Supreme Court Man ‘battered wife to death without reason’

Press, 24 April 1979, Page 7

Supreme Court Man ‘battered wife to death without reason’

After 36 years of happy marriage, a man, who was described as gentle, patient and extremely affectionate and considerate to his wife, for no apparent reason battered her to death with a claw hammer in the bathroom of their immaculate home in Halswell, Mr Justice Casey and a jury were told in the Supreme Court yesterday. The defence of insanity has been raised in the trial Of Frederick David Stolces, aged 58, a former Air New Zealand administration and claims clerk, on a charge of murdering his wife, Mary Ellen Stokes, aged 58, on January 3. The trial will finish today. Messrs G. K. Pankhurst and I. A. McCaw appear for the Crown, and Messrs N. R. W. Davidson and S. C. Barker for Stokes who has pleaded not guilty. Dr Hamish McKinlay Morton, said that on January 3 he was in charge of the intensive care unit at the Christchurch Hospital when Mrs Stokes was admitted at 10.15 a.m. suffering from serious head injuries.

' Mrs Stokes was uncon- ; scious and was unable to ; breath without the assistance s of a respirator. She was , bleeding profusely from the ■ nose, mouth and left ear. i There was a ragged scalp • laceration and her skull was ; fractured. ■ For the next seven hours > her condition remained the ; same and she continued to bleed. She died at 5.55 p.m., , Dr Morton said. I lan Richard Clarke, a carpenter, said that Mr and Mrs I Stokes had been his [ neighbours in Halswell Road • for about 17 years. They were a very amicable , couple. About 9 a.m. on January 3 Mr Clarke said that his ' attention was drawn to '■ Stokes who was waving to ‘ him to come outside. As • soon as he spoke to Stokes ■ it was obvious that he was ! very distressed and wanted help. Stokes did not speak ■ in a normal voice when he 1 said: “I think I’ve killed ■ Mary.” i As he escorted Stokes back i to his home he said: “Don’t t worry about me, help Mary.” i After telling a postwoman what Stokes had said and

asking her to go with them Mr Clarke said he asked a neighbour to call the ambulance.

On making a search of the house he found Mrs Stokes lying unconscious on the bathroom floor in a pool of blood. He put a towel under her head and threw the hammer lying by her feet out the back door.

A cup of tea was poured for Stokes, but he was trembling so much he could not hold the cup so witness held it while he sipped from it. Stokes kept asking how he was going to pay his bills. He asked witness to turn off the power and water and to empty the refrigerator because “I don’t think I’ll be back here for quite a while.” He had bloodstains over his face, arms and shirt. To Mr Davidson Mr Clarke said that Mr and Mrs Stokes appeared to be a happy well matched couple. Stokes was a quiet, gentle, man, who was proud of his wife. His garden and home were well kept. In November, 1978, Mr and Mrs Stokes went to England to spend Christmas

with their relations but they; returned to New Zealand; before Christmas because! they were concerned they might be stranded because of| strikes in England. After his return Stokes didi not look well. He became over anxious about repairing the floor of his shower. His complexion was very grey and witness was concerned about him. Detective Sergeant David Porteous said that he spoke to Stokes at his home at 9.50 a.m. on January 3. Stokes said: “I loved her, Oh God. Things started going wrong. I kept hitting her.” After a brief silence as they sat in the police car on the way to the station, Stokes said: “I tried to kill her. God, I tried to kill her. Who will look after her after she gets well. She won’t be well after what I did to her.” At the Central Police Station Stokes said that he had been born in London in 1920, had been married for 36 years and been in New Zealand for 26 years. There had been no trouble between him and his wife but he had been getting depressed because his house needed repairs and he had no money to pay for them. He had no superannuation.

