ALLEGATIONS OF PATRICIDE

Taranaki Daily News, 30 August 1930, Page 9

ALLEGATIONS OF PATRICIDE

’ MURDER CONVICTION QUASHED. CECIL CHARLES TO BE RE-TRIED. By Telvsrrai.il- Press Assn.—Copyright. Rec. 8.10 p.m. Sydney, Aug. 29. The conviction of Cecil Farnesworth Charles, aged 52, for the alleged murder of his 79-year-old father, Janies Ed-, ward Charles, near Windsor on May 14, has been quashed by the Full Court, which has ordered a new trial. Cecil Charles had been sentenced to- death on June 20. Charles declared at his trial that the crime, which occurred near his farm at Glossodia, Hen miles from* Windsor, had been committed by'an unknown madman. The old man was not known to have had any enemies. Edward Charles was found dead on May 15 not far from the sou’s farm. His head had been battered with almost indescribable ferocity. The aged father and the elderly son appeared to have been attached to each other by : bonds of extreme affection. Every time they met they kissed each other, and, upon departing, embraced again. A large-body of civilians, under the charge of a constable, commenced a search and found the body of the missing man lying in a corner of a paddock not very far from the 'farm. It was covered with blood from the head, which had been pounded to pulp by repeated blows with some heavy weapon. The attack had been so savage that portions of the skull and brains were scattered around the body. The police learned subsequently that the old man possessed property, valued at £OOOO. A email sum of money in his pockets was left untouched. ’ Cecil Charles, who lived alone on the farm, told the police that- on Monday ho and his father bad been clearing leaves for fertilising, near the farm.. The older man said he was going to visit some of his frieuds,. and about 11.30 a.m. the son returned to the hut, where he washed his clothes, including the suit he had been wearing.

During the evening, Charles told the police, he became anxious in regard to his father’s whereabouts, and made a search. The body was found about five yards from the spot where the son said that he had been working with his father. A sack, which had been used for carrying leaves, had been placed neatly over the dead man.