COOPER SENT FOR TRIAL

Chronicle (Levin), 15 April 1948, Page 3

COOPER SENT FOR TRIAL

Press Associationj

Hearing of Murder Charge Concludes

(Per

CHRISTCHURCH, April 14. William Eric Cooper was committed to ihe Supreme Court for txial by Mr. H. P. Lawry, S.M., when the hearing of the charge against him of murdering his stepson, Leslie James Boawell, was ooncluded in-the -Magistrate's Court today. Cooper, it was ailcged, murdered Boswell who was age'd three years, at Clifton, Sumner, on February 9. He pleaded not guilty. The heaTing, l^sting nine hours in all, was continued from yesterday. The most detailed evidehce today was that of Dr. D. T. Stewart, assistant palhologist at the Christchurch Publie Uospital, who described the injuries suft'ered by Boswell and • who testified that he had found blood stains on Cooper 's clothing. Mr. A. T. Donnelly and Mr. A. W. Brown appeared for the Crown. Cooper was represented by Mr. J. K. Moloney and with him Mr. JD. J. Drake. Detective R. S. Smith corroborated the ev.idonce given by Sergoant A. R. Grant on what happened when they iiitcrviewed Cooper. The detective said ho took the suit and shoes whieh Cooper was wearing at the interview and handed them to Dr. Stewart. The finding of the body of Boswell was desci'ibod by Constable E. G. Dwen who was a inember of the search party on February 11. Dwen said that lie found the body about 11.30 a.m. while searching through dense broom uea'r a standard wire fence about 30 feet from Clifton extension roadway. Tho body was lying face downwards. There was a broken trail of blood from the body to within a few feet of the road. Corroboration of Sergeant Grant 's evidence concerning the visit to Sumner of a police party with Cooper on February 10, was given by Detective 0. P. Burns who said that the followiug day at tho Central Police Station, Cooper had told him: "I want. to get out of here. I should not be here. 1 should be searching for the boy. You have nothing on me. You have not cliarged me with murder yet." Dr. Stewart said he was a member of the police party Which was sent to Clifton hill on February 11 to view the body. He corroborated evidenec of previous witnesses concerning the posilion of the body. There was a considorable amount of blood under the face and on the right hand and some on the grass and ground. He identiiied an exliibit produced as a piece of stone which had been found in a spot just below the road. When found it had blood and halr adhering to it. A fraginent of bone and piece of blood stained grass were also found nearby. The same day, said the doetor, he" carried out a post-mortcm cxamiuation of the body. The injuries to the head appeared to have beeu caused by many blows by an instruinent with moderately sharp, jagged edges. Part of the instrument would have had a'projection about 3A inehcs long and not wider than some Lwo inchcs^B 'TUft Akull ,ljad been com-, pletelv broken. The main penetrating tvound showed on the right side of the skull. The child would have lost eonsciousness vcry shortly after the blows were struck. The injuries to the face ahd nock appeared' tO:be initlie nature of abrasioiis attd scratiihes , siich ,&8' could have been caused either'By glanc' ing blows from some instrument dr by tho face or ncck being dragged by sqrne bushcs or stones. Thesc injtirics wollld' liave bocn caused before death. The injuries to the right arai and index finger could have been caused through the child attempting to ward off the blows causing the injuries. There were brpises on the upper lip and upper teeth were loosened. These could have been caused by presaure over the mouth as by a hand or by the face boing pressed on to tho ground. The bruising round the injured paTts and an oedema of the brain indicated that death occurred possibly some hours after the main injuries were received. This would be eonsistent with tlie child having receiving the main injuries near the road vvhere the piece of bone was found and with its having been dragged to a point further down thc track to where the body was found. In his opinion death occurred morc than 12 hours before noon on February 11 (when he made the examination) and not more than 36 hours before that timo. The injuries might have been inflidcd some hours before death. Describing the stone found a little distance above where the body was found, Dr-. Stewart said that it weighed about one pound. It was roughly wedge sliaped, it was 5 inclies long, 3 inchcs deep and. 1|. inches across the broad part. Thcrc was a jagged sharp edge opposite the broad part. Repeated blows from the stone could have produced the injuries on the boy's head. By examining hairs found on the stone, through a microscope, and coniparing them with hairs taken from ; tho head of the dead child, he was able to say that thc lwo samplcs were similar and could have been from the same head. Stains on the trousers handed to him by detective Smith suggested that blood could be present but tests for the delinite presence of blood were uegativc. He had found blood stains in the culf of the right leg of^ the trousers. Several of the stains on the shoes he examined were blood stains. Several areas of the trousers showed a bigh ehloride content. This would indicate that these areas liad been cleaned or washed with some fluid with a high ehloride content. Sea water could have caused this higher content. Kemarks made by Gooper in his presence -were repeated by Senior Detective F. J. Brady who was in charge of the police investigations in the case. When witness ha(l asked Cooper if he would care to be present at the opening of the inquest on February 12, he had replied: "Are you trying to pin the murder on me?" "When charged with murder on February 16 .he had said: "Well, so I have got the charge of murder. Well, I still say I am innocent and I still say I did not do it."