THE GRAND JURY DECIDES

NZ Truth, Issue 1146, 17 November 1927, Page 5

THE GRAND JURY DECIDES

Taxi-driver Boakes For Trial On Capital Charge

TRUE BILLS ON BOTH COUNTS

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Christchurch Representative.)

I confess, Mr. Foreman and . gentlemen of the jury* that so far as I personally am concerned, I have the gravest doubt as to whether a true bill should be returned against the accused on this charge." WITH these words, Judge Adams concluded his lengthy charge to

the grand jury at the opening, of the criminal sessions at Christchurch on Tuesday, m connection with the murder charge preferred against Charles William Boakes, taxi-driver, of having murdered Ellen Gwendoline Isobel Scarff, at Burwood, on June 15 last. In an exhaustive review of the evidence prepared by the Crown against Boakes on the capital charge, his honor said, inter alia: "You are not called upon to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused on either the I capital charge or, the minor charge of having supplied to Ellen Scarff a noxij ous drug. That is the duty of the common jury. "It is your duty, however, to satisfy yourselves before finding a true. bill that on the evidence before you a common jury mightreasonably find the prisoner guilty on the charges preferred against him. That, of course, 'applies to every criminal charge that comes before this court. "Now, as to the charge of supplying a noxious drug, the main evidence as to that is given by two witnesses — one a chemist's assistant named .King- and another, a Mrs. McClure, who was employed m the same ''house as Ellen Scarff. "The only direct evidence connecting

Boakes with, the supplying of the drag is given by King-. "Then there is a, letter alleged to have been written by the. deceased to accused and which is mentioned by Mrs. McClure. But that letter, has not, on the evidence, been traced to Boakes." , ■ . The judge -then himself to the evidence on the capital charge and recounted' the circumstances of the crime— the discovery of the body on' the afternoon of June 15 m the. broom off Lake Terrace Road, Burwood; the finding of the metric spanner at the scene of the crime the following day and also the discovery of a military overcoat neatly folded under some scrub ten days after the murder. His honor dwelt on dates and emphasized the events of the 1 day of June 8. ' .. ;' ■ There was evidence, he said, that at six-thirty that . 'morning Boakes was seen with his taxi near the house where Gwen Searff worked at Cashmere. T,he same night, it was alleged, he boarded the v \ 10.31 tram from BurvyoocT at a point within the vicinity of where the • murder was -later committed. The same night at eleven-thirty or thereabouts "a . woman afterwards known to be Miss Searff called at the Federal \Hotel m 'company with a man and booked a room. The porter who admitted' her could not swear to the identity of .the man who brought her' to the hotel. . . Then on the f following afternoon it was alleged that Gwen Searff had. met a woman named Amelia Watts on the river bank and had a conversation with her. Again, on the afternoon of June 11, it was alleged that Boakes saw Miss Searff oufside the garage, but that was the last he saw of the deceased so far as the evidence, that would be placed before them was 1 concerned. "The crux of the whole question is: What evidence is the,re to connect Boakes with the actual murder? That is theycrux of the matter. • 1 "W^tt ia there to connect Boakes

with the crime either by direct evidence or reasonable inference from proved facts that will satisfy yourselves that it can be reasonably be said whether or not lie was the murderer? "What I mean by 'reasonably said' is that you musfc look at the evidence itself. -You must dismiss . from your minds everything but the evidence before you. "Thfere is nothing m the evidence so far as I can see to» show that Boakes was anywhere near the scene of the murder after the night of June 8, when he was alleged to have boarded a tram at Burwood. "That, as ! say, is the latest and only evidence of his having been anywhere m the neighborhood of the crime. and you will recollect that the evidence 6n this point is not that he was on the scene of the v murder itself, but that he boarded a tram on the night of the eighth of June^at a proper stoppingplace. "The next point is" that there is nothing m the evidence to show that Boakes ever saw Gwen Scarff after June 11. That is when he is said to have seen her outside the garage. "Neither the spanner nor the military overcoat, so far as the evidence is concerned, would appear ever to have been traced into Boakes' possession. "Those are the three facts. You have the boarding of the tramcar at a

usual stopping-place, the. spanner and the military overcoat, and.you have to satisfy yourselves that ;*it can reasonably be said that the Crown can rely on an action based on the evidence before 'you. i :■',-"■' r"The evidence on*, the charge of supplying a' noxious drug -m relation to the capital charge is only relevant so far as to showing motive." After fully reviewing other as- v , pects of the case, his honor said: "Suspicion, however 'strong,, is not. enough and this is especially jso m the case of a capital charge.* "Of course, the rules ,of evidence and the rules for coming , to a conclusion are the same m every case. "I must confess, Mr. Foreman and gentlemen, that so far as I personally am concerned;.! have the gravest doubt as to whettier a true bill should, be returned, against the accused on . the •feapital charge." ..'"'..■ ' After a 4our hours' retirement, the grand jury brought m true bills against Boakes on both the. capital charge and the minor count' of supplying a noxious drug. .■ : x '.''!' The trial is not expected;- to come on this week, but will probably com-., mence on Monday next. . •