DUNEDIN ASSAULTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 138, 13 June 1931, Page 7

DUNEDIN ASSAULTS

AGED COUPLE INJURED JEWELLER’S SHOP ENTERED TWO MEN BEFORE COURT [ Per Pres? Association. ] DUNEDIN, June 12. A sensational gtory of assaults and attempted robbery at his jewellery and pawn shop in George Street on tho night of May 11, was related by Walter Gabriel Rossiter in the Police Court to-day. Thomas William Wilson and Rupert Saunders were jointly charged with assaulting Rossiter with intent to rob. and further, with intent to do grievous bodily harm, they wounded or did actual bodily harm to Jane Rossiter. Mr H. W, Bundle, S.M.. was on the Bench, and Inspector Cummings conducted the prosecution. Mr ('. J. L. White appeared for Saunders, while Mr H. Baron represented Wilson. Dr. Speight told the Court that ho, was called to Rossiter’s shop at 11.45 p.m. and found Rossiter suffering from a wound in the tongue and abrasion* and bruises to his mouth His wife was suffering from shock, and the left side of her face had swollen three times its normal size. Her left eye was tightly closed. Dr. Speight applied a temporary drossing and sent her to hospital. He was of opinion that tho injurv was in all probability caused by a blow. "I shall be 73 years of ago in December, and my wife is 65,” said Rossiter. His shop was on the ground floor. Tho top half of the door was glass and the lower half wood. His wife and daughter resided with him upstairs above tho shop. Window Blind Disturbed. Witness was in tho fhop at about 11.20 p.m. on May .11, when a large window blind was disturbed. He opened tho front door but could at first soo nobody. There was a recess in tho doorway, and there, when ho turned about, Rossiter saw a man stooping and saying, “I am very bad. I nm very bad.” He was fully dressed, and a hat was pulled well down over his face. Rossiter said. 4 ‘My good man. if you go homo you’ll be alright.” Ho had no sooner repeated this than the tAllor of the two accused came and stood beside him. He sensed danger and at tempted to draw back into the shop. One of iho men put his foot in tho door. Rossiter was then inside and tried to close the door, but tho two forced him inside and shut tho door. The two men caught hold of him with their hands across his mouth, but he managed to free his mouth and cry for help. The taller man held him down while tho shorter man went behind tho counter. Rossiter was still calling for help. The tig man did not use any brutal force to keep him down. The small man then came back while Mr Rossiter was calling out, and jammed his fingers down his throat and worked them round like a corkscrew. Rossiter was nearly done.

“I’ve Fixed Them.” The small man said, “I’ve fixed them. They won’t bother us.” He then went to the window, and within a minute the front door was smashed. When the doer was broken in the tail man got up and Rossiter was released. He immediately rushed through the door and found his wife lying senseless in a pool of blood between the foot of the staircase and tho door. He spoke to her but she could not answer. Rushing upstairs ho tried to find the short man, but could not find him. “If I found him I’l have killed him or he would have killed me,” said Rossiter. His attention was then drawn to tho fact that tho bathroom window was smashed. Ho went downstairs and found the tall man with Mr Vcnnall and Constable McGrail. Before the two accused visited the shop it was in perfect order. There would be about £3900 or £4OOO worth of stock. Screwdriver as Gun. Charles Vennail, watchmaker, whoae premises arc on the opposite side of the road to Rossiter, said that a num in the street told him that a murder wa. being done in Rossiter’s shop. He ran across the road, broke the glass in tho door with a screwdriver, and then unfastened the door. Saunders was holding Rossiter down on the floor. Witness presented the screwdriver at. Saunders and commanded him to hold up his hands, which he did. Witness threatened to blow out Saunders’ brains if he moved. The police arrived shortly and handcuffed Saunders. Constable McGrail gave evidence of handcuffing Saunders, who denied that he had a mate, and no trace of the litter could be found on the premises. Detective Gibson said he was standing in front of Rossiter’s at about 1.10 a.in. on May 12. Several oeople were standing about, and among them was tho accused, Wilson, who was *.rrosted late’* in the day. Wilson made a statement that he and Saunders entered Rossiter’s. Witness grabbed Rossiter by the throat and Saunders knocked out Mrs Rossiter. Wilson bolted upstairs with a tray of rings, bu* lost them on the way up. Wilson kicked out the glass window and got on to tho verandah roof facing the Octagon, and .'limbed down the pole to the street. He went back to the door of tho shop but was pushed away by a constable. Both accused were remanded till Monday.