The Burwood Murder.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIV, 31 August 1927, Page 5

The Burwood Murder.

PROCEEDINGS CONTINUED TO-DAY. MANY WITNESSES GIVE EVIDENCE (Per Press Association —Copyright)

THE EVIDENCE CONTINUED. HEARING WILL LAST SOME DAYS. CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. The hearing of the charge of murder against Charles William Boakes was not concluded' yesterday. In fact the proceedings are expected to extend over three or four days; and it is understood that between seventy and eighty witnesses will be called by the time the ease is finished. The evidence of several further witnesses was taken before the Court adjourned yesterday. They were : John Harris Prisk, garage hand, White Diamond taxis who said that at about 11.30 on the morning after the tragedy, witness asked Boakes what he thought of it. Boakes said it was an awful thing, and asked who it was. “How did They Find Out?” Witness replied, “Gwen Searff,” to which Boakes said, “Go on. How did they find out.” Leslie James Arps, taxi-driver, said he had seen Miss Scarff on a number of occasions engaged s in conversation with Boakes on his stand. Seen Together at 6.30 a.m. Robert Lamber Riekerby, who delivered milk to the house where Miss Scarff had been employed said he saw her on June Bth., about 6.30 a.m. outside the house standing alongside a White Diamond taxi. It was darn and the car had the lights on. He did not see the driver or notice the number of the car. Eric Horace Mugford, aged 13, gave evidence of finding the body of the murdered woman. Witness summoned the Rev. C. A. Tobin. Cecil Alexander Tobin, clergyman at Burwood, said Mugford called on him at 1.25 pan. on June 15th. He telephoned to the police and went with Mugford to the scene. Body had Been Moved.

Witness found three pools of blood indicating that the body had been moved. A blue coat was spread out evenly, as if the girl had been sitting on it.

Dr. Thomas Beveridge Davis said he examined the body at 3 p.m., where it was found. Rigidity was then commencing. There were eighteen wounds on the head, the largest being over and above the left eyebrow, where the bone had been broken, and the brain tissue exposed. The wounds were such as would have been made by a blunt instrument. Had Lived Some Hours.

Witness thought death had not been instantaneous after the attach. The girl had possibly lived for some hours. When he saw the body, the girl had been dead about six hours. Dr. Arthur B. Pearson, pathologist at the hospital said he examined the body between 5.15 p.m. and 6 p.m. on June 15 at the hospital. In his opinion the girl had been dead six or eight hours before he made a post mortem examination. Witness thought the wounds on the head would not cause immediate death, and the girl might have lived 8 to 12 hours, possibly longer, after the wounds were inflicted. Bloodstains on the Overcoat.

Dr. R.R.G. Milligan, of the biochemical department of the Christchurch Hospital, said he had tested the stains on the military overcoat found near the scene of the murder, the stains were of blood. The Court then adjourned till today. When the Court resumed to-day Felix John Theodore Grigg, Government Analyst, said on June 18, he received from Detective Mayne a box containing nine bottles. Harmless Liquids! i He made a careful examination of all the bottles but found no trace of any poison or any substance which could be used in abortion eases. David Davidson gave evidence regarding finding the spanner at f scene of the murder and handing it .to the police.

The Fatal Spanner Detective Eade said that on June 16, while clearing scrub at the scene of the murder, a man found a spanner in the gorse. Witness took the spanner to the Detective Office. There were bloodstains on the spanner, partly dry. No Finger-prints; but Wet Blood. The spanner was sent to the Finger Print Department in Wellington, and examined; but no finger prints were found. Mr. Thomas: To what extent was there blood on the spanner? Witness: The whole of the spanner was covered with it, except the lower jaw. Mr. Thomas: You say there was some that was not dry? Witness: Yes. Detective Laungeson said on June 16th he saw the spanner. There were traces of oil in the jaws, as though it had been recently used. 1510 People Fail to Identify It. Witness made inquiries at all engineering works, motor garages, and foundries in Christchurch, and showed the spanner to a total of 1510 people. These included taxi-drivers and engineers. None of these people were able to identify the spanner, or say they had seen it before. Witness was unable to find another spanner exactly like it. A Scrap of Paper. On July 2, witness continued, with Detective Thomas, he searched the effects of Miss Scarff at her home, and in a locked cash box in a duchess drawer he found a small piece of paper on which was written the name of “Mr. C. Boakes”

Mr. Thomas objected to this. “We do not know who wrote it, or what it is” he said. The Magistrate: For the present, I will let it go in, and will note your objection. It is not of the slightest evidential value”. Detective Langeson, continuing said on July 27, Detective Gerald and witness searched accused’s home at Windsor Terrace. Many Military Buttons. In a wooden box in the hall, Among other effects of accused, they found thirteen small brass military buttons and ten large ones. In a room upstairs in a tin box they found four small similiar buttons, and three large ones. The buttons were produced. Spanner Fits Boakes’ Car. Referring to the spanner, Detective Langeson said it appeared as if the jaw had been slightly enlarged The motor ear that was used by accused in his work was fitted with A.C. spark plugs, and the large end of the spanner produced, exactly fitted these plugs. Mr. Thomas: I want to be quite clear about this. I want to understand what your evidence has been about. Is this the spanner that was found at the scene of the murder? Witness: Yes. Mr. Thomas: This is the one you say was enlarged? Witness: It gives appearance of having been enlarged. gSH Evidence About Buttons. George Hunter, staff sergeant major employed by the Defence Department said he had acted as quarter master-sergeant and had handled much of military equipment. On July 29, he examained two military overcoats (produced) at the Detective Office. They were ordinary infantry issue overcoats. Mr. Donnelly: One is older lookingthan the other, isn’t it? Witness: Yes. Mr. Donnelly: What’s the date of it roughly? Witness: November 29, 1915, is the maker’s date. Mr. Donnelly: These military buttons; they’re just the ordinary issue buttons? Witness: yes. Mr. Donnelly. How many buttons has an infantryman’s overcoat? | Witness: Five large ones in the ' front and seven small ones and three on the back.

