YOUNG MAN FACES MURDER CHARGE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 22, 19 October 1937, Page 3

YOUNG MAN FACES MURDER CHARGE

-PresB AiBociation.)

ARUNDEL TRAGEDY

Fatal Attack on Elderly Storekeeper 38 POLICE WITNESSES

(By Telegraph-

TIMARU, Last Night. " Randall Reginald David Smith, aged 26, a labourer, appeared in the Magistrate's Courfc this morning on trial for the murder of William Gaby, a 73-year-old storekeeper -of Arundel, near the southeru approach to Rangitata traffic bridge, nine miles north of Geraldine, Gaby, who was a bachelor living alone on his premises, was the victim of a brutal attack and was found dead with a severe wound on his forehead on the , morning of September 11. The police will call 38 witnesses, and it is expected that the hearing will occupy two days. Mr W, D. Campbell was the Crown prosecutor and accused was represented by Dr. A. L. Haslam, of Christchurch. rindlng the Body Johan Alexander McComb, a farm labourer, at Arundel, said he had known Gaby for 19i yeara. Ho described the location of the store where, he said, he had seen Gaby between 7.30 and 8 o'clock on the evening of September 10. Witness spent some tim'e- in the kitchen with Gaby and at that time fche store was open and lit. In aidition, there was a hurricane lamp in the kitchen standing at the back door tvhere there was also & pig bucket. When witness left, Gaby was alone. Chafles Goodwill Johnston, a labourer, of Arundel, said that he went to the store about 10 a.m. on Septemb'ei 11, but the building was shut. The Uowser in front was open. Witness went round to the back and noticed tke dooi of the hut Gaby used as a dairy was open. He could not flnd Gaby there, so he went to the back door of the house and called: "Are you there, HUI." There was no answer. "I opened the door and saw him lying there. He was face down on the floor with his feet about a yard from the door. He was fully dressed. I did not touch the body, but surmised that he was dead." Witness then went to the nearest neighbour, Edward Mathieson, and the pair returned to the shop. Mathieson, went to telephone the police. Witness remained at the shop all the time until the police came. The body was not moved or touched. Clarence May Mathieson, wife of a neighbour, described how Gaby came to their place every day to collect scrap3 for his pigs. The bucket was always left at the back door. On September 10 the bucket was left and the next morning ift had been removed and another left in its place. Witness did not see Gaby take the bucket away. She was in the store about 7 o'clock that evening and saw Gaby chatting to Johnston. He appeared to be very happy. ■ Hugh Harkness Pattison, a farra hand, of Ruapuna, said he was travel* ling to Geraldine on the night of September 10 and at about 8.15 he passed Gaby walking south about 50 yards from the store. Gaby was carrying a lantern. When witness passed on his way home about 9.30 there "wero no lights in the store. Constable D. Callanan, of Geraldine, said the front door was locked and the back door was closed, but not locked. Lying at the back door were a hurricane lamp, which had been upset, a tin bucket, a paper bag of potatoes, and a box of matches. On tho kitchen floor he found Gaby's body lying face downw'ards. The wrists and ankles were loosely tied with bootlaces and there was another bootlace lying across the feet. On the floor were scattered some sweets and sixpence. On the floor of the bedroom was another sixp'ence. tn the shop near the till there was more money lying on the floor. On the floor near tho head of the body thore was blood. How the Victim Died. Dr. Obarles Stanley Praser, of Timaru, who performed the postmortem examination on Gaby's body, said that after examining all tho organs he formed the opinion that death was due to concussion and shock. A blow over the left eye, causing a lacerated wound one and a-half inches long and a quarter of an inch wide, would be in accordance with the appearance of tho brain. The wound appeared to have been caused by a blunt instrumcntv used with some forcc. It would be possible for the wound to I>e caused by a pieco of flrewood. * Agreemeut with the view that Gaby's death was due to concussion of the brain on the left tcmple was expressed by Dr. Edgar E. Thomson, assistant pathologist of the Christchurch Hospital, who also uarried out a postuiortem examination. Over tlie right oye there was a inark and a ridging of the boue could bo felt. There was no iracture of the skull. Thero were superficial abrasions on tho neck and elbows. Tho wound was typical of one caused by a blunt instrument. Witness produced a portion of the skull and a piece of skin which was stretehed across it, showing the abrasion of the right eye. i Human Bloodstains. From the store at Arundel he took away specimens of earth from outside the back door, continued Dr Thomson. The stain on the carth was human blood, as were two other stains found on the outside of the back door. He scrapcd some of the blood clots from tho kitchen floor and found that this was also human blood. He received a fawn overcoat from Sonior-yergeant * llewitt and on it found several stains. He paid particular attention to a patcb [ btlttVK itA.iSRfefetedi

looked as if it had been spongecL He removed a piece of the cloth and a teyjt showed .that the stain wa3 due to human blood. Another stain above the hem of the coat was also human blood. A pair of grey trousers which were handed to him by Senior-Sergeant Hewitt also bore human bloodstains. .There was a small reddish-brown stain on the workiug boot which he received and the test had shown that it was human blood. Witness also described bloodstains on the clothing which Gaby was wearing when found. "There are four human blood groups, and it is possible to test a Diooti stain and place it in its ,respective group, but it is impossible to say that that stain js from any one particular individual," said Dr. Thornton. "If the stain is of a different 'group from that of a particular individual then one can say that that stain did not com'e from that in-' 'dividual." He placed Gaby's blood in group B, but had not yet grouped the other stains. Detective-Sergeant Thomas, Timaru, said he searched Gaby 's shop and found several lollies on the floor. In a glass jar on a shelf there were similar lollies. Lying on the kitchen floor was a lucky charm wateh. There were a number, of stains on the floor, and one of these appeared as though something had been dragged over it. The back of deceased's coat had dirt on it, as though it had been \dragged. Just outside the. back door was a ,box which served aS; a step, and across this and also across the floor to the left toe of the body Was a freshly-made mark, It appeared. to have been made by the deceased's boot. The till in the shop contained money and he found in the bedroom a tin containing £14 30s in notes. In an unlocked cupboard he discovered five halficrowns and four florins. He also fqund a leather glove on the floor to which no mate was discovered. Another glove was found in the storeroom and a mate to this was found outside. Constable Kearton, police photographer, detailed* a large number of photographs takeu and said ho photographed the sole of a boot found in Timaru and the nails corresponded with the nail-marks found on the floor of Ga'by's shop. ? Accused's Movements The Court sat for two hours to-nighfc when a f urther 14 witnesses were heard, making 28 for the day. Ten remain be heard to-morrow. The evidence to-night concerned the movements of accused from a few days before September 10 until the day following the murder. It was shown that he borrowed money. from a friend at Alford Forest the day before the murder and on the afternoon of the murder was seen in ^Gaby's store talking to • Gaby. At 8.30 that night he was picked up by Alistair Langeson on the Rangitata' bridge, north of Gaby's, and brought to Timaru, where a taxi-driver took him to a boardinghouse. Next morning a taxi 'took him to a men 's outfitters shop where he purchased a complete outfit of clothes at a total cost of £4 8s lOd for which he paid. He also paid the night 's board and paid the taxi 12s. Accused left some old elothes ai «the outfitter's shop and some at the boardinghouse, and these were secured by the police. Accused left Timaru by service car for Dunedin on the morning following the murder under the narae of Leckie, which name he also gave. to the boardinghouse keeper. The case will conclude to-morrow.