THE CROWN S CASE OUTLINED

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19806, 23 May 1934, Page 10

THE CROWN S CASE OUTLINED

RUAWARO MURDER CHARGE EVIDENCE TO BE CALLED TO-DAY By Telegraph—Press Association AUCKLAND, May 22. The Crown case against William Alfred Bayly, aged 28, farmer, of Ruawaro, who is on trial in the Supreme Court charged with murdering Christobel Lakey and Samuel Pender Lakey at Ruawaro on October 15, 1933, was outlined by the Crown Prosecutor, Mr V. R. Meredith, when the Court resumed this morning. Mr Justice Herdman was on the Bench. Again there was only a meagre public attendance. Numerous exhibits were arranged on the table in front of the jury, and on the floor of one side of the body of the Court, considerably restricting the accommodation. “The charge is a grave one, and you have been drawn, as citizens, to investigate that charge.” said Mr Meredith to the jury. “I feel it my duty to refer to one matter. Long investigations by the police have been reported daily in the Press. As a result, there have been discussions and theories advanced wherever men meet. Your duty is to give your decision on the evidence given here, in this Court. You must free your minds of everything you have read and have heard.” Mr Meredith then referred to the fact that Bayly was represented by able counsel, who would do everything on his behalf, and then turned to the evidence to be offered. Lakey, he said, was a man aged about 50 years, living with his wife on a property at Ruawaro. The Lakeys’ home stood on the skyline on a ridge, and had access to Bain’s road by a clay road, while further along Bayly had access by another road to Bain’s road. Near the boundary between Lakey’s and Bayly’s properties stood a wattle tree, to which reference would be made, while Bayly’s house stood to the rear of Lakey's. Bayly’s cowshed could be seen from across Lake Whangape, from a settler named Herbert’s farm. Lakey was fond of shooting. In his house were several guns. A man named Gilmour left at Lakey’s a pair of boots used for shooting, and had lent Lakey a pea rifle, kept at the latter’s house. Lakey’s home had only one door, and on one side, at the rear, there was an area enclosed by sheds One shed wall was comprised of rough battens and sacks. When the police arrived they found that one sack had been torn off. After describing the position of the duckpond. Mr Meredith said a pair of wheels, with a frame, stood in one corner of the yard. Lakey’s cowshed was down a slope, and the ground about the house could not be seen from the cowshed. ♦Lakey’s custom on Sunday afternoon was to have a cup of tea, after which Mrs Lakey would prepare the evening meal, set the table, and then follow her husband to the shed to assist in the milking. She would return to the house, but first go to the duckpond to wa'sh her gumboots, and then enter the house to complete the evening meal. Lakey would follow later. A cream carrier called every day except Sunday, so that on Monday mornings there was cream from four milkings—not two. Lakey always placed the cans in a particular position at the gate, to assist the carrier. The habits of the Lakeys would be well-known in the district, and to Bayly. “Hostility to Lakey.” After describing Lakey’s usual working garb, the Prosecutor referred to the relations between Bayly and the Lakeys. When Bayly first went to the district, he used Lakey’s property as access to Bain’s Road, showing that they were fairly friendly, while both used the same cream stand. However, it was apparent that the friendly relations between them had been broken before October 15. Bayly evinced hostility to Lakey, saying he would go to Lakey’s mortgagees and ruin him. Bayly had also said he would cut Lakey’s fence, also that Lakey would not last the season out. He also removed the milkstand formerly used by both parties. Detailing the evidence regarding October 15, Mr Meredith declared that the Lakeys were alive until after the afternoon milking. Next morning a settler named Stevens noticed that Lakey’s cows were not milked. Stevens and another farmer, Wright, decided to investigate. Mrs Stevens, about the same time, saw Bayly driving a sledge towards his house. Stevens and Wright, on arrivel at Lakey’s, called out, but got no reply. They then went to the cowshed, finding that the cows had not been milked, but the separator machines had been cleaned after Sunday afternoon’s milking. “I think you may take it as certain that Lakey and Mrs Lakey completed all operations that day,” continued Mr Meredith, who detailed the condition of Lakey’s house when Wright and Stevens entered. Everything apparently was ready for the Sunday night meal, so the time of Lakey’s and Mrs Lakey’s death was immediately after the milking. Turning to the medical evidence, Mr Meredith said Mrs Lakey had been struck two heavy blows on the chin, rendering her unconscious, and had been placed alive face down in the duckpond, the actual cause of death being asphyxiation. As her clothes were up round her waist there could be no suggestion that she fainted, or fell there during a seizure of any kind. After Mrs Lakey’s body had been found, it was discovered that the guns in the house were missing, as were Lakey’s suit, and Gilmour’s boots. This raised the supposition that the person who tried to stage the appearance of Lakey’s disappearance did not know that the boots were not Lakey’s. On arrival of further police, exhaustive investigations were made to discover Lakey. For anyone to attempt to dispose of anything belonging to Lakey would be fraught with the gravest risk. On the first day, Bayly assisted in the search, but did not stay long. Later, when £IOO was offered for Lakey's body, Bayly said: “It would never do for me to find it. Those blanks down there think I did it.” He also expressed the view twice that the police were looking for something that did not exist. In conversation with Constable Elmes, who told accused that Mrs Lakey had been found. Bayly said that Lakey had put something across him in connection with sheep. Theories by Accused. “Why Bayly should refer to a matter like that, at that time, is difficult to understand,” continued the Crown Prosecutor. “Bayly put forward the theory to Mrs Furniss that Mrs Lakey had had a seizure and that when Lakey had come up from the cowshed, he had got ‘breezy’ and cleared out with the guns. So the theory that Lakey had cleared out was set up by Bayly at the outset.” added Mr Meredith. On Tuesday, when Furniss was at

