Committed For Trial On Charge Of Murder

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30980, 9 February 1966, Page 3

Committed For Trial On Charge Of Murder

Nola Gertrude Lorimer, aged 47, a land agent, was committed to the Supreme Court for trial after depositions had been taken before Mr E. S. J. Crutchley, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday on a charge that she murdered her mother, Reta Jane Coxhead, on December 1.

Lorimer, who was represented by Mr R. A. Noung, with him Mr J. R. Milligan, pleaded not guilty. Mr C. M. Roper prosecuted. No application was made for bail.

In the six hours of the hearing, evidence was given by 25 witnesses.

The public gallery was full throughout the hearing.

Margaret Alice Mundy, who worked for the accused as a part-time domestic said that the_ accused left home about 9.45 a.m. on December 1 and returned about 11.10 a.m., when she made a telephone call in which she said she was going to her office and would then take her mother to lunch. She left the house for the second time at 11.15 a.m. Clara Lowrie, a housewife, said she left her house at 392 Papanui road at 9.15 a.m. on December 1 and returned about 10.30 a.m. She found a card from L. J. Lorimer, land agent, under the back door. Her son arrived home just after 12.20 p.m., and shortly afterwards the accused called to see him and stayed for about 10 minutes, discussing the sale of her son’s cottage. \ isit To Office Benita Gladys Ida Lulham, married, a saleswoman employed by the accused, said that when the accused came ot the office about 11.25 a.m. on December 1 she appeared her usual self. The accused remained at the office until 11.45 a.m. waiting for Mr Lowrie to telephone. She then left and did not return that day. Phyllis Louisa Stevens, married, a part-time cashier employed by the New Zealand Fanners’ Co-operative Association of Canterbury, Ltd., said that just after 11 a.m. on December 1 a woman who could have been the accused presented a cheque to be cashed. She sent the woman to the credit manager to have the cheque initialled. A long time later, but before she went to lunch, the woman returned. She said she would not cash the cheque but would pay an account owed by Mrs Coxhead with it. The woman asked her to put the change in an envelope, as the money was not hers. Mrs Sinclair came in about 11.50 a.m., the witness said. Margaret Bamford Sinclair, married, a housewife, said she met the accused coining down the steps outside the Farmers’ shop at 11.50 a.m. on December 1. Discussed Sale Graeme William Lowrie, a real-estate salesman, said he met the accused at his mother’s home at 392 Papanui road between 12.20 p.m. and 12.40 p.m. and discussed with her the sale of a property. The accused discussed the matter in a business-like way.

Malcolm Moore, an assistant ticket sales supervisor for the National Airways Corporation, said he lived almost directly opposite Mrs Coxhead’s home. On December 1 he was leaving home about 12.50 p.m. when he saw the accused standing in the drive of her mother’s house. She told him she was worried because she had called to take her mother to lunch and could not make anyone hear and the doors of the house were locked. She had gone away and telephoned her mother, but there had been no response. After the accused told him that the back door was locked, with the key inside the lock, he tried to force the door and then broke a glass panel inthe door. He and his wife and: the accused went inside. He f asked the accused whether: Mrs Coxhead was inside, and-j she replied: “Yes, she’s on the: floor of the bathroom." As they walked along the drive to his house the ac-; cused said she thought Mrs Coxhead’s throat had been j cut. Mrs Lorimer did not show ■