They had gone to England to see his mother and on their return he realised that he had no money in the

bank. Stokes admitted that he had considered killing i i himself and his wife byi I driving the car into a bank] [but he did not have the! 'guts. i That morning his wife was getting dressed after having a shower and he went in with some tools to do a job on the shower. The upkeep on the house and' garden was getting too much! for him and he could see no' way out of it. His wife! knew he was depressed and! had suggested that he see a; doctor. She was loving and understanding. His wife tried to help him, but he could not get rid of those thoughts. On the previous two nights he had taken valium tablets to get some sleep. In a written statement Stokes said he had had the hammer in his right hand as his wife was dressing. “She screamed when I hit her on the back of the head. I don’t know why I hit her. She screamed and fell and I went down on my knees and hit her and kept on hitting her. “I don’t know why I did it. We had been married for 36 years and had been very happy together. If she survives' I don’t know what will happen to her. I hit her about five or six times and ran out to my neighbour. I dropped the hammer,” Stokes said in the statement.

ti He had never harmed her ;i before and he did not know- I why he had done this to her. ■ : After the ambulance came : ;he wanted to help but he ■ felt that he could not, said , Stokes. Because Stokes appeared j ; to be in a state of shock he 1 i had him examined by Dr K. ' ‘'O’Connor. Detective Porteous 1 i'said. Originally Stokes ' i was charged with attempted' 1 >|murder, but after his wife! Hdied witness went to see! l|him next day at Sunnysider 11 Hospital. i When Stokes was told 1 I that his wife was dead and I I that he was to be charged 5 with murder he reeled back : > and screwed himself up into 1 - the position of an unborn ; child. Stokes made sounds ; but not words. Detective' t Porteous said. > Opening his case Mr Da- ; vidson said that for a man ■ of impeccable character to i take the life of the woman t he ioved and on whom he : was intensely dependant ' [ there had to be something 1 tragically wrong. I Evidence would be given 1 that Mr and Mrs Stokes 1 were devoted to one another ' and were inseparable. They ' only had each other because ■ they had no children and no I relatives in New Zealand. • They had achieved a lot, had I built and paid off their [ house and had enormous ' ’ pride in each other and in their home.

At the time when Stokes: fatally injured his wife he < was suffering from a mas-/ sive psychotic depression i: which had developed with| horrifying rapidity. His real-11 ity was so distorted by the J mental illness that he suf-|i fered dillusions. His thought patterns had completely dis-, intergrated and he had lost control of his mind and ac-'i itions. | For 18 months before this jtragic incident there had (been a very slow change in I Stokes's personality. Thej onset of the depression had I been gradual but the trip to! England had been a disaster! and had triggered off a rapid I progression of the disease. i Everything contrived! against Stokes in England. The weather had been ap-, palling and strikes were| plaguing the country. He had an unjustified fear of being stranded in the country and running out of money. He became so desperate that he fled back to New Zealand with his wife without even saying goodbye to his elderly mother. A massive change had taken place in Stokes so that by the end of 1978 h e was showing extraordinary signs of mental illness. His sense of humour and fun for which he had been noted disappeared as he became enveloped in a sea of dispondency. ■

I Stokes became obses—!with the idea that the> were 'ruined and were povertyIstriken. He mistakenly believed that his home was falling down about his head ! and he had no money to reIpair it. None of his worries had a basis in fact. As he was about to repair the [shower his mind finally (snapped. i Oser the years Stokes had always exercised excessive .control over himself. He 1 never had any arguments [with his wife or others until ! recently. He had always '[repressed anger with incredible control. Mr Davidson I said. I Jack Newton, of West Melton, said that he had i known Mr and Mrs Stokes •jfor more than 22 years. '[They were a happy couple • with a great sense of nu- ’ mour which was what first - attracted him to them. They i had a unique relationship and he had never heard i them exchange a cross word, i They always went out to- ' gether. Professor Reginald MedhI cott, a psychiatrist, of > Dunedin, said that Stokes ! was suffering from a depressive psychosis or insantity when he attacked his wife and did not have a proper I appreciation of what he was doing or that it was morally wrong. Any understanding he had of the act was in ret--1 respect.