Bayly s house, Bayly senior said that Bill had a good theory, that Lakey put out the cream cans so that the carter would pick them up and give him time to get away. On the same day, Constable McEachern talked to Bayly at Bayly’s house. Accused suggested that Lakey was in the scruo across the Lake, as he would not be likely to shoot himself. On October 16 the police discovered wheelmarks leading from Lakey’s yard to Bayly’s boundary. A pair of wheels with a frame were noticed standing under a wattle tree nearby. On examination it was found that the grass under the wheels was fresh and green. On the frame were fresh shave marks, while down the sides bloodstains could be seen by the naked eye, continued Mr Meredith. On the shave marks, similar stains were found. The approximate route taken by the frame and wheels was shown by the marks in the cowdroppings. On the other side of Bayly’s fence were sledge marks leading to where the frame had been run. Bayly accounted for these by declaring that he had driven to examine a telephone post at the fence. Bayly’s knife was examined by detectives, who found it to be very sharp. At the heel the knife had several irregularities where the edge had been turned. Accused protested against the police taking the front board of the sledge, which was not removed till later. Bloodstained Wood. In Lakey’s yard a constable picked up a piece of wood which was spattered with blood. The implement shed was then closely examined, and further blood was noticed, while it was seen that one sack had been recently taken from the wall. Shaving marks were discovered on portion of the wall, near to which were blood splashes. Concealing these was a benzine box, which had been moved, it was suggested. from the inside of the shed for that purpose. From the ground shavings, grass, and stones were removed and sent to Auckland for examination, and these were found to be splashed with blood. A pea rifle shell was also found the same day. On October 21 a search warrant was executed on Bayly. The police took possession of a belt and sheathknife. It was then in a different condition compared with when it was first seen. At the same time the police took possession of two pairs of dungarees, on one of which there were what appeared to be spots of blood. Out of the pocket fell a discharged pea rifle shell, which Bayly said was from his rifle, declaring that he had been shooting just previously. Expert evidence would show beyond human doubt that it had been fired from the pea rifle in Lakey’s house, which was subsequently found submerged in the swamp. The spots on the trousers were later positively identified as human blood. On the same day the front board of the sledge was taken and sent to Auckland, where tests showed the presence of blood. On the night of October 25, Bayly | visited the police camp at Lakey’s home, complaining that someone was prowling round his place. Accused declared that his dog had attacked a dog resembling Wright’s, which accompanied the prowler. Detectives pointed out that Wright’s dog was a slut, and therefore Bayly’s dog would not attack it. There were two independent witnesses as to Wright’s movements that night—Constable Ross, who was billetted with Wright, and Wright’s farm hand. When detectives rang Wright, he was in bed. Bayly told the detectives that there were four people in the district he had no time for— Wright, Samson, and Stevens. He then hesitated. When asked if the fourth was Lakey, he said “Yes.” Next day, the detectives saw a shovel at Bayly’s cowshed, which he objected to them removing. They took a scraping of deposit on the lip, and this proved to be the first step in the finding of the disposal of Lakey’s body, as an expert analysis of the sample showed burnt bone, burnt charcoal, and burnt sacking. Bayly told the detectives that he did not know what the deposit was, as he had not been using the shovel in the house or the garden. Guns Found in Swamp. During the continuation of the search on October 30, the police probed the swamp from Lakey’s to Bayly’s property, said the Crown Prosecutor, and on Bayly’s land, sunk some inches under the surface, were found the barrels of Lakey’s shot gun, the stock of the missing pea rifle, and then other parts of the guns. Bayly made a suggestion that someone had placed the guns there. On examination, the barrels showed little rust, proving that they had not long been there. Towards the middle of November, as a result of an analysis of osh from the shovel, investigations centred on Bayly’s property. From the cowshed floor, the police took scrapings, which yielded burned bone, wood, charcoal and a quantity of melted lead, representing half the weight of a pearifle bullet. At the back of Bayly’s house stood the cut half of an oil drum which had obviously been subjected to considerable heat. The police took scrapings from the bottom of the drum, which showed small pieces of bone, wood, charcoal and a small amount of molten lead. Bayly, when questioned, said he had burned only wood in the drum and had heated some iron. When the other portion of the drum was found accused said that he had cut it because it was no good. This was obviously untrue as the upper portion showed clearly the effects of intense heat. Questioned about some animal bones in the garden, Bayly said he did not burn but crushed them. Accused Leaves Farm. Mr Meredith then gave a resume of statements made by accused regarding the Lakeys. The day after the oil drum was seized by the police Bayly wrote a letter to his wife. Next day he left the farm. “That letter suggests suicide. Whether it was his intention to give the impression that ie was going to commit suicide or whatever was in his mind, he did not carry it out because later he turned up in Auckland,” continued Mr Meredith. “The police then commenced digging in the garden close to accused’s house. Immediately they came on pieces of small charcoal with what seemed to be burned bone. This they obtained by sieving the soil, also getting burned rag, a metal runner from a pair of braces, and a metal stud from a pair of trousers. The prosecutor informed the jury that experts were able to distinguish many bones obtained as human. Many were from the vault of the skull, which were characteristic of a man. Another was a portion of th2 atlas on which the head rested. Man was the only animal to carry his head erect, therefore the atlas was definitely human. The same night as the discovery of the bones, Bayly was arrested He made no reply to the charge. Investigations continued after the arrest yielding two false teeth which were capable of resisting fire and maintaining their characteristics. Skull bones were also discovered. Other materials revealed included burned white rubber and burned tweed. “Startling Results.” When the police emptied the sheep dip the results were somewhat startling. One result was the discovery of a cigarette lighter with a homemade wick of similar material to that found at Lakey’s. In the dip were several more pieces of skull, some of which could be fitted together to make one large piece. Mr Meredith then exhibited the ton

