PRISONERS ON TRIAL

Southland Times, Issue 24353, 6 February 1941, Page 8

PRISONERS ON TRIAL

ALLEGED ESCAPE BY VIOLENT MEANS (United Press Association) AUCKLAND, February 5. A liberal use of the right to challenge jurymen was exercised by the i prisoners who were charged in the SuI preme Court today before Mr Justice I Blair. The charges were that, on Oc- ! tober 1, they escaped from the AuckI land Gaol by violent means and that I they rendered three warders incapable lof resistance. The accused included ! John Henry Silva, against whom there i had been a charge of attempted murder ! of a warder but, on the suggestion of [ the judge, the Grand Jury had thrown I out the attempted murder charge. Silva | pleaded guilty to the two remaining , charges. i The other accused, Allan Roy Duff I Bryon James Oheir, Randall Smith and ! David Watson, pleaded not guilty. Duff ! was represented by Mr W. Noble. ; Smith exercised his right to challenge I jurymen to the number of six. Watson i challenged five and Duff challenged I two, every second juryman called be- ■ ing challenged. Before the hearing began the jury, counsel and judge visited i the gaol to view the cells and layout ol j the buildings at the point of the alleged I escape. i When the trial was resumed in the i afternoon, the Crown Prosecutor, Mr ;V. R. Meredith, said the two counts I related to two quite distinct offences. ' I The accused were all captured out of ; j prison and that left no doubt that j i they had broken away from the prison. ; I The effects on the warders showed that j I the assault had been of a particularly ; cowardly and murderous nature. The | charges were extremely grave. Warders I who were in charge of such men had i to be protected and the law made each ; one engaged on such an enterprise re- ■ sponsible for each of the acts done by I any of the others. When these men < made their plans of escape they knew | they had to get possession of keys and ■ that necessarily involved violence to : the warders. There were used in the ; process of escape three weapons —two • hammers with wristlet thongs I and a weight with a leather j handle, which was “a particularly I dangerous form of weapon.” It would appear that the intention was, that after the three warders at the central dome had been got rid of, to deal with the fourth warder at the front door, but, by the accidental use of the wrong j key, they were finable to get access to < that part and had to find some other | way out. ;

MOVEMENTS OF WARDERS Counsel described the movements of the three warders, Burgess, Scholium and Crawford. Burgess was bending over the table doing clerical work when he was struck on the head from behind and knocked out, though he actually put up some resistance. Afterwards Scholium came to see what was wrong with Burgess when he, too, was struck on the head and his skull was I injured. The warders, bleeding and i helpless, were taken and thrown into | a cell. J Crawford suffered worst of all and | it was not until five weeks later that ihe recovered consciousness. The attack on him was a particularly violent and savage one, and medical evidence would be that he was ruined for life and was a complete wreck. The accused made their way to the padlocked grille leading to the yard and, by using their weight together, they burst the chain holding it. With a hammer they smashed the padlocks which held the ladders and put one of them against the wall. Warder Carson, who lived just outside the prison walls, saw the prisoners escaping over the wall and when he went in pursuit he caught sight of Duff coming at him from behind with a baton he had taken from Warder Burgess. Carson overpowered Duff and took him back to the gaol. Mr Meredith read a statement given by Duff in which he described their plans for escape and said they had decided to knock the warders on the head with something. He also read statements made by the other accused. The hearing was adjourned.