Alfred Edwin Smith, managing director of Smith’s Motors Ltd., said he had had twenty-five year’s experience with motor cars. The spanner produced resembled that sup plied in the tool kit of the F.N. make of car, which came from Belgium. Mr. Thomas: How do you base that opinion? Witness: From its design, and secondly because it is a metric type of spanner. Discovery of* Overcoat. Lionel James Leversedge, said that on June 25, when engagel clearing scrub on North Beach Road he found the raititary overcoat produced. The coat was neatly folded inside out. There were bloodstains on the coat, which he handed over to Detective Sergeant Young. To Mr. Thomas, Witness said the eoat was slightly damp when found. Knew Boakes and Miss Scarff. Finifred Capes, said that she knew Miss Scarff and also knew Boakes. Somewhere about Christmas time last year, Miss Scarff introduced witness to Boakes, and in company with a man named Arps they went to D'a’lTrngton in Arp’s ear. George Lowis, a fruiterer, said that from August 1925 to October 1926, he was running two buses to Sumner. From December 24, 1925, to October 19, 1926, accused drove one of the buses. Girl in Boakes' Bus. During that time witness saw the girl Scarff in the bus driven by accused. On June 17, last witness saw accused near Warner’s Hotel about 2.30 p.m. Accused came up to him and witness mentioned that he heard that accused had been detained the previous day, and that a spanner had been found. What did accused say?

Witness: Well, I had previously told him who my informant was —■ that it was Jim Patrick—and he said, “I suppose he wanted to know if you had lost a spanner” What other conversation did you have?. The Police Examination

Witness: He was telling me what happened the previous day when he was detained at the police station. Was anything said about the girl?

Witnes: He was telling me, <letietives said that he had procured some kind of dope for the girl, and he remarked that he did not know any chemist, well enough to procure stuff from him.

Was anything else said about the girl’s condition? Witness: He said that he knew she was in trouble. Was anything else said by Boakes about the girl’s pregnancy? Witness: I asked him is she had ever mentioned who it was and he said, no, she had never mentioned anyone. “Told Him Her Troubles” Witness added that he asked Boakes the reason the girl saw ham, and Boakes replied that the girl used to tell him her troubles. Boakes added that he had enough troubles of his own without bothering about Miss Scarfl's’. William Dickinson, son of the proprietor of the White Diamond Taxis, said that Boakes had been in the employ of the firm since November 6, 1926, and drove one of the White Diamond cabs at the time of the murder. His hours were from 5.30 a.m., until 4.30 p.m. Boakes Drove Car 22, in June. In June, Boakes was the sole driver of car No. 22. Boakes’s running sheet for June Bth, was produced. It showed a trip at 6.35 a.m. from Cashmere to the Square. There had apparently been an erasure on the sheet, which was made out in Boakes’ handwriting. Mr. Donnelly: The sheet for June 14, showed that the meter was off at the end of the day. What does that mean? Witness: The meter broke down at half-past two. He went off at half past four. Mr. Donnelly: You paid him that day?. Witness: Yes. The next morning he started as usual? Witness: Yes. The meter was off altogether that day and he worked on the speedometer? Witness: Yes. Conversation About the Murder. Samuel Halligan, a taxi driver, said that on June 22, he spoke to Bokes about the murder. Boakes said, “I am not worrying about it. I’ve got it on my sheet to

show where I was” Boakes used to wear a military overcoat, added witness

Alfred Moulin, a taxi driver, said that accused used to be on the sama stand with him. He had a conversation with accused two or three weeks after the murder. “Some Other Charlie”

Witness spoke to . accused and said, “You know what things are being said about you round the town, Charlie; that you have been going out with the girl Scarff” Boakes replied that it was not him but some other Charlie. He also said he was going down Colombo Street when he passed the place where the other Charlie worked, and it brought it to his mind then, that this other Charlie used to meet her at night after work and take Her' out, ’ M here the Body was Found

Detective Sergeant Young said that snot where the body was found wa"’ about 400 yards from the shelter shed, and 300 yards from Lake Terrace Road. Alongside the body was a blue raincoat. It had apparently been put on the ground by Miss Scarff to sit on. The surrounding broom was up to eight feet in height and a person could stand there without being seen from the road. Mr. Thomas objected when witness was proceeding to say he had interviewed the boy Mugford, counsel saying that if necessary the police should recall Mugford. Witness said there was no trail of anyone fn scrub. Proceeding.