COURT RECORD

Southland Times, Issue 22362, 29 June 1934, Page 3

COURT RECORD

LONGEST MURDER TRIAL DISPOSAL OF EXHIBITS. Several records in criminal history in New Zealand have been established during the Bayly trial (says the New Zealand Herald). Including the two days on which the jury visited Ruawaro, the trial was completed in 29 days of actual procedure, that period being by far the longest on which a jury has been engaged on a murder trial in the Dominion. Five full weeks were occupied, and the depositions occupied 483 typewritten pages, representing easily 200,000 words. The typing was done by Mr G. L. Herdman, assisted by Mr J. W. Pressley. The Police Court hearing in January lasted 10 days, the depositions then consisting of something more than 90,000 words. Sixty-four witnesses were called by the Crown at that hearing, but the number was increased to 68 in the Supreme Court. Even then there were nine recalls, and the equivalent of 77 witnesses was heard. Both in the Police Court and the Supreme Court, the figures represent records. Dealing With Exhibits. In the Lower Court, the exhibits numbered no fewer than 251, many of them being bulky objects. It was then realized that the classification and production of the exhibits would be a considerable task in itself. An elaborate system of reference was used, and Constable J. B. McLean was assigned to handle the exhibits. The total number of exhibits in the Supreme Court was 274, and Constable McLean was again in charge. The work of production was always prompt and precise. The larger exhibits were kept in a space at the back of the Court, immediately in front of the rail of the public gallery. The smaller exhibits, such as the deposits and articles recovered at Bayly’s place, were arranged in jars and boxes on a table between the jury benches and counsels’ table. At all times it was necessary to maintain a police guard over the exhibits. Prior to the trial the exhibits were housed at the Supreme Court. A number of them changed in appearance during the months of storage, and signs of deterioration were apparent. Shell Fired From Rua’s Rifle. A pea-rifle cartridge contained among the exhibits provided an interesting link with another protracted case, the trial of Rua, the Maori “prophet.” This was a shell fired from Rua’s Winchester pea-rifle, which is retained by the police at Wellington. Test shells were fired by the police from scores of rifles for the purpose of the Bayly trial, but it was singular that a bond should be established between two famous cases.

Many of the exhibits will eventually be lodged in the interesting police “museum” in Wellington, where there are reminders of many famous cases, but the disposal of the articles as a whole has yet to be decided. The authorities attach especial importance to the exhibits to which the medical and expert evidence referred, and such exhibits as the classified bones will be carefully preserved. Payment For Jurors. Each juryman was paid 9/- a day, the whole week being taken into consideration for payment, which was also made weekly. The payment to the jury for the whole trial amounted to £lB3 12/-. The members of the jury were quartered at an hotel, and the costs over the whole period would probably approach £250. Another form of expense was the very necessary entertainment of the jury. The case was extraordinarily expensive. There has been no official opinion on the subject, but it is generally thought that the cost of the whole inquiry to the Crown would be some £4OOO. Any estimate must include the legal costs incurred in the Police Court as well as the Supreme Court, the payment of experts, some of whom were occupied on the case for considerable periods apart from the actual Court proceedings and the transport of witnesses to and from Ruawaro.

Widespread Investigation.

The inquiries were not confined to the Ruawaro district, for there was a widespread investigation involving many parts of New Zealand which would have incurred expense. The police were using four or five cars at one stage, and many thousands of miles were traversed in the course of investigation. Such costs would be a departmental matter. There are other considerations, such as special equipment and the provisioning for the officers camped at Lakey’s farmhouse. Tire investigators numbered more than 50 at one period, and some of these officers were brought from Southern police districts. During the peak of the investigation the presence of so many men in the Ruawaro district was not unwelcome to merchants in Huntly. NOTABLE TRIALS CHARGES OF MURDER. PREVIOUS CASES RECALLED. That justice does not move at an unvarying pace is revealed by a comparison of the time taken for the trial of William Alfred Bayly with other notable cases of the past. In all 29 sitting days were occupied in the hearing of the charges against Bayly. The Dennis Gunn case in Auckland in 1920 occupied five days, and the same period sufficed for the two trials later in the same year of Samuel John Thom. One of the longest recent trials in which the capital charge was involved was the case of Arthur Thomas Munn at Auckland in 1930. The Police Court proceedings lasted three days, while the Supreme Court hearing extended over 15 sitting days. It was obvious from the outset that the Bayly trial would be much longer than this, for the hearing of the Crown evidence in the Police Court was spread over 10 days. Another unusually long recent trial was that of George Errol Coats, convicted at Wellington in 1931. after a hearing lasting nine days, of the murder of a 17-year-old girl. A most sensational trial in the history of crime in New Zealand was the notorious Caffrey and Penn murder case. These two men sailed to Tryphena, on the Great Barrier Island, where they brutally murdered a farmer, named Taylor, who had prevented Caffrey’s marriage with his daughter. The guilty men sailed off in an attempt •to reach South America, but were driven by storms to Queensland, where they were arrested. The Supreme Court trial, which commenced on January 18, 1887, lasted for five days, and the prisoners were sentenced to death and duly executed. Two. Auckland mysteries which were never solved led to protracted inquest proceedings. One related to the murder of Francis Edward Jew at Archhill in 1921. The inquest lasted eight days and 66 witnesses were called. The Crown Solicitor, Mr V. R. Meredith, said at the time that the police had interviewed about 1500 persons and had taken written statements from between 1300 and 1400, which must rank high in the achievements of the police. The other long inquest followed the mysterious death of Elsie Walker, whose body was found at Tamaki in October,

1928. These proceedings lasted nine days. The Bayly case does not constitute the absolute record for length of hearing in criminal cases, for the trial of the Maori “prophet” Rua at Auckland in 1916 lasted 47 sitting days. As some reward for the sacrifice necessarily imposed on the members of the jury in that trial they were exempted from further service for 10 years. The prolongation of the trial was partly due to the necessity for interpreting much of the evidence, while the closing stages were long drawn out, owing to the phenomenally lengthy address for the defence by Mr J. R. Lundon. His speech extended over six-sitting days and occupied 28 hours. Rua was found guilty of resisting the police, while the jury disagreed regarding the verdict on several other charges.

Rates of more than 20/- in the pound were paid in 18 boroughs in Britain the last financial year, the highest figure being 27/6 in the pound in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.

The toeprints as well as the fingerprints of criminals are to be taken in New York, because some gangsters have had the lines of their fingers obliterated by skin grafting.

The British people have accumulated, in “small savings” such as National Savings Certificates, savings banks, building societies, etc., no less than £2,492,000,000.