MOTU RIVER MURDER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 15774, 15 March 1922, Page 3

MOTU RIVER MURDER.

TRIAL COMMENCED TO-DAY

large; number of witnesses

Long before 10 o'clbck this morning a huge crowd had gathered outside tho doors of tho Supreme Court. The opening of tho doors shortly before 10 o'clock was followed by a wild rush into the body of tho Court.'' The crowd had gathered' to see the young native, Ruteno Topi, who this morning stood trial for his life, on a charge of murdering one Paul Zambukka, near the mouth of the Motu river, on November 4, 1921. Tho trial commenced this morning at 10 o'clock, and an endeavor is to be made to complete-tho hearing this week. It is expected that the total number of witnesses heard will be about 50, most of them being natives, requiring the services of the interpreter, Mr. E. E. D. Hooper. The presiding Judge is His Honor Mr. Justice Reed. The Crown prosecutor (Mr. F. W. Nolan) appeared for the Crown, and Mr. L. T. Burnard for tho prisoner. PLEA OF NOT GUILTY.

Ruteno Topi, well dressed and well groomed, stepped steadily and firmly into the dock when his name was called, and stood upright, facing tho Court without apparent signs of nervousness. Only when asked for his. plea, did he indicate some slight contusion as he said in English, "not guilty." THE JURY.

The following jury were empanelled : Messrs A. P. Hailey (foreman), Robert Gartshore, H. E. Sargent, L. Bonner, E. Earle, H. C. Hanes, F. Orr, G. Lynskey, A. W. Muir, R. J. Cameron, 0. Shepperd, and A. Guthrie. Eight jurors were cither challenged by the defence or "stood aside" by tho Crown. CROWN PROSECUTOR'S OPENING ADDRESS. The Ci'own Prosecutor, in opening the case, said that all the jurors were well aware of the seriousness of tho charge, and the seriousness of the consequences which would follow the return of a verdict of guilty. So long as the jurors remained faithful to their oath, to find their verdict upon tho evidence, so long aa they remained impassive, and impartial, and returned their verdict accordingly, they would have nothing to reproach themselves with. The evidence was extremely lengthy, there being a long chain of small circumstances, there being no.actual eye witness of tho crime. The evidence would show that tho murder was coldly thought out, and carefully thought out. It would also be clear that the murderer was a man who kept his wits about him, and that the motive was robbery, the deceased having been known to be in possession of a sum of money. - That money had disappeared, together with the watch and ( chain, while deceased's packs were untouched. That showed that some thought had been given to the crime. The only identifiable property taken was the watch and chain. The hawker had worked his way along the coast, selling goods at tho various little native settlements. Maraenui was a. small native pa near the mouth of the Motu river and 18 miles from Opotiki. There were a number of small settlements between. Maraenui and Te Araroa. All these settlements were inhabited entirely by natives and tho road connecting them was really only a, rough track. On November 2 last Zambukka. arrived at Maraenui, going, to the house of Sam Topi, father of accused, and he asked for a, bed. The Topis agreed to put him up. Zambukka. stayed there on tho 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of November, and during that time he soldi goods about the. cash. It was known that ho was carrying a considerable sum of money. On November 4, Sam, Rutene, and Peeti Topi were working on a roller, assisted by Zambukka, in front of Topi's house. Other natives were working on a chaff cutter. At midday, Zambukka dined with Sam Topi, Rutene, Peeti and his wife. Rutene left first and rode in the direction of Omaio. Zambukka, Sam Topi, and Peeti Topi came out, and Zambukka went to where the men were chaff cutting, subsequently departing with his two pack horses towards Omalo. A native interpreter, Naumoki, met Zambukka when he was almost across the Motu river bed, which was a wide one. Naumoki spoke to Zambukka, and each .went on his way,- and that was the last seen alive of Zambukka. When on liis way to Maraenui Naumoki met Peeti, who was carrying an axe, and asked him to cany a message into Maraenui. Peeti said' that he did not have time, as he was going to get some timber. Mr. Nolan produced a certified plan of the locality, which was displayed to the jury.

