The Pukekawa Murder.

Tuapeka Times, Volume LIX, Issue 6785, 16 October 1920, Page 3

The Pukekawa Murder.

PRELIMINARY TRIAL COMMEN CES. - STRONG CIRCUMSTANTIAL BVI- . DENCE. ACCUSED THORN AND MRS EYRE. IMMORAL RELATIONS ALLEGED. Auckland, October 14. The preliminary trial of Sanfu"bl John Thorn, charged with the murder of Sydney Seymour Eyre, of Pukekawa, on August 24, began at Pukekohc to-day before Mr J. W. Poynton, S.M. Mr K. P. Hunt, for the prosecution, in addressing the court, said the case was a strong circumstantial one. It would be shown that the fatal shot was fired by one who had an intimate knowledge of the house. Thorn was the only one outside the family having that knowledge. At time of the murder Thorn was .working at Greenville's farm, 18 miles from Eyre's. The horse under Thorn's charge had peculiarly shaped shoes. The tracks discovered showed that it had been ridden between the two properties on August 24. Eyre's lion.se contained two guns, neither of which had been fired recently. The gun in Thorn's wharo had been discharged. It took n charge of the same calibre as that used to kill Eyre. Thorn was thei only possessor of cartridges of that par-' ticular brand within a radius of 20 miles. The night of tho murder was one of two nights when Thorn had been left alone in his whare. The evidence would show while Eyre was away, and after his return, Thorn had forced immoral relations on Mrs Eyre. Tho™ had threatened Eyre's life before witnesses. He had said to Airs Eyre : "Don't you wish lie was dead." Eyre's sons had heard Thorn sneaking into their mother's room nt night. The motive suggested was revenge for being discharged from a good position and being deprived of the opportunity of continuing relations which were enforced on Mrs Eyre. Mlllicent Eyre, widow of tho deceased slated that the property of (iOO acres, owned by her late husband, was worth J between £13,000 and £20,000. On the night of August 21 there was nobody at the house .except members of the family, and everyone was in bed by 9 p.m. Her husband a!Td Phillip were the last to go to bed, and she saw that the front door was closed, She was awakened, after having been asleep some time, by accused's dog. barking under the boy's room. This dog, "Bob," had been taken away by Thorn when he left, Init had come back by itself. The dog was barking furiously, and she called to it to lie down, which it did after a time, and she again went off to sleep, to be awakened later by the shot of the gun. She heard .quick heavy steps up the side of the house, apparently going towards the back gate. She called' to her husband, and getting no answer she struck a light, and discovered the top of his head had been blown away. Between live and ten minutes after the boys had left the house for help she heard a horse cross the bridge below the house, apparently going away from the house. Accused last visited the farm on August 24. He had often told her ho loved her, and had asked her to go anil live with him. She admitted relations had been improper between accused and herself. They continued after her husband returned. She could not prevent him, because he said he would "put me away to my husband, expose, me, drag my name in the gutter, and get me divorced." She saw accused at Tuakau Police Station after the murder. He asked her then what made her tliink he killed her husband. She replied: He asked: "What circumstances?" and she replied "You knew the posUion of the bed and everylhing about the house." He replied : "True as I am here I never did it." Witness was still in the box when the case was adjourned.