"SLOW MURDER"

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19555, 10 February 1938, Page 9

"SLOW MURDER"

BLACKMAIL DEFINED CHRISTCHURCH CHARGE ALLEGATION OF CROWN (Per Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, tins day. What was described by the Crown Prosecutor, Mr. A. T. Donnelly, as a particularly bad example of a' particularly bad class of crime—blackmail — came before Mr. Justice Northcroft in the Supreme Court to-day. Charged that with intent to extort money he accused a man of commiting an indecent assault on a male, Joseph Dyer pleaded not guilty. The crime with which Dyer was charged, said Mr. Donnelly, was generally known as blackmail. The facts were practically undisputed, Dyer admitting that he had received about £GO in instalments from his vfctim. "Blackmail is slow murder," said Mr. Donnelly, "and this is a particularly bad example of a particularly bad class of crime. Although the victim denied the indecent assault on Dyer's sons, whether he committed that offence or not had no bearing on the case, said Mr. Donnelly. The victim's story was admitted by Dyer in a statement to the police to be practically correct. Dyer involved his victim in trouble by forcing him by means of threats to make a false statement to the Pension Department in support of Dyer's false declarations, and so the matter was brought to light. (Proceeding)