Proceeding with the; narrative, Mr. Nolan* said l that Feoti had gone up the river for his timber and had come back to a track leading to Saxby's.' There lie met Rutene, his brother, who asked him to take home a gun that Rutene was carrying. Rutene said that* ho was going to- Saxby's. Peeti then took the gun and two women saw him riding towards the pa with the gun. Peeti went home and then wont to where the men were chaff cutting and' remained with them until they stopped work. Rutene went to Saxby's between 4 and 5 to gel some stores and was,there about 20 minutes. Mr. Sax by and a native boy saw Rutene going to and' coming from, tho homestead. Mr. Saxby told him that he had a pension paper for Rutene to sign, but he said he would come back. On Saturday Rutene went to a township near Omaio, and saw a girl to whom he was engaged to.be married.' On Tuesday, November 8, a native was engaged in looking for) some of his horses in tho Motu river bed. He/ saw Zambukka's riding horse and also his two pack horses. A search was made and a spot at which the pack horses had evidently been tied was found, about 230 yards from the spot at which the body was found. On the following day a native found tho body in some dense manuka scrub on the Omaio side of the Motu river. Sticks had been laid across it to conceal it. Traces of blood were found, and there was a large pool of dried blood. Tho latter had been concealed by soma large logs being placed over it. This point was right beside the track leading to Omaio, and was 24 yards from the point' at which the body was found. An examination of tho body showed that Zambukka had evidently been killed by a shot gun fired at very close quarters. No money was found on tho body, and the watch and' chain were also gone, but the cross-bar of tho watch chain was found inside the deceased's vest. Police investigations were immediately made all along tho Coast. The police were able to account satisfactorily for the movements of all the men in the pa on November 4 with the exception of Rutene and Peeti Topi. Peeti had given evidence in the lower Court and had been discharged, it being held that there was 1 not sufficient evidence against him to go to a jury. Wehe Paraono was one of the natives who saw Rutene on Saturday morning. He asked her whether it was true that she had been telling people that Peeti had been seen with a gun. She was frightened and said "no." Me said, "you stick to it." Then a message had been given to the natives to clean their guns and hidd their cartridges. Ttutone and' Peeti were kept in the Gisborno gaol pending tho hearing of the case in the lower Court. At that time *- native named Whare Hiekey had been in gaol on another charge. Hiekey would be called, and would say that Rutene told him that he shot Zambukka. Hiekey had had no opportunity of seeing newspapers or hearing anything about the case. Rutene told Hiekey that he took tho money, the watch and' chain, and as ho did so the bar of the chain broke. He said that he had planted the money, which included 1 four cheques. He also said, "If I gat a chance T will kill Detective McLeod, as he accused me of tho murder." Ho added 1 that his brother was also giving him away. It would be shown that Hiekey could not have heard' his story from outside. Since tho hearing in the lower Court, some fresh evidence had been discovered. Some weeks ago some natives were; in the. vicinity of Wehe Paraone's house collecting fungus. One of them saw some on a log, and 1 when he went to col-

lect it, he saw a shirt, which he pulled out and showed it to his companions. It would be sworn,that this shirt belonged to Rutene, and that he had been seen wearing it before the murder. There were some dark stains upon it, and the natives had no doubt about it being Ruteno's, there being no similar shirt in the pa, as it was of unusual colors. The natives put it back in tho log. Detective, McLeod had gone to Opotiki to investigate, and information would be brought to show that the shirt had been removed by prisoner's mother, torn up and thrown into the creek. Detective McLeod, however, had succeeded in finding some of this shirt in the stream. When Ruteno was questioned he denied that he had been the first to leave tho house on Friday, November 4. lie said that he had gone to Saxby's on horseback and came kick again. Detectivo McLeod would say that from Topi's house to Saxby's was a 15-minute ride, while it took 13 minutes to go from the spot where the body was found to Topi's house. Tho evidence would show that Ruteno left tho house at dinner-time, while the others wero having their nothing else was seen of him until 4,0 r 5 in the afternoon. That left a period which had not been explained. The Crown Prosecutor s address concluded at 11.25, having lasted an hour and a quarter.

THE EVIDENCE COMMENCES.

Robert Leslie Kay, Public Works engineer, gave evidence as to preparing a plan of the locality, together with a table of distances. Mr. Burnard : Do you profess to have marked all places where there was scrub?—No. We may take it you prepared the plan under the. direction of the police; marked upon it such places as they wished marked, and you made some other marks as „-ell?—1 think 1 marked more than tho police asked. It is a geographical plan of the locality. Mr. Burnard contended that all the scrub should, have been marked.