imuch distress, but she hung •on to his arm until they : reached his house. Doris Margaret Moore, the wife of the previous witness, j said that when the accused ■was going into Mrs Coxhead’s house she said several times: “Don’t leave me.” The accused led the way across Mrs Coxhead’s bed--room. When she got to the ■ door she stopped and said: ! “Oh, she’s been murdered,” or "Her throat’s been cut.” The I witness said: “Come on and i we’ll ring the doctor." The ■ accused said: “She might be ' alive.” The accused did not go into the hall and did not touch anything in the hall. The i witness stayed with the accused until the doctor arrived. Doctor’s V isit ! John Douglas Lough, a I doctor, said that on the morning of December 1 he made a i routine monthly visit to Mrs I Coxhead between 10 a.m. and i 10.15 a.m. While he was (there there was a happy and normal relationship between Mrs Cox-head and the accused. He left the house about 10.1 a! a.m. . About 1.10 p.m. he received’ a telephone call from a Mrs Moore, who asked him to go to 9 Albany street. Then the accused came on the line and said: “Somebody appears to have cut her throat.” The witness said that Mrs Coxhead appeared to have been dead for some time. He did not move the body except to touch the wrist. He did not know where the accused was when he was conducting the examination, but he had the impression that she was moving behind him in the : hall. He did not remember (the accused touching anything. ’Appeared Composed’ I The accused appeared reimarkedly composed. On his I first visit to the house he deI tected no signs of alcohol on the accused’s breath, but on the second visit it was very j strong* Apart from the smell (the accused showed no signs iof intoxication. After he had spoken to the police on the telephone he warned the accused not to touch anything. The accused went out and did something to the lock of the back door. He suggested to her that she leave it alone until the police arrived. Leonard Lawrence Tread- ‘ gold, a pathologist, said he | formed the opinion when he went to the Albany street house that Mrs Coxhead was lying on her back on the floor when her throat was cut Blows On Head The post-mortem examination caused him to believe, without knowing the instrument used, that the probable minimum number of blows was two to the middle front of the skull, three to the middle back of the skull, and a possible 14 to the area above and behind the right ear. He thought the number of blows struck while Mrs Coxhead was lying on the

■ floor was two to the middle of the forehead, and certainly a greater number above and behind the right ear. Death was caused by a cut throat and lacerations to and hemorrhage of the brain. It occurred between 11 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. on December 1. The witness said he examined the accused on December 1 for injuries and found several small diffused bruises, probably not more than two days old. The small superficial layers of skin on the palm of the right hand had been hollowed out, and there was a shiny surface perfectly clean. On December 4, he said, he examined eight table knives to see whether they could cut skin. One was quite sharp enough to have been the instrument used. Only one stroke would be needed. Fingerprint Percival James Clark, the Dominion analyst employed by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research at Petone, said that on December 20 he received a piece of glass bearing a fingerprint and pieces of glass fitted together to form a circle. He was asked to determine whether the fingerprint was on the outer or inner face of the glass. Microscopic examination established that the fingerprint was on the inner surface. Mr Young: Do you say that the fingerprint could not have got on to the glass until it was broken? The witness: I would think that. Detective-Sergeant Edmund John Stackhouse said in crossexamination that the accused came to the police station on the Saturday night after the death of her mother and voluntarily gave samples of her blood and hair. Identification Harold Harry Fisher Lissette, a detective sergeant in charge of the fingerprint and photographic section at the Wellington Central police station, said that on December 1 he went to 9 Albany street and took possession of fragments of glass of a broken barometer dial. One of the fragments had a fingerprint on it. He assembled the pieces and gave them to Mr Clark, of the D.S.I.R. Pieces of the broken barometer also had fingerprints on them which could be identified. He arranged for the removal of an architrave, which had finger and palm prints, from the bathroom wall. The glass cover of the thermometer also had fingerprints which were suitable for identification. The witness said he identified finger and palm prints on the exhibits as belonging to the accused. Led Inquiries Detective Senior-Sergeant Stuart Blair McEwen said he took charge of inquiries at 9 Albany street. The accused told him that she left her mother’s house by the back door to keep a business appointment with a Mr Brown at 100 Innes road. She drove there and waited a few minutes until he arrived.

The accused told him that she showed Brown through the house, but he did not appear very interested. He lived in Hoon Hay, and was not on the telephone. He had telephoned her at her home. She thought he had recently arrived from the North Island.

