TRIAL OF COATS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 67, 10 November 1931, Page 5

TRIAL OF COATS

(Press Assn.—

accused in box SIR DONALD McGAVIN QIYRS EVIDENCR FOR DEFENCE INJURIES CAUSED BY FALL

-By Telegi-aph — Copj-right.)

WELLINGTON, Monday. The trial" o£ George Coats for the alleged murder of Phillis Symons was-re^uitted dramatically this., morning, accused hirosfelf heing. the, first witness pallerd.. Exhmihe'd hy his counsel, 'Coats said that when he first met Phillis Symons he used to take her to the pictures or for .walks. On the first Sunday in March, when he 'went up to his room after tea, he found the girl on his bed. After she had had a ' cry she said that she had had a row at home and had run away. The girl said that she'w'as frightened of her mother, and seeing that hor mother had told her to gqt out and never come hack she had jumped out of a window and come to accused. When accused suggested that the girl should sleep elsewhere she said that if he did not let her stay with him she would throw herself over at Oriental Bay. Coats gave details of their life together, saying .that the girl \vas always miserahle and often threatened to throw herself off the Hataitai tip, the bridge in Central Park, and also ■ an embankment in Morfimer Terrace. Accused : -told her that if she .did that he: would probably be blamed fo? it. . - . Hit Hpr Playfully In regard to the incident on the occasion when he hit the girl over the head, Coats said that he had only done it playfully with a stick which he had picked up on the road, to stop her talking about suicide. He admitted that he had got a shovel Iqf t out, but • said that. this was at the girl's request. He thought that, if he showed the gorl -the shpvel this would make her admit that she was only fooling. On June 26 he and the girl went out -for a walk. On the way out the girl picked up a valise and put a sack in it. They always used to take a sack to sit on when they .went for a walk. They went over to the tip at Hataitai and sat down. The girl was more depressed than usual. After sitting dowh for a while the girl left him. He smoked a couple of cigarettes, and then, thinking that the girl had been away a long time, he got up and looked for her. "As I got to the junction of the two tips," said accused, I saw a big lump down the face of the tip. The light was shining on it, so I scrambled down. It was Phillis. She was laying flat out, with her head down the MU, about half way down." Accused described the position of the body, and then said that he looked to see if there was any sign of breathing. The girl had a scarf wrapped around her face. He thought ; her neck was broken. He was sure that she was dead. , Burial of Girl ! "I stood there for4 ahou'c a min- 1 ute," he continued, "and then I realised that I would probably be blamed for it if I drew anybody's attention to it. I ran along to the place where I had left the shovel, and dug a hole in the bank." After some difficulty he got the girl in the hole. He took the sack out of the case and spread it over her, because he thought it was more decent. After placing some stones to keep the body in position he covered it. After he had finished ■filling in the hole he flung the shovel away. Counsel: The Crown charges you with having murdered Phillis Symons on this night. Is there a word of truth in it? — No, there is not. I did not. Accused said that there was very little truth -in the statement he had made to Detecive Murray. Te detective had questioned him about sending the girl away to procure a ceitain ■result. There. was no question about the girl being dead. ■ Cross-esjamined, Coats admitted that the stories he had told as to the girl's whereabouts after June 26 were falsehoods. Accused said that the incident in which Glover alleged that accused made as if to perform a certain operation was done hy arrangement with Phillis, to stop Glover teasing her about her condition. "Looking For Sensations Accused admitted digging a hole in the tip early in June. It was for shelter. He used to go to a card party every Wednesday and Saturday, leaving the girl at home. When telling Glover about - the incident of tapping the girl over the head he had drawn on his imagination, because Glover was always looking for sensations. The only way it was possible to stop the girl from talking about thrpwing herself over at^Hataitai was to take her over there, and she seemed to • alter her mind when he got there. He denied ever saying to Glover that if Phillis died he could easily put her over at Hataitai, but admitted saying that it would be a good place to bury anyone when they had •gone out. On the night o.f June 26 -he and the girl sat on the clay. It .had been raining that day, but it did not rain while they were out. Asked what he did when he first knelt beside the girl on the slope of ,the tip Coats said he turned her around. It never at any time entered ■his head to take off the bandage around her face. He could have buried the body in the top tip, but it was easier. to dig a hole in the lower top. In further cross-examination, Cpats stated that De Maine was a friend of himself and his sister Evie. He denied .telling De Maine, in r ef erence to the .time when he hit the girl, that he did not feel like killing her. He denied telling De Maine that Hataitai would he a good place to bury Phillis. W'hen he was interviewed by the police on'Ouly 6 and was asked where Phillis had gone to, he did not hear of any inquiries being made as to Phillis' whereabouts, right from the time she came to live with him. Counsel re-examined Coats for less than a minute. Medical Evidence Sir Donald McGavin, giving medical evidence; stated that he had been A.D.MlS. for the New Zealand Divisio'n from 1916 to the end of the war. He said it' was -possible for the girl's injuries, as deposed to by Dr. Lynch, to have been received by throwing herself over the top of an embankContinued on Page 6

