PONSONBY MURDER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2142, 22 June 1920, Page 3

PONSONBY MURDER.

STATEMENT BY CONDEMNED MAN. SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN MADE. TWO OTHERS SAID TO BE INVOLVED. Auckland Yesterday. A voluntary statement concerning the murder of Mr A. E. Braithwaite and the subsequent burglary at the Bonsonby Post Office was made on Saturday afternoon by Dennis Gunn, who stands condemned to death for the former crime. The statement was taken by Mr Boynton, S.M., in his official capacity, at Mount Eden Gaol, in the presence of witnesses. No official information is available as to the contents of the document, which has been handed by the Magistrate to the Sheriff, and is being forward by the latter to the Minister for Justice at Wellington. It is understood, however, that the condemned man lias admitted that he and another man robbed the BonMinby Post Office, and that he alleged that a third man shot Mr Braithwaite. Both men mentioned in the statement are in Auckland. So far as can be gathered, no official action other than that of forwarding the statement to the Minister has been taken.

STATEMENT TO GO TO CABINET.

The Minister for Justice (Hon. E. P. Lee) informed a Past reporter \esterday that Gunn had made a statement: before a Magistrate, but he had no knowledge whatever of the* nature of the statement. He had arranged that it shou'd be delivered :is soon iis it arrived by the Auckland express, and il would be considered by Cabinet immediately. The. execution was fixed to take place this morning, and whether any alteration is ma.de in the arrangement depends upon Cabinet’s decision. CABINET DECISION UNALTERED. * A lengthy sitting of Cabinet was held at Wellington yesterday in regard to the Ponsonhy murder ea.se, and Mr .lustiee Chapman, the judge who tried the prisoner, was also consulted by the Government, At the (dose, the Prime ‘Minister (tiic Right Hon. M. E. Massey! stated that “Cabinet had fully considered the statement made by Gunn, and has come to the conclusion that there U nothing to warrant il altering the decision already arrived at. '

GUXX EXECUTED. (By Telegraph —Special lo “Herald.”) Wellington, This Afternoon. Gunn was executed at Auckland at 8 o’clock this morning. [On May 28th, after a trial of four days, Dennis Gunn was a I Auckland sentenced to death hy His Honour Mr Justice Chapman for the murder of Augustus Edward Braithwaile, the Punsonby post master, on Saturday, March 13lh. The murdered man was found by his wile at 9 p.m. on Saturday, Marcli 13lh, lying on the kitchen floor. Before telephoning for the doctor, Mrs Braithwaito found that her husband’s hip pocket had been turned out, and the keys of the post office removed. Gunn was arrested and charged with .the crime, lie was unable to give a satisfactory account of all his movements on the evening of Ihe murder, and after a rather notable trial, in which linger-prinl evidence played the major part, he was convicted and sentenced to death. Mr Justice Chapman remarked that the evidence was absolutely conclusive that the defendant had murdered a worthy servant of the State.]