PUKEKAWA MURDER.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8405, 10 November 1920, Page 3

PUKEKAWA MURDER.

JUDGE’S CHARGE TO THE GRAND JURY. (Per Press Association). AUCKLAND, Last night. In the course of his charge to the Grand Jury on various indictments for their consideration, His Honor the Chief Justice made special reference to the case in which Samuel John Thorn was accused of having murdered Sydney Seymour Eyre at Pukekawa on August 25th. Addressing the Grand Jury, His Honor said the evidence would show that Eyre did • not commit suicide, but must have been killed by a shot through the window tired by a lefthanded man. Thorn, the accused man, it appeared, had been carrying on with Mrs Eyre. He had not denied her statement to that effect. According to the evidence, he was anxious that Eyre should be put out of the way, evidently having an attachment for Mrs Eyre. After reviewing other points in the case, His Honor read certain evidence of alleged statements by Thorn, which the Judge said implied that Thorn was present and saw the murder, or that he knew who committed the murder. Yet he di'd not choose to give an explanation of why he made those utterances. He might do so when he came before the jury. “Gentlemen,’ concluded the Judge, “if that was not an admission, 1 do not know what an admission is.”