TRIAL OF COATS

(Continued) ;ment such as that at Hataitai. Mc,Gavin illustrated with a model fig;ure on a sloping blackboard how in "his opinion the girl hade made her -plunge in the dark. " * "She f ell," he said, "somewhat obli- • quely and- struck her right temple on *an objeet on the face of the declivity, .'In eonformity with the slope of the declivity she turned over on her left side. The impetus behind her, aided !by the effects of gravity, tended to push the low'er part of the head and the left shoulder downward. The left .Shoulder however became embedded , in the soft material and the head tended to be separated from the left - shoulder. The trunk and the remainder of the body were thrown to the right and the right arm was projected forward. That was the position in which the body would be found. The left arm was at the side. The bruise had been caused when she struck her right temple, and there was an injury on the opposite side of the brain. Separation would cause bruising and .rupture of the muscle and other struc- ' tures at the back of the left side of 1 the neck, Such an injury was known as traction. When the girl struck her , head she was concussed and on recov- . ery from the concussion she vomited. ' ;Such vomiting happened in a great majority of cases of concussion, but her face was buried in the soft earth of the bank and she was unable to reject the vomited matter. Some was inhaled into the air passages and she died of asphyxia not more than two minutes later." Temple Injury To a suggestion by the Crown that the temple injury had occurred in a generally protected region, Dr. McGavin stated that that was why it had appeared to him that the object struck was of limited extent. It would "have to be of comparatively small surface to cause such in injury. Dr. McGavin stated that he did -not attach any great significance to the absence of abrasions. It was well known that suicides anticipated their involuntary actions in articulo nrortis. • Similarly, in the present case, Dr. McGavin thqught that the girl had pro- •• bably clasped her hands tightly behind her back. None of the weapons suggested by the Crown seemed entirely suitable to him as weapons with which the temple injury might have been inflicted. One piece of piping . was quite unsuitable and the use of another was most unlikely. One of : the pieces of wood might have been "used. although it seemed too light. The broad surface of another piece of -wood was a possible weapon and a shovel was also suitable, though in order for the convex surface to attain a high enough velocity a long grip -would have to be taken, and the wea- ^ pon would be somewhat unmanageable. As for the other injuries at the i back of the head, Dr. McGavin eonsidered that the collection of blood described, indicated a wrench and not " a series of blows. It was well known ; that injured muscles bled freely. Position of Body Dr. McGavin stated that he could see no reason to suppose as the Crown had suggested, that the girl had died : in the position in which the body * was found. The position which the body would assume when placed in the insufficiently large hole that Coats had described might give the appearance of its having tried to rise. Ster- * terous breathing could be caused by .«a compression and not by concusi sion. . To the Crown Prosecutor, Dr. Me- " ' Gavin stated that he had not seen the I body or been present at the post I.mortem examination. Dr. Lynch, if witness might say so, was a most excellent pathologist and one for whom they all had the greatest respect. He accepted Dr. Lynch's pathological observations without question, but did not necessarily accept his interpretations. It was with a full sense of his - responsibilities to the Crown that he stated that it was probable that injuries had been caused by a fall. He disagreed with Dr. Lynch when the latter said he thought it inconceivable ; that such extensive head injuries • ; could be caused by the girl falling or throwing herself over the bank. The court adjourned shortly afterwards until 10 a.m. to-morrow.