ALLEGED MURDER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 108, 10 May 1938, Page 7

ALLEGED MURDER

THE SWANSON CASE SUPREME COURT TRIAL CASE FOR THE CROWN [ Per Press Association. 1 AUCKLAND, May 9. A lightly built youth aged .19, Francis Borgia Spensley, stood in the j dock in the Supreme Court to-day charged with the murder at. Swanson |on February 7 of his father Robert ( i Fitzroy Spensley. He pleaded not ' j guilty. The trial is before Mr Justice I Fair and a jury. Mr V. R. Mereditn is prosecuting, and has with him Mr N. I. Smith. Mr Allan J. Moody is defending Spensely. Mr Meredith outlined the case on similar lines to those in the Lower Court. Proceeding, he said that the murdered man, who was 61. had been three times married and was a widower at the time of his death. The murder was not brought to light until March 13, when the body was founa in a heap of hay alongside the house where he and accused had been living together Accused was a child of the second marriage. Spensley was last seen alive on February 6 or 7. An unopened newspaper of February 3 was found. It was the father’s habit, because of asthma, to sleep propped up by pillows. He usually slept in his shirt and under-garments, and when his body was found it was clad in shirt, under-garments and socks. Mr Meredith added that evidence would be led to show that accused went to stop at a neighbour's place a day or two after February 7, taking with him clothing, blankets, a gun, a pea rifle, and rifle cartridges. He said that his father had gone away prospecting for gold at Waihi and would be absent about 14 days. Some days later accused stopped milking the cows on his father’s farm, stating that they had gone dry. Evidence would also snow that he sold the cow-, and received the money for them. When the body was found by neighbour's sons It waj sewn up in a blanket and a sheet, tied round with sacks. Mrs Pender, deceased's daughter, called at the house on March 12 and found an upper set of false teeth under 1h pillow on her father's bed, but the blankets and sheet, were missing. She took accused home to her place in Auckland. When the body was found lhe upper set of teeth was missing. While Constable Naughton was awaiting the arrival of detectives, the evidence would show that Mrs Pender, with her husband, brother-in-law. and accused drove up. Constable Naughton would give evidence that be then took accused aside and asked, “where is your father?” accused was silent for a while and then said: “I will tell you the truth. We had a row and I shot him with a rifle.” On the advice of a relative he said no more. The evidence would show that there were two holes in the skull directly between the eyes, about three-quarters of an inch apart. Woman Gives Evidence Mrs Selina Winslow gave evidence that accused, who was a friend ofc her three sons, came to stop at her place early in February, spending money freely. Cross-examined, witness said that accused appeared to be a neglected sort of boy. He would have lived a , lonely life, but for his acquaintance ; with her sons. Mrs Selina Winslow, widow, of Swanson, said the accused was a friend of her sons and came to sleep , in a tent with some of them about lhe first week in February. Later he ! brought guns with him and brought. ( a motor-car. She saw him signing a cheque ar d he said his father had tol l ’ him to do so. She insisted on accused taking away the guns he had brought. ’ and she afterwards found .22 calibre cartridges in the washhouse. ' In answer to Mr Moody, for the accused, witness said the accused had ! two lingers bruised when he came :<) her. He was quite a good worker on • the farm. He was very nervous and seemed to be afraid of things. He : used to sit and mope a lot and .did 1 not have too happy a time on the ’ farm. Mr Moody: Would you say he ay1 peared to be a neglected boy? I should think so. i A schoolboy, Sidney Keith Winslow, aged nearly 14. son of the previous witness, said that when the accused came to them in February he said his father was at. Waihi prospecting. and would be away for a fewweeks. To Mr Moody, witness said the accused had two finger nails off when he came to them in February. He always appeared frightened and ner--1 vous. s Answering His Honour, witness said e the accused told him he got the in- - jury when his father was giving him 'I a hiding and he put up his hands m ward off a blow. Constable’s Evidence Constable John Norton, of Henderson, said the accused had told him he had shot his father with a pea rifle. A near neighbour of the deceased. Lewis Charles Shaw, said he last saw the deceased alive on February 6 oi 7. In cross-examination, witness said the accused was a well-mannered boy, but he appeared to be nervous ana highly strung. He did practically all the work on the farm. “I reckon he e was over-worked,” said witness. c Mr Moody: lam instructed that the boy was fsightened of his father?n Yes he was. v He almost lived in terror of his father on occasions? —That is the way it appeared. Witness said he had seen the father chasing the boy about the farm and had seen him throw a lump of wood at him. Mr Moody: It is suggested that the boy was worked like a slave?—Yes he was. Accused’s Half-sister Gives Evidence daughter of the deceased and a half-sister of the accused, Mrs Sarah ■s Agnes lima Pender, said that she a lived at her father’s house for some 1- months in 1936, and her father and e accused were getting on very well )I then. h Witness had not completed her evl<l dence when the Court adjourned.