His Honor: Oh, surely not. Witness admitted that scrub existed on parts where ho had not marked it. Sir. Burnard: Then so far asi the scrub is concerned the plan does not profess to be a true topographical plan?—lt is not quite complete as far as the scrub is concerned. Koopu Eruiti, farmer, of Maraenui, said that he remembered Zambukka s coming to the Maraenui pa, but did not see him until November 3. While at Maraenui lie stayed at Sam Topi's place. The' hawker was selling goods, and witness, having some things himself, paid Zambukka 9s in notes and silver. On November 4 (Friday) witness was cutting chaff for Henry August, a good many of the men working there with him. Witness gave the names of those who were with him, about a dozen in all. They were working at the chaffcutting from morning till sunset, having their midday meal on the job. The distance from the place at which they were working to Topi's house was about 15 chains. Only a few of the men of the pa were not working with him that day, their names, as far" as he could remember, being Taunui Moses, Sam Topi, Rutene Topi, Peeti Topi, Wharemoana, Hiki Delemere. and Ifgaremu. At midday Zambukka came over to where they we're chaffcutting, where he stayed for about a quarter of an hour. After leaving the chaffcuttei Zambukka went back io°the Topis' house. On Tuesday, November 8, in consequence of a. report he had heard, he assisted other natives to search the bed of the Motu river. It was reported that the horses of Zambukka had been seen wandering by themselves without any sign of the owner. That day they found two horses and a place where the horses had been tied. The manuka at that spot had been pulled out by the roots. On 'November 9 the search "was continued, and witness found the body about 2 p.m. The bodywas in a clear place, in amongst some manuka, and was covered with some driftwood. It was on the right hand side of the truck going towards Omaio. Tho body was not touched until the police came, Constable Blakeley arriving about 10 minutes later. Some bloodstains were then found. In a large hollow there was some thick blood with some logs put over it to hide it. _ The blood was right on tho track. Witness knew that Zambukka wore a watch and chain. When the constable searched tho body witness saw that only the bar of the chain remained in the waistcoat. At the Maraenui pa there were about 20 or more grown-up men. Mr. Burnard: You told us 30 in the Lower Court? —Together with the women there would be about that.

Witness, questioned by Mr. Burnard, said that Whitianga was about two miles.

Mr. Burnard: Tho road is extensively used by natives?—Yes. That is the road by which the body was found?—Yes.

Mr. Burnard pointed out that in the Lower Court the. witness had failed to mention four who were chaffcutting with him, one was absent whom he failed to mention, that he gave the number at the pa as 20 instead of 30, and that the amount he paid to Zambukka was £4 Is instead of £4 9s.

Mr. Burnard (to witness): I am only suggesting that your memory is not very good.—Witness: This took place some time ago. In addition to those you mentioned there might have been others absent from the pa?—There may have been some. In addition to ' selling goods the hawker was known as a gambler. I suggest that he carried dice and was known to play "two-up?"—l have seen him in possession of dice, but I have not seen him playing. Do you know whether he possessed the reputation of playing that game?—l don't know.

Do you know where Sydney Skipper was that day?—lf it is Hirini you were referring t&, he was at Maraenui, but I do not know what he was doing.

Questioned about Whitianga by Mr. Nolan, witness said that at Whitianga there was only one family living.

Hikitaia Koraura'u, farm hand, of Maraenui, said that he knew the hawker, and remembered his last visit to Maraenui, when he stayed at Sam Topi's place. On Friday, November 4. witness was cutting chaff near Henry August's nlace, where, a number of men, including Koopu Eruiti, were working.' He saw Zambukka there that day. Witness saw Rutene and Peeti Topi in the evening of that day. Peeti came to the place where they Were chaffcutting, and remained with them until they finished work That morning he had seen Rutene and Peeti working at a roller outside their gate. At this stage the Court adjourned until 2.15, his Honor advising the jury that they would not bo allowed to separate until after the trial. Due provision,' however, would be made for their comfort and accommodation during that time. On resuming, the evidence of Hikitaia Koraurau was continued. Questioned by Mr. Nolan, the witness said he did not see the hawker again alive after he left the place where they were chaff-cutting.