BURGLARY ALLEGED

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 43, 20 February 1930, Page 4

BURGLARY ALLEGED

TWO MEN ON TRIAL

(By Telegraph.—Pres3 Association.) NAPIER, 19th February,

■', Joseph Coylo and Edward George "■ Stanley Elliott were jointly charged in. ■;. the Supvomo Court to-day with break- .'I ing, and entering tho Hastings Railway; '"■ Station with intent to commit a crime. '•'.' i A further indictment of. being in un-;■:' lawful / possession of explosives was '■; preferred against Coyle. i;, , The Crown case consisted 6£ circum- ' stantial evidence, which sought to con-:. nect the- two accused- with tiro ■•-cri'niG'. '", ■Evidence was given, by .various witness- ' cs to show that, tho safe. a.t,.the-.-.station.:; had been blown open by gelignite, but ';_ the contents undisturbed. ■■ f Constable M'.Cail • gave_ evidence of having, heard the'■.explosion 22 chains, away, and of haying found, on investigation, that the door had been forced/ open, a second-door, tried, and a win--.'. :dow smashed. He-had found tho ac- ,; cusedj Elliott attempting to escape Jjy walking quickly -along the. platform.! close to the,wall,'and in a shadow. A; ! subsequent searching had revealed a.-1-: screwdriver, some small fragments of X glass, and a three-cell torch in accused's,'.' pockets. . v v-- -; Evidence that a pieoe of .chisely later . identified as'broken frpni. such ".a t001,,' possessed byt Coyle, had been lodged in the second door, was also given, to-, gethcr with other connections betweea ,' the sizes of the tools owned by the accused and the marks on tho doors, A and the identification of the swag left ■: at the scene of tho crime as having,, belonged to both Elliott and Coyle. '; Each made a contradictory statement, to the other. ' ; ; Detective-Sergeant Fitzgibbon said Coyle had, evidently expected, before escaping, -that his companion would bo caught. Gelignite had later been found '- at a place where Coyle had been staying, and leather gloves and 14 feet of '•' fuse in his lorry. The case:will bo resumed to-morrow. ■'