OHIRO ROAD TRAGEDY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 688, 14 November 1933, Page 5

OHIRO ROAD TRAGEDY

(Press Assn.-

murder charge JAMES PLEADS NOT GUILTY OF MRS. SMTTH'S DEATH 1OPENING OF TRIAL

-By Telegraph — Copyrlght).

Wellington, Monday. The trial opened to-day, before the ! Chief Justice, of George Edward | James, charged with murdering Mrs. | Ceeilia Smith. j In a quiet voice James pleadcd not | guilty. i All witnesses were ordered out of oourt. Aceused is alleged to have murdered Mrs. Smith about 7.30 a.m. on Friday, June 30, at a flat which he occupied wi'th her and her little son | in Ohiro Road, Wellington. | Mr. Mac-assey presented the case | for the Crown 011 lines similar to that ! in the Lower Court. i Mr. Macassey said it was clear that : Mrs. Smith's ihjuries could not have ! been self-infiicted. He suggested fhat j the evidence pointed to nobody else 1 but accused as the murderer. . Eeferring to the finding of ihe body ] of Mrs. Smith's son on the seash-ore, i the prosecutor said the medieal eviI dence would show that the blows 011 I his head had been received hefore he | was drowned, and he suggested th'at j the reason the boy was got rid of was j 'that he would have been a living witj ness against accused. Suggested Motive for Crime | Ar. to the motive, it was suggested that aceused had arranged to marry Mrs. Smith, and had led her to believe fhat he had property. In view of letters found, showing that James had nioth-ing coming to him, Mrs. Smith must have known that he had not the means to marry her. Th'at, it was •suggested, probably caused her to de1 cide to part with him, and as a result | he determined to murder her and [ eommit suioide himself. i | In reply to a question by Mr. W. E. j.Leieester, counsql for the accused, Telford Richard Williams, who lived in the middle floor of the house at Ohiro Road, said the he heard someone screaming, "'George, go for the doctor, I've done for myself." About an hour afterwards he saw James and the boy leaving the house.

Taken For a Rid'e Richard James Brown, a college student, said that on the morning of June 30, he saw the accused and a boy outside No. 27 Ohiro Road. Accused was wheeling a bicycle and witness heard the boy say, "Are w.e going for a ride on the bike, daddy?" The accused replied "Yes." Later witness saw him on the cycle with the boy on the cross-bar. The finding of the boy's body was described by Francis John Gai and evidence was also given regarding the accused's rescue from the harboitr. The lettev found on the wharf and commencing, "Nancy, you see whai you have brought me to" and signed "your broken-hearted father" and which was produced in the lower court proceedings was also read. Dr. C. Nissen stated that during his stay in the hospital accused was de-p?-essed and worried but that when ho was interviewed by the police on Jidy 2 he was in a fit condition to make a statement. Ai this stage the court adjourned to-day.