BOAKES ON TRIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 136, 30 August 1927, Page 1

BOAKES ON TRIAL

Taxi-Driver Charged With Elen ScarfFs Murder at Bnrwoed

DEAD WOMAN’S LETTER Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, To-clay. AFTER four remands the hearing of the evidence against Charles William Boakes, a taxi-driver, who is charged with the murder of Ellen Gwendoline Isobel Scarff at Burwood, on June 15, proceeded to-day before Mr. E. D. Mosley. S.M. As on former occasions the appearance of Boakes m Court aroused great public interest, but the police had made excellent arrangements for preventing any overcrowding in the Courtroom. Witnesses in the case occupied nearly all the space usually given over to the accommodation of the public, and the result was that few who were not concerned in the case found admittance.

rpuE Magistrate read the depositions already taken at the opening of the inquest, when the girl's father gave formal evidence of identification. Boakes stepped smartly into the dock when his name was called, closing the door behind him. He looked spruce in a grey suit, and wore a bow tie. “You can sit down, Boakes,” said Mr. Mosley, S.M., "after the charges have been read.” Boakes, with his hands in his pockets, remained standing, leaning against the wall. The criminal proceedings and the inquest were taken simultaneously.

assistant, said that he sold pills to Boakes on one occasion, and later supplied some ergot pills. Later, he said, Boakes told him that they had had no effect. (Proceeding.)

The Crown Prosecutor, Mr. A. T. Donnelly, appeared for the police, Mr. C. S. Thomas and with him Mr. J. Burns for Boakes, and Mr. A. H. Cavell for the relatives of Miss Scarff. In addition to the charge of murder, the taxi-driver was charged with unlawfully supplying on or about May 16 a noxious thing, ergot, to the girl knowing that it was to be unlawfully used. All witnesses were ordered out of court.

Ellen Martha Scarff, of Cashmere, said that the dead girl was her eldest child and was 20 years of age. On June 20 she saw her daughter for a few minutes* at the Hotel Federal at about 4.30 p.m. Witness knew the accused. He had worked for her husband two or three years ago. When Mrs. Scarff saw her daughter at the hotel, the girl was upset and began to cry. Jessie Glen McClure, who had been employed at the same house as Miss Scarff, said that about March 28 she suspected that the girl was in a certain condition. Some time after this Miss Scarff got pills through the post. The pills were to bring about a miscarriage. The witness remembered seeing Miss Scarff go to a White Diamond taxi in Cathedral Square on May 12. The driver was a tall and well-built man, but the witness did not know him. , , On May 16 the girl went out and ieturned with a small bottle of stuff which was for the same purpose as the pills. Later on she was sick, and apparently dazed. the letter to boakes Continuing, Miss McClure said that she remembered the girl writing a letter addressed to “Mr. Charles Boakes, Grand Taxi Stand, Christchurch.’ Witness had read the letter three times. She repeated what she could remember of it: “Dear Charlie. —You will be surprised to know the stuff has not done me any good. Seeing you forgot to ring, I am writing to you. All I can suggest now is that you make a clean breast of it to your wife. “When this becomes known I will be barred from my home, and I, the mother of your second child, will be stranded. Stick to me and help me all you can.” Mr. Thomas put in a formal objection to this evidence. William Derisley Wood, a son of the girl’s employer, said that he remembered clearing letters for the post, and- they included one addressed to a taxi stand in Christchurch. Sydney Charles King, a chemist’s