The accused said that when she entered her mother’s house with the help of Moore she touched nothing in the hall and removed nothing. She had not touched the barometer apart from occasionally tapping it to see whether it was working. Witness said that while they were going to the station and at the station he smelt what appeared to be alcohol on the accused's breath. She told him the only alcohol she had that day was a teaspoonful of brandy with an eggnog or eggflip at breakfast. During the four hours he was with the accused she appeared composed, and answered questions freely and rationally, the witness said. Hospital Visit On December 8. after confirming that the accused was fit to be discharged from hospital and obtaining a medical certificate to this effect, he went to the Christchurch Hospital. That was at 12.45 p.m. At her request he telephoned her solicitor, Mr N Buchanan, who arrived at 1.3 n.m. In the presence of Mr Buchanan and DetectiveSergeant Porteous. he told the accused that he wanted to ask her about her movements on the day of her mother’s death. He told her that she did not have to answer the questions, but that if she did so her answers would be taken down and might be used in evidence. The accused said she would like to see her son and daughter, who were at the station, and she did so. He took notes of the accused’s answers to questions, and asked her to read them. She did so with the assistance of Mr Buchanan and himself. She signed each

page and made several correc tions.

In Detective Senior-Sergeant McEwen's notes, which were entered as evidence, the accused was alleged to have said that she arrived at her mother’s house about 10 a.m. and Dr. Lough came later. It could have been about 10.15 a.m., but she was not sure. Her mother had half drunk her coffee when the doctor arrived. She did not know how long the doctor was there. When he left she heated the remainder of her mother's coffee, and they had a cup together. Her mother went into the bathroom to clean her teeth, and the accused suggested that her mother get new dentures, as her present set was discoloured. She said that Park Harris would send someone to the house, and there would be no need for her mother to leave home. Her mother said she saw no reason for that. The accused said: “You would look much prettier with new ones.” Her mother flared up and said: “You young people are all the same You have no respect for your elders. You just completely spoil Kay. She has no respect for anybody. Don’t be so damn stupid.” The notes continued: “She just gave me a tap on the cheek, and I pushed her and she fell and hit her head. After mother had fallen I thought she would never speak to me again and 1 wondered what the children would think. 1 didn’t mean to push her. “Panicked” “I absolutely panicked, and I took the barometer off the wall and hit her several times. She was still breathing, and I thought: ‘Oh my God’ and 1 rushed to the kitchen cupboard and got a knife and cut her throat. “I took the knife and washed it and put it back in thei drawer of the cupboard. Theni I wrapped the barometer in i newspaper, put it in the car, | locked the back door and went out the front door. I went to Abberley crescent, and near Abberley Park where a bit of concrete comes up right by the gates of Abberley Park I threw the barometer and the paper into the creek. “Then I had an appointment at Innes road, and 1 met a Mr Brown outside 100 Innes road and then I went home and to the office. “1 was so distraught that 1 came back from the office and called in at my mother’s place, but I didn’t go inside the house. Then 1 called back and got Mr Lowrie’s property for sale. Then I came back and called back at the house and met Malcolm Moore going back from lunch and I told him I thought something had happened to mother, as I had called to take her to lunch but I could not get in. “The reason that I called at my mother’s at 10 a.m. was that she wanted me to cash a cheque for £3O at the Farmers, and if they would not cash it to get it cashed at the bank.

‘Thad arranged to pick her up just after 12 to take her to lunch, as I take her to lunch almost every week.

“There was no intention whatever in my mind to harm my mother when I called, as I absolutely adore her. Over the last three months I have been feeling the strain of work. I have been taking noludars and one antatensol tablet a day as a tranquilliser. “Completely Correct” “1 have read this statement, and it is a completely correct account of happenings on that tragic day,” the notes, which were signed Nola G. Lorimer, concluded. Detective Senior-Sergeant McEwen said that extensive inquiries were made to find the Mr Brown who went to Innes road, but they were not successful. To Mr Young the witness said that when he went to the Christchurch Hospital on December 8 to see the accused she had been a patient there since early the previous Sunday. He knew she had been in hospital as a result of an overdose of drugs. It was correct that the police had a note she wrote before she was taken to hospital. When he went to the hospital he did not know the accused wanted to confess. The accused’s son and daughter were not ar the station by coincidence when she went there from the hospital. It was decided that they should be interviewed at the same time as their mother to see whether any further information could be obtained.