Doctor Says Deceased Alive When Put In Water

Chronicle (Levin), 15 April 1948, Page 5

Doctor Says Deceased Alive When Put In Water

WELLINGTON, April- 15. "in. my opinion deceased was still alive.When he was put in the water. I think it prohable that he Was then in extreffiis/' said Dr. P. P. Lynch, pathologist, giving evidence today at the inquest 011 the' death of FraneiS Roy Wilkins, whose shot and battered body_ was found in Bvans Bay- on April 23; iast year. t | The inquest -was begun in the Magistrate's Court before the Coroner, Mr. W. G. L. Mellish, and Was condueted by Chief Detective J. SruGe Young. it is expected that by the time all the evidence is t'aken, about 30 j witnesses would have been heard. Dr. Lynch, who was the flrst wit- , ness, described an examination he had made of Wilkins' body on the morning of its recovery . from| Evans Bay. He described bullet noles in, the clothing, and said the body bore four bullet wounds. One was in the left arm, one in the ief-t breast, one in the back and another involving only the thickness of the skin on the right wrist. On the back of the head, on the i-ight side, there were three ragged wounds or ' splits of the scalp, he said. They were clearly not bullet 'wounds, but appeared' to have been caused by some blunt and heavy nstrument. After describing in detail the wounds inflicted on the body, Dr. Lynch summed up the conclusions he had arriyed at from the p'ost mortem appearance. "Deceased was struck at least three heavy olows on the -back of the head by some blunt instrument," he said. 'One of these caused a fracture of -,he skull and a contusion of the anderlylng brain. This was a serious injury, but not one likeiy in itself to be fatal. it would probably render the victim unconscious but would not necessarily do so. Fr:-m . the appearance of the body and clothing, it would appear tnai hve shots were fired. at deceased. The one which entered the left arm and chest, and damaged tne spinal cord, was a mortal injury. Such a wokmd would, in my opinion, by reason of the injury to ilit spmal cord, be quickly fatal." Dr. Lynch said the combined effect of the head injuries and gunshot wounds would certainly be :atal, and, in his opinion, quickly fatal. He would think the period bf survival from such injuries might only be a matter of minutes — certainly onlv a mtater of hours,

In his opinion deceaseu was stili alive when he was put into the water. It was probable that he was then in extremis. "Death was due to h&sd injuries. gunshot wounds of the chest and spine and drowning," said Dr. Lynch. On April 24, 1947, continued witaess, he made an examination of a motor-car which belonged to deceased. A sample of blood obtainev therefrom was shown to be human Btood recovered from the sea wai, at Aberdeen Quay was also human "On Sunday, April 27, 1947, in company with police officers, I went to a garage at Ii3 Adeiaidt Road," said witness. "I was shown jy police oificers a caravan coverec with a canvas cover. I saw then were bloodstains on the cover, and uhat these were most plentiful or. the corner nearest the door from the front of the garage to the bacjx uf the garage. There were numercus spatters of blood and the shape of the bloodstains cl-eariy inaicacet ohai the stains were made by flymg blood. At two places on Lie coter, and at one point on the dooi oetween the front and back of the garage, there were splashes oi olood in which there ' were smali ounches of hajr. This hair appeared to be hair from a scalp." Witness, said, that, in' association with ' jhe |pplic.e" officers, he had removed froin the : canvas cover the f;.cu#ts-ef - hair' and from the Wooden door the portion of wood to which / the hair was adherent. He hao compared them with the hairs from deceased's scalp in the region of the wounds, and they were found to bear a resemblance. Appearances wars- thus consistent with the hairs m the garage hav- . ing come from the scalp of deceased, and i'rom the scalp in tht neighbourhood of the scalp wounds. Dr. Lynch said that while he was in the garage he saw a number oi mechanics' tools. He also saw a aumber of hammers and thought any one of them could have causea the Wbund in the head, which caused a depressed fracture of the skull. . Witness described' his examination of a hat found floating south of Burnham Wharf on April 22. A split in the crown would correspond closely with the position of the upper of the three wounds. On April 20 he received from the police a hammer described as having been found by Edward John Solomon at 130 Adelaide Road on April 25, 194*7, continued Dr. Lynch. It was si'milar to another which witness had previously seen ac the garage at.118 Adelaide Road. In his opinion it or Some similar hammer couid. have caused the wounds in the scalp and the skull fracture. There were dark stains •on the hammer, which witness seraped off for examination. There was no blood on the scrapings when* thev were examined microscopically and chemically. Witness produced the vault of deceased's skull, showing the depressed fracture, the hammer referred to, and also mounted portions of the canvas and wood with bloodstains- adherent to them. For comparative purposes a portion of deceased's scalp in the region of the head wounds was also produced, The hearing is proceeding.