling witness and accused made their way into the front garden, where Tooniey

. was held until the police arrived. Witness had been in the Hospital since the affray, j and was still a little lame as a result of the wound. To Mr Irwin : Accused did not appear to be satisfied with his mother's second marriage. Accused : Very few would be ! To Mr Irwin : 1 have never sworn at the boy's mother in anger nor struck her. j Accused was in the act of sitting in the i chair when I pulled it an ay. There have been some differences before between us, and the young man seemed to wish to take my place in the house. I do not wish to open up the case any further than necessary. Mr Irwin : We wish it opened up as fully as possible. Accused : You will .get enough of it when the case is opened up! Mr Irwin : Is it not a fact that the accused's father, when he died, left a con- j siderable amount of property, and that as ona interested in the property — the house being his father's — accused thought he had , a better right to be in it than you had. 1 Wa* that the attitude accused adopted? I Witness : Accused on no previous ocea- | 6ion attempted to take my place at the head of the table. I did not ask accused to ehift from the chair before I pulled it away from him, as tha relations between us ; were strained, and I did not wish any dis- ' turbance. Mr Irw in : I do not know how you reconcile your action with your words. What i kind'of a knife was it that accused lifted j from the table? | Witness : An ordinary white-handlea table knife. . I Mr Irwin: Why did you go back into the house from the coalhouso armed with a pitchfork? You were not being molested in the coalhouse. > Witness: I went back to let him see 1 was not afraid of him. Mr Irwin: You went back aggressively. Witness : No, I went back defensively. Mr Irwin : What ! Armed with a pitchfork? , , . i • i i I Witness: I did not wish him to think lie | "had driven me out of the house. Dr Crawford, house surgeon at Dunedin Hospital, stated that M'Cuidy was brought to the Hospital suffering from a gunshot , wound on the outer side of the left thigh. , Theie was no exit wound. The position ot j the bullet was located with the X-rays j directly in front of the left thigh-bone, | about half-way between the bone and M«--skin. An operation was peiformed on the following afternoon, when the bullet was extracted in three fragments. M'Curdy mace a "ood recovery, and was discharged from the Hospital that day. To Mr Irwin: The wound was not at any time dangerous. The only possibility of danger would have been the bullet r.everino- the vessels of the thigh, which it did not do. He had no doubt M'Curdy would finally recover from the effects of the wound. , f lo Sub-inspector Norwood: The cause ot the bullet being in fragments was that it had struck the bone first and deflected from I'The1 'The witness M'Cu>dy ; further cro»s- J examined by Mr Irwin) said he was in llio kitchen when he first heaid Mis M'Cmuy , pleading with the accused. He did not go into the house from the ccalhoiae with the intention of pushing himself into the presence of accused-he did not wieh to ! become a target for him. Ho went from the kitchen to rhe coalhouse, not to get the potato fork, but because he was afraid the boy would shoot him. Witness felt like a rat in a trap, and that was why he came out of the coalhouse. He took the potato fork as a ready means of de»ence, and went f-ora the coalhouse to the house to proveut accused coming from the house 'tlt^invin: 'Prior to this occasion have you ever Ft ruck accused? . Witness: Well, yes; after being aggravated to it, I have struck him. Mr Irwin: What did you strike him with? Witness: With my fists. Mr Irwin: Have you struck him on moie than one occasion? Witness : Ye«. Mr Irwin: You struck him once because there was no milk for your tea. Witness- 1 struck him then because ne threw something at me which blackened my 6> Mr Irwin : Was accused afraid of you? Witness: I do not believe he was. Mr Irwin: Although you had icpeatedly struck him with your fist! Accused cmd^t y ne fi S s: d He W could have struck me anywhere b»low the knee fiom tho haUnoom It was a question of an^lc. Ho t Watered me previously to the date of the shootin |ccu~od: I could not have fired any lower lh K Norwood: Accused vould be between three and six feet away when he discharged the rifle at me. ult When her husband come home she s»«? as? if « ra.*ba hex Lsband to allow the boy to have the chair? but he would not do so and he took , the chair by tho legs and threw the boy off it The boy then got another ohair and | 2+ at the head of the table. Her husband . hen took the second chair from under , the boy and threw the boy off it Hex , Jon then took another ohau- at the head of th» table, and he v.a* again thrown off. The boy thereupon took up a knife fro a the table, and threatened her ' husband vnrh it, but, sai<i nothing. . hoWI ing it as if to defend him*elf. ; !Mr M'Curdy then placed a chair be- j tw<sen hinxsoli and the boy, and the la. to: , left the kilohen, followed by her husband. , and witness followed them both Witness ' saw her husband go out of the front door, and her eon came out of his bedroom with the rifle (produced) in his hand She | pleaded with the boy and asked him not | to any harm. She did not think the rifle was loaded. Her son seemed confused, and witness could not remember what he said. "Wit nets heard a fired when her sen was in the bathroom. Her husband, just U-fore- the shot was filed, had a gaiden-fork in his hand. After the shot , waß fired the boy ran up the hall, but he . left the rifle at the bathroom, where he | had thiown it down. Her husband pursued her 6oh with, the gaiden-fork in his hand, |

! and foe struck the boy with the fork, and ' witness thought the boy was killed. Her husband then caught the boy by the throat, and struck him several times with hia fist. Her son called to her and asked her to go into the street and call out murder. The accused was held by her husband in the front garden until the police arrived. Her husband and son did not I agree. j To Mr Irwin : Her husband on more than cne occasion had pummelled accused with his fist, causing his face to become swollen. When her husband came in from the back with the garden-fork her son was not armed. Her husband poked accused with the garden-fork and wounded him. Accused fiom the bathroom, could see her husband come from the coalhouse with the fork. Sergeant Gilbert stated that when he arrived on the scene M 1 Curdy said he had been shot, and showed a wound on his left thigh. He said accused had fired at him. ' Accused said, " Yes, I fired at him ; but I did not intend to kill him — I intended to wound him in the leg-." Accused was then taken to the Police Station, where he again said, in answer to the charge: "Yes. I fired at him, but did not intend to kill him ; I wouLd do the same again if my mother was not present.' 1 Constable- Winmill gave evidence in re-ga'-d to the arrest. Accused s;\id, *' Yes, I did not shoot him with the rifle. I intended to do it. I intended to shoot him in the legs, but did not intend to kill him." Accused also that M'Curdy and himself had had frequent quarrels over family matters. . I This was the case for the prosecution, and Mr Irwin intimated that he had no cvi- , cert-? to call. ' Accused, who rf^prved his defence, was then formally committed for trial at the next criminal sittings of the Supreme Court. On an application for bail being made, Sub-inspector Norwood said he was instructed to oppose the application, on the ground that accused had since made threats to do M'Curdy further injury. I His Worship : It is quite e\ ident he cannot go back again to live with his stepfather. . - ' Accused's uncle, who was in court, undertook to have him -~ent to Naseby to reside with a relative, and on accused undertaking not to further injure his stepfather, bail was granted as before— viz., accused , in £200, and one surety in a like amount, or two sureties of £100 each. . i