ALLEGED MURDER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17436, 7 April 1931, Page 11

ALLEGED MURDER

TIMARU SENSATION YOUNG MAN'S DEATH (Per Press Association.) TIMARU, this day. Following an inquest this morning handling the death of Robert Calviu Rahilly Nisbett, SG, who died in Timaru Public Hospital at 4 a.m. yesterday, as a result of an alleged assault with robbery in ;i motor ear in Connor road on Saturday afternoon, John Henry Fitzgerald and Thomas dames Cox were formally charged with murder, and remanded to appear in the Magistrate's Court on Wednesdav, April lf>. Evidence was given at the inquest, which was taken before a .Justice or the Peace and a jury of si.v, to the effect that the deceased had been seen struggling with another man in a car coining down the hill of Connor road. According to the deposition of two boys, aged 12 and 11 respectively, the deceased was seen endeavoring to get out of the car, which was travelling fast, Fitzgerald holding him from behind, lie apparently fell, and (he. wheel of the car passed over his left thigh, which Dr. K. D. King stated was reduced to pulp.

When Constable W. Dcvinc arrived on the. scene there was no sign of Fitzgerald or Cox, whose car was subsequently found further down the road round a corner. Fitzgerald made a bid to escape, and was arrested after a grim struggle.

fn dying depositions taken on Sunday evening in the public hospital, Nisbett stated that he was struck twice on the jaw by Fitzgerald, but to-day Dr. King and Dr. MeKonzie said they did not notice cuts or bruises on the deceased's face.

They admitted to Inspector A. S. Bird, who handled the case for the police, that they had not looked for signs of assault. The jury, after a short retirement, returned a verdict that the deceased died from loss of blood and shock caused by a car accident in ("minor road.