MURDER TRIAL

Hokitika Guardian, 18 October 1930, Page 2

MURDER TRIAL

TARANAKI' TRAGEDY. ■; TOWNSEND COMMITTED. jf Oy Telegraph— Pree* Afeoeiat*o|i). .?• NEW PLYMOUTH, October 17.' TAXI-DRIVER’S EVIDENCE. •> W. ■ Av O-Dpnnell, Wato. tara, said that he was phoned tp go,to; the' Bridge' Hotel. oir September 17; : shortly after seven o’clock.; There tljip accused handed witness a dpuble-bgjy. , relied gun. Accused said, that'he. want; ed to go to On aero, where he wantpdfw, 4 go duck shotting. Accused paid for the hire of the car on.the way buff. H'p. refused the change, saying:' ‘ ‘Yop r ke#p' the change ; it will be pq good to me';”. In a'conversation, the accused com), plained about his treatment at /Die/ hands of his relatives at Onaero. U|e : accused left the car af Hose’s hopto,: and witness took the cartridges, out qf the gun.- The accused then came l>qc)s in p’ groat riige, saying: “I dq it on principle. The little jprli hara, cuddled to the lady’s legSi aqjl cried.” They then drove to ITrequjjj and later drove back to Onaero. ness saw Constable La Ppuple at Oqjto ero and . drove up to him and send was handcuffed. v VICTIM’S APPEAL. Ruth t?abpn Vickers, aged 17, that she been pied the back todroom'bt her mother’s house in Saokyillh Strepli| On September 15 she w;a# wafeenecl ;i»j| 2.40 in the morning by voices.. heard a mpu’s yoloe say: Bftjtig noivi-i ring and try.” NqJft sjie heal'd the, shuffling >f‘feet and a woman’s voJp|" 'moaming piteously. ,Slie heard' Mrs Townsend say:— , toto'

“Don’t kill me, .but if you. mqft, shoot me—don’t do it with a pocketknife.” to. V to . ;: " v

Witness heard some bumping ajiu; beard Townsend abusing his] wife. Witness then > heard Townsend! trying to get out of the front door./ He sai(l‘:, “Pin a dead man now.” ' Mrs Townsend called put from the.sitting room: “No you’re not, not yet.” then said: “I’ll fix you!” and wept back. After short silence 1 accused came dqwn the passage and witness heard him running outside her, window. That was just after 2.50 a.m.. At this stage the luncheon adjourn-' ment was taken.

A CONVERSATION WITH ACOUSED

Percy Wm. Stanton factory employee' at Motbrui, said lie had known the accused for twenty years. On February 20, 1929, he met him in New Plymouth. They had two drinks. In answer to the accused, witness said he was working forTthe North Taranaki fjDhiry Coy-. Townsend said something about Huse, the manager, and risked witness to toll him lie (Huse) /had a cloud hanging over himwhich would burst at any time. ■- Hfe said this several times. He also said somethlhg about Diok Latham gqlpg to Hamilton to “quiz” on him- Efte talked about the whole family,, and especially “old chap,” and said .thivt ; his (accused’s) wife would take her father’s word before that of her husband. Counsel:—“Did you tell Huse what Townsend said P”—Yes. Was'he drunk when he said it?—l have never seen him drunk in my life; but I would not say he was sober. THE CONSTABLE’S EVIDENCE. Constable Le Pouple said fTiat he was notified of the murder at 0.30 a.m. on September 16. He phoned Huse at 7 o’clock. At 8 o’clock he received a message from Huse that the accused was at his house at Onaero. In company with witness’s son. he hurried tq Onaero. Immediately after his arrival and while on the wav to the house, which was from 50 to 100 yards off the main road, he heard a car tooting as it came down the hill from TJrenui. It was O’Don-' nell’s car, which pulled up opposite witness’s car. THE. ARREST. Witness said he saw the accused in the front seat Witness opened the door of the car on the same side as the accused was sitting. He helped Townsend out on to the road, and told him he was under arrest. He placed handcuffs on him. Witness had been informed that accused was armed with a gun. After putting the handcuffs on him, witness searched his pockets. He found a pocket knife. It had a hooked blade like a pruning knife. It was very sharp, and it looked as if it had been recently sharpened on an oil stone. -, He found seven unexploded shot gun cartridges in a j pocket. Two other live cartridges were banded to witness by O’Donnell, the car driver. A gun was banded to him by O’Donnell. Witness saw the gun in the back of the idr while lie was searching the accused. The ,gun was riot , loaded but it was-assembled ready for use. Witness told the accused he was going to be taken to Waitara. He resisted violently, and said that he would kick the bus to pieces, and that he would have to be dragged there. Witness tried to humour him, but without success. With the assistance of his son, witness tbijew the accused’ on the road, and lashed bis legs with, a rope. ACCUSED’S DECLARATION. Witness s aid the accused had then ‘to be forced to witness’s car, and

brought to the Waitara lock-up. On that day, he \ asked if his wife was dead, and when told she was’ he replied : “It’s a) b— , good job! l< should have done its years ago!" When the knife\was put on the table*, he said: “That’s)what I did it with. That’s the knife!. String me. up six times over! Ido pot want any trial! I did It!” He also s aid: “That’s the khife and that’s the gun. I don’t vyant to put the country to the expense of trying me.” Witness said that he was informed bv the accused that he had walked from New Plymouth tq Waitara, ten miles, that morning in the dark and rain. He also said he was going to shoot Mr and Mrs Huse and Latham, and he expected the police would havq followed him out from New Plymouth, and that if a car had stopped and police had got out, he would have shot the lot pf them, He also said he was going to kill the Huse® and Mr Latham, and then give himself up to the police. *He said he intended to kill himself after he had killed his wife, but be thought he would kill the others first, Witness examined accused's clothes, but cqu)d pot detect any blood stains oil them. His clothes were not wet. When witness got him he appeared to be In a. very excited oondjtion, Witness thought he was suffering from the effects of liquor. ACOUSED COMMITTED. NEW PLYMOUTH, October 19,

Constable King described how ho had found the body of Mrs Townsend lying face downward in a pool of "blood. The Constable and Detective Mciklejohn described how Townsend was brought- to New Plymouth Police Station. He appeared flushed, and was very talkative, and looked as though recovering from a drinking bout. He had said: “I’m the pian! I’ve done it for a good purpose. I must say I was drunk last night. I did it for my daughter’s sake, Is she dead?” “Yes,” replied the Detective. “That’s a good job,” said Townsend. “Dont have a Court. Hang me right away. Jt ought to have been done years ago.” This concluded the evidence, and Townsend was committed for trial at the Supreme Court. An inquest having been held in conjunction with the preliminary hearing of the murder charge, Mr R. W. Tate S.M., adjourned the delivery of the findirg till after the Supreme Court trial.