THE PUKEKAWA MURDER

Otago Witness, Issue 3475, 19 October 1920, Page 19

THE PUKEKAWA MURDER

ACCUSED THORN AND MRS EYRE AUCKLAND, October 14. The preliminary trial of Samuel John Thorn, oharged with the murder of Sydney Seymour Eyre, of Pukekawa, on August 24, began at Pukekohe to day before Mr J. W. Poynton, S.M. Mr R. P. Hunt, for the prosecution, in addressing the court, said the case was a strong circumstantial one. It would be shown that the fatal shot was fired by one who had an intimate knowledge of the house. Thorn was the only one outside the family having that knowledge. At the time of the murder Thorn was working at Grenville's farm, 18 miles from Eyre's. The horse under Thorn's charge had peculiarlyshaped shoes. The tracks discovered showed that it had been ridden between the two properties on August 24. Eyre's house contained two guns, neither of which had been fired recently. The gun in Thorn's whare had been discharged. It took a cartridge of the same calibre as that used to kill Eyre. Thorn was the only possessor of cartridges of that particular brand within a radius of 20 miles. The night of the murder was one of, two nights, when Thorn had been left alone in his whare. The evidence would show while Eyre Was away, and after his return, Thorn had forced immoral relations on Mrs Eyre. Thorn had threatened Eyre's life before witnesses. He had said to Mrs Eyre: "Don't you wish he was dead?" Eyre's sons had heard Thorn sneaking into their mother's room, at night. The motivo suggested was revenge for being discharged from, a good position and being deprived of the opportunity for continuing relations which were enforced on Mrs Eyre. Millicent' Eyre, widow of the deceased, stated that the property of 600 acres, owned by her late husband, was worth between £15,000 and £20,000. On the night of August 24 there was nobody at the house except members of the family, and everyone was in bed about 9 p.m. Her husband and Phillip were the last to go to bed, and she saw that the front door was closed. She was awakened, after having been asleep some time, by accused's dog barking under the boy's room. This dog, "Bob," had been taken away by Thorn when he left, but had come back by itself. The dog was barking furiously, and she called to it to lie down, which it did after a time, and she again went off to sleep, to be awakened later by the shot of a gun. She heard quick, heavy steps up the side of the house, apparently going- towards the back gate. She called to her husband, and getting no answer, she struck a light, and discovered the top of his head had 'been blown away. Between live and ten minutes after the boys had left the house for help she heard a horse cross the bridge below the house, apparently going away from the house. Accused last visited the farm on August 24; He had often told her he loved her, and had -asked her to go and live with him. She admitted relations had been improper between accused and herself. They continued- after 1 her husband returned. She could not prevent him, because he said he would "put me away to my husband, expose me, drag my name in the .gutter, and get me divorced." She saw,accused at Tuakau Police Station after the murder. He asked her then what made her think he killed her husband. She replied: "Circumstances." He asked: "What circumstances?" and she replied: "You knew the position of the bed and everything about the house." He replied: "True as I am here I never did it." • October 15. The Pukekawa murder trial was resumed to-day, when Mr R. A. Singer (who' appeared for the accused) stated that while Mr Hunt had quite properly stated in opening what evidence he proposed to call, and had given theories deducible from the evidence, he thought in fairness to the accused it should be made plain .that the credibility of the evidence had' yet to be tested, and consequently the deductions stated* by counsel had to be accepted with reservations, until they were proved sound or unsound. He desired to call attention to this point in order that there should be no prejudgment of the case until evidence had been tested in later proceedings, and the defence disclosed. The evidence of Mrs Eyre was continued. " Under cross-examination by Mr Singer, she stated that her husband's return from the war last year was not a complete surprise, but that< he did not announce the date of his return to herself, or any member of the family. When the boys," on the night of the tragedy, were sent for assistance they went out of the front door, because she thought it would be safer, as she heard someone run up the back. Dr Wake, of Pukekohe, stated that when lie visited the house with Sergeant Cowan in the early hours of August 25, the- deceased was found lying on his bed as described ' by Mrs Eyre. The .bed clothes were undisturbed, and the body was in a -position. of repose, while the top of his head was blown off, indicating that the man had been murdered in his sleep. A mark on the place where the left eye had been had been caused, he considered, by the firing of a-gun close to the head. The direction in which the brain- and fragments of bone were scattered, and the appearance of the wound generally, led him to conclude that the shot had been fired from outside the window, the gun barrel inclined slightly downwards, and at such an angle that any person in the other bed would not be. hit. Dr Campbell Smith, who made a post mortem examination, gave corroborative evidence, and testified to finding about. 40 pellets of shot in the base of the skull. From tests he had made with a gun on the spot, he considered it would be easier for a left-handed man than for a right-handed man to fire the fatal shot at the angle at which it must have been fired. He considered it impossible that_ the shot could have been fired from inside the room. Phillip Sydney Eyre said he was 16 years of age. He had often been out shooting with Thorn, who was a good shot, and always fired left-handed. He had frequently seen accused go into his mother's bedroom. When he was ill in 1918. accused slept in the same room as witness, and witness at times heard accused go out of the room after they had gone into bed at night, and s?o along" the passage after which he heard him talking with his mother. On such occasions accused usually stayed about half-an-hour before coming back to bed. This would happen about twice a week. At other times accused used to say at about 8 o'clock: "Come on, boys, get to bed," and after they went they could hear the blind of the dining room being pulled clown when his mother and accused were left there. When witness's father was not present accused called his mother "Milly." .Once witness peeped on them and he saw

improper conduct. Ho heard accused talking to his mother one day about his father. Accused said he would "murder" him or "kill him," but was not sure exactly what the phrase was. After accused had left the farm he called back ono Sunday and complained to witness's mother that witness's father was talking about him. a statement she denied, _ and accused retorted: "Every dog has his day." Continuing, witness said that while his father was away things were very happy in the household. Thorn and Mrs Eyre were on the best of terms, as were also the children and Thorn.

William Henry Hazard, gunmaker, of Auckland, gave evidence In regard to two guns he had examined. One had not been, fired for at least a month, while the other gun (produced) had been fired recently; th& left barrel more recently than the ! right. In his opinion the gun which was ; fired at deceased was fired by a left-handed I person, who stood on a cross-piece from the steps to the wall, holding on with his right hand to the window sill. Further evidence was given in regard to hoofmarks of a horse seen on the road. The case has not concluded.