BOAKES IN THE DOCK

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 137, 31 August 1927, Page 9

BOAKES IN THE DOCK

NEW LIGHT ON BURWOOD MURDER POLICE COURT PROCEEDINGS CONTINUE Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, To-day. THE hearing of the evidence against Charles William Eoakes, charged with the murder of Ellen Gwendoline Isabel Scarff at Burwood on June 15, was continued in the Police Court yesterday afternoon and to-day, before Mr. E. D. Mosley, S.M. Mr. A. T. Donnelily, Crown Prosecutor, conducted the case for the police and Mr. C. S. Thomas, with Mr. M. J. Burns, appeared for accused. Mr. A. H. Cavell, represented the relatives of the murdered woman.

The inquest is being- taken in conjunctilon with the criminal proceedings. ■ Thirty witnesses gave evidence yesterday, and it is hoped to hear a similar number to-day.

Amy Isabel Wood, wlio lives at MacMillan Avenue, Cashmere, said that Miss Scarff had been in her employ from January last to June 9. She was the only person in the house who slept downstairs. It was the girl’s first duty in the morning to take a paper to witness in her bedroom. She remembered that about May 19 Miss Scarff failed to do this. Mrs. McClure spoke to the witness and she went to see Miss Scarff in the sitting-room. The girl looked very ill, and when the witness spoke to her she answered, but her speech was not clear.

She had a half-holiday on June 8. The following morning witness went to the girl’s bedroom and found that she had left, and had taken her things with her. The witness had occasionally answered telephone rings for Miss Scarff. Mr. Donnelly: Was it a man or woman asking for her? “Sometimes a man—mostly a man,” she replied. Leonard Victor Allan Lilley, a tram conductor, said that he saw Boakes on June 8 on the 10.31 p.m. trip from Burwood. He got on at the Burwood Church. He was at the time alone. Inquired for a Room Thomas Morton, a night porter at the Federal Hotel, said that about 11.30 p.m. on June 8 a man and woman came to the front door. The man asked for a room for the woman, who gave her name as “Miss Armstrong.” The man was about six feet in height. The witness had been to see Boakes twice, but he could not say positively he was the man, though he was very much like him. Amelia Watts, a married woman, said that on June 9, while sitting on the river bank about 3 p.m., she saw Miss Scarff picked up by a WhiteDiamond car, number 22. The driver was Boakes, whom she recognised. Boakes’s Military Overcoat Muriel Usher, formerly a clerk in the Hotel Federal, said that once she rang up the White Diamond Garage at Miss Scarff’s request. She asked for Boakes and asked him to go to the hotel. Later a man arrived. She identified him as Boakes. On June 14 the girl left the hotel in a White Diamond taxi driven by a man named Neate. When Boakes went to the hotel he was wearing a muffler and military overcoat. The coat reached to his knees and was tight-fitting. On July 23 she saw Boakes again. He then had on a military overcoat, but not the one he wore on June 10. James Connolly, porter at the hotel, said that when Boakes called he wore a small short coat reaching about to his knees. He went to “Miss Armstrong’s” room and said: “Oh, it’s you,” and remained about 20 minutes. “How Did They Find Out?” John Hains Brisk, garage hand, at the White Diamond Garage, said that Boakes had told him that the girl Scarff was going to. the North Island. Mr. Donnelly: Do you remember speaking to Boakes oil June 16, the day after the murder? Witness: Yes. I asked him what he thought of the Burwood tragedy, and said it was an awful thing. I asked him if lie knew wlio it was, and he said he did not. I said to him, “It was somebody you know, and somebody I know.” With that Boakes was called away on a job. When he came back he came over to me and asked me who it was. I said it was Gwennie Scarff, and he said, “Go on, how did they find out?”

Mrs. Alice Parr, storekeeper, Beckenham, said that the girl visited her on Sunday, June 12. She had known the girl for three years. Mr. Donnelly: Did she have a watch? —Yes. A wristlet.

Mr. Donnelly: Was it going?—Yes, I saw her looking at it several times. Sydney Ernest Neate, taxi-driver for the White Diamond Company, said j that on June 14 he received a call from the Hotel Federal. A lady met him there with two suitcases, and he drove her to the Cathedral Square. Mr. Donnelly: Did you know the girl ? Witness: No. Mr. Donnelly: You left her in the Square? Witness: Yes. I put her luggage in the left luggage office, according to instructions. Thomas George Lewis, proprietor of the Hotel Federal, said Miss Scarff paid her account on June 14, tendering a £5 note. Next day witness identified the body at the morgue. Leslie James Arps, taxi-driver, said that Boakes introduced him to the girl last Christmas. He had since seen her round the stand about once a week. On the first occasion he met her he went out with Boakes, Miss Scarff and another girl in a car to Dallington. They separated there, the girl Scarff staying with him, and Boakes going away with the other girl. On the night before the girl was killed witness said he saw deceased near the stand about six o’clock. Mr. Thomas: You and the girl Scarff did not leave the car on the night in question? Witness: No. Boy’s Discovery of Body Eric Horace Mugford, aged 15, the boy who found the body, said that about 1.30 p.m. he was driving several cows along the road, and some went into the broom. He went after them a few yards. When he saw the body he went and informed the Rev. C. A. Tobin, and came back with him later on. Mr. Thomas: Did Mr. Tobin do anything to the girl’s hands or Angers? Witness: Yes. He pushed back the sleeve and felt the arm. Mr. Thomas: Did you notice whether he did anything to the fingers to see whether they were stiff? Witness: No. _ , . Mr. Thomas: Was a tuft of hair on the ground while you were there ? Mr. Thomas: Was the blood wet? Witness: I did not look. Mr Thomas: What was the condition of the blood before you went and got Mr. Tobin? Witness: Bright red. Cecil Alexander Tobin, clergyman, said that at 1.25 p.m. on June 15 the boy Mugford called on him, explaining what he had found. Witness rang up the police and went to the scene. ITiere he found the girl’s body in a small open space. Mr. Donnelly: Was the blood eon- , gealed? Witness: Practically. Three pools of it with none between them, indicating that the gil l had been moved. Mr. Donnelly: Was the ground : frosty ? Witness: Yes. The girl’s shoes and ; stockings were not dirty, the dress was pulled up to the knees, the hat was lying to the right and a blue : coat was spread out evenly as if she ; had been sitting on it. A parcel and - attache case nearby were free of ; blood. . Constable Henry Henderson, who l was among the first on the scene, said - deceased was lying on her hack, with - her left arm outstretched and her right lying by her side.

Thomas Beveridge Davis, medical practitioner, said he examined the body at about three o’clock on the afternoon. It was superficially cold and the hands were covered with gloves sodden with blood. There were a number of wounds in the head, IS in all. Witness said he thought a blunt instrument had been used. He thought death was not instantaneous. Deceased possibly lived for some hours after the attack. She had been dead about six hours.

Arthur B. Pearson, pathologist at Christchurch Hospital, gave evidence that on June 15, by direction of the coroner, lie made a post mortem examination and found that death was due to concussion, associated with hemorrhage and fractures of the skull. Deceased might have lived eight or ten hours after the wounds were inflicted. To the magistrate witness said the majority of the wounds on the head were not dangerous, but a group of four or five above the left eyebrow would prove fatal.