STEWARD COMMITTED FOR TRIAL ON CHARGE OF MANSLAUGHTER
WELLINGTON, Yesterday (P.A.)— The hearing of a charge of manslaughter against the second steward of the overseas ship Haparangi. was concluded today. Accused, Cyril Henry Marston, aged 25, of England, pleaded not guilty and was committed by Mr. M. B. Scully, S.M., to the Supreme Court for trial. An application for bail was refused.
The charge was a sequel to the shooting fatality in a cabin in the Haparangi at Wellington on the night of January 6, the deceased being Coralie Taylor! aged 25, a bank clerk, of Upper Hutt. When the case was adjourned last week the evidence of four witnesses remained to be heard. Senior-Detective Gibson prosecuted and Mr. A. J. Mazengarb appeared for accused. Dr. P. P. Lynch said in evidence that he examined the body of deceased. The bullet wound in her chest would have caused deaih within a matter of seconds.
Senior-Sergeant C. L. Spencer described the recovery of a revolver from the harbour bed alongside the Haparangi the morning after the fatality. Witness said a fired cartridge was in line with tjie barrel. Two live cartridges were in the chambers to the right of the fired cartridge. This meant, said witness, that the next shot from the revolver would have been a live one.
Gregory Gerald Kelly, arms expert attached to the Police Department, gave technical evidence. Detective Sergeant G. C. Urquhart said he w’as called to the Haparangi on the night of January 6. He entered a cabin and found deceased’s body. Accused was sitting at the end of a settee, smoking a cigarette. Accused said he was responsible for the shooting and that it had been an accident. Witness produced a written statement given at a later date by accused. In this statement accused said he was married and had known deceased and her mother for some 18 months. He had invited them to “say farewell” to the Haparangi on the night of January 6. They brought some friends and they all had a round of drinks when he took a gun from the top of his wardrobe.
"I remember taking three cartridges from the magazine,” continued the accused in his statement, “and then fooled around with it for a minute. I must have put them back with the intention of putting the gun away again. When Coralie said she wanted a target to shoot at, she said this in a joking way. I said, ‘shoot at me.’ She levelled the gun at me and I think she fired it.”
Accused said Coralie then asked for a “real target” to shoot at .He pointed a basket out to her. Then he asked Coralie if she would like him to shoot at her. "I pointed the gun at her. I thought the hammer would fall on an empty chamber, but the gun went off and I saw Coralie slump into a chair.”
Accused added that he rang the hospital and that he “went sort of cold inside” when told that Coralie. was dead.
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Bibliographic details
Wanganui Chronicle, 31 January 1950, Page 6
Word Count
508STEWARD COMMITTED FOR TRIAL ON CHARGE OF MANSLAUGHTER Wanganui Chronicle, 31 January 1950, Page 6
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