MURDER TRIAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 111, 14 May 1941, Page 6

MURDER TRIAL

CROWN’S CASE CONTINUED EVIDENCE OF DOCTORS DEATH OF WOMAN FOUND INJURED IN ORIENTAL BAY (Press Assn.) Wellington, May 13. When the trial of Leonard Neiling, aged 29, a labourer, charged with the murder of Mrs. Marjory Livingston Horton, at Wellington, on or about January 9, 1941, was resumed in the Supreme Court to-day, a start was made with the evidence of medical and police witnesses. The case is being heard before the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers) and a jury. Mr. C. H. Weston, K.C.. and Mr. W. R. Birks are conducting the case for the Crown, and the accused is represented by Mr. W. E. Leicester and Mr. T. P. McCarthy. Hugh McWhinney, a City Council labourer, who assisted a constable to look round to eventually find the injured woman under a shrub, gave evidence. He described what he saw, giving details as to the position in which she was lying and her visible injuries.

Dr. L. W. Suckling and Dr. D. G. Simpson, who examined her at hospital. were next called.

Detective W. W. J. Hedley, giving evidence of the examination of the foreshore where Mrs. Horton was found, said there was broken glass from beer bottles for about eight yards towards the sea, and about half a chain away there were freshly broken pieces of glass and the neck of a bottle with the cap still on it. About 12 feet away he found a man's handkerchief, which appeared to have bloodstains on it and the two coiners were knotted. A full bottle of beer was found by a constable. Injuries io Accused's Hands Witness was questioned regarding the injuries to Neiling’s hand when he was arrested at Auckland and said Neiling’s were typical workman’s hands. There were two sores on each but he could not recall whether one had been bleeding. Mr. McCarthy: 1 put it to you that part of the beach is riddled with glass? Witness: There were a number ot pieces of glass there, but they obviously had been in the sea and were worn by contact with the rocks. Mr. McCarthy: Many of them were jagged ? Witness: No, they appeared to me to be all worn. Corroborative evidence was by Detective J. H. Alty. Charles Robert Quin, drainage contractor, gave evidence as to arranging for a job on which Len Neiling was to start on January 10, but did not turn up.

Cause of Death Dr. Lynch, pathologist at the Wellington Hospital, who conducted the post mortem, said he found that death was due to cerebral thrombosis sociated with throttling and multiple fractures of the jaw. Amplifying his finding that death was due' to cerebral thrombosis, Dr. Lynch said Mrs. Horton suffered from a hardening of the arteries, particularly the arteries of the brain. A blow with a clenched fist could quite easily fracture her jaw, which was slender and fragile. It would not be possible to express an opinion as to the order in which the injuries were received from their appearance, but he thought that the injuries to the jaw must have occurred while Mrs. Horton was standing on the gravel beach. The blows might very well have caused unconsciousness. The extent of the injuries round the throat led him to the belief that unconsciousness rapidly followed. The thrombosis, which finally caused death, was the direct result of the injuries and a violent throttling. A bare hand could have accounted for all the appearances, and witness said he was not able to give any other explanation. Human Blood on a Suit Continuing his evidence, Dr. Lynch said he discovered human blood on a suit the police handed to him. Some of the stains were not obvious on the surface, some attempt having apparently been made by sponging, or rubbing, to remove them. Under cross-examination, Dr. Lynch denied that injury to Mrs. Horton’s forehead could have been caused by her falling on a sharp surface. She received at least four blows. The violence such as was used on her would have been reasonably the cause of immediate death. He admitted he had never heard before of thrombosis being proved to have resulted from throttling.

Re-examined, he said it was not reasonable to regard the occurrance of thrombosis as coincidence in such circumstances. The Crown's case was not concluded when the Court adjourned till tomorrow.