portion of a skull with patches marked in red which he stated had been prepared by pathologists to show where the bones found could be fitted together. Mr Meredith then referred to certain bones which he declared had been identified as portion of the radius or elbow joint. The portions recovered comprised the socket bone moving in the socket, both parts fitting each other. Another exhibit was a lock of hair which witnesses would say resembled Lakey’s. On December 13, detectives found that an upright supporting the roof of the separator room in Bayly’s cowshed had been shaved off. Oil was smeared over the shavemarks but no dust was impregnated showing that the oil was newly smeared. In the cowshed pieces of concrete bearing marks of burning were seen. It was suggested that the drum had stood on these parts. A mutilated watch was discovered under Bayly’s carshed. Portion of the case had the serial number on it. In a box in the carshed the police discovered small screws which fitted parts of the petrol lighter. Discoveries in Orchard. After referring to two sheets of corrugated iron bearing smoke marks. Mr Meredith said the search was then diverted to the orchard, where the grass grew three feet high. The police cut the grass and found small pieces of burnt bone, including bone from the feet and nine pieces definitely identifiable from the human skull. In every case where bone was found. it was associated with small pieces c-f wood charcoal. “The next point for consideration is when were these bones burned?” continued Mr Meredith, who said they would not have stood weather ing. The edges w r ere sharp and clear, not worn away, while soil had not worked in. Burned flesh still adhered to some, showing that they had been only very recently burned. Experts could not say how old ;he bones were when they were burned, but would say that their appearances were consistent with being fresh when incinerated. There were certain indications in bone formation showing age. Sex pits in the skull did not exist at birth but formed and increased with age, giving an indication of the age of any individual. These pits gave an indication in this case of a middle aged individual, while the other bones were those of an individual in middle age. The sex could be reasonably ascertained by certain joints. The pieces of the elbow joint were from the forearm of a muscular individual incompatible with a female. The deduction could therefore be made that the bones were those from a muscular middle aged man which Lakey was. Microphotographs. “If not his, whose bones could they be? Can you for one moment think some other corpse has supplied those bones?” asked Mr Meredith who, in conclusion, turned to the microphotographic exhibits. Microphotographs of pieces of wood from Lakey's shed wall, Bayly’s cowshed where shavings had been cut away, showed certain marks left on the cuts. Experts would say that these marks proved that the cuts were made by the same knife fit approximately the same time. A microphotograph of Bayly’s knife showed a number of turns near the heel which fitted these marks. Similar photos had been made of shells fired from the pea rifle found in the swamp, Bayly’s pea rifle. The marks left by the strikers differed, showing that the shell found in Bayly’s dungarees had been fired from Lakey’s gun. The shell found in Lakey’s yard was held by experts to have been fired by Bayly’s rifle. The Crown prosecutor occupied the whole day outlining the case to the jury, his speech occupying 5 h hours. When he concluded the Court rose until to-morrow, when the first evidence will be heard.