PASSIVE ACCUSED

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 555, 7 January 1929, Page 1

PASSIVE ACCUSED

WESTFIELD HOLD-UP ALLEGATIONS

BIG ARRAY OF EVIDENCE

CHARGED in connection with the sensational hold-up at Westfield early on November 27, David Mackenzie Stewart, alias Stoner and Roy Patrick Kitching, alias Newman listened to testimony against them for several hours in the Magistrate’s Court this morning. Both men were self-possessed and listened intently to most of the evidence. More evidence is being produced against them this afternoon.

A start was not made with the evidence on the serious hold-up allegations until the charges of fraud were dealt with.

Stewart is to stand his trial in the Supreme Court on three charges of obtaining credit by means of valueless cheques, and, with Kitching. he is to be tried on a further similar count.

Both men listened impassively to the description of the hold-up, but neither missed a word of the evidence. Stewart, the taller man, did not give any sign of being disturbed. All the evidence was followed closely by the press of listeners in the Court gallery. The large number of witnesses made the hearing of the charges a tedious procedure, but the public interest in the Westfield sensation showed no lessening. Opening the proceedings for the police, Chiet-Detective Hammond suggested that all the cases should be taken indictably. Mr. Buisson appeared for Stewart, and Mr. Cocker for Kitching. In the course of the evidence, several witnesses said that Stewart had represented that he was connected with the formation of an aviation

company. After the fraud charges had been dealt .with, many witnesses were called to give evidence on the actual liold-up. They gave in detail the story of the robbery by masked gunmen.

The charges against the two meif were that, on November 27, they obtained £5 from G. R. Walsh by falsely representing a cheque to be valid: and that, on November 27, at Westfield, when they were armed with an automatic pistol and a revolver, they robbed Samuel Henderson. Grace Angus Henderson, George Albert Holland, Leonard Malcolm Manson and Robert Eric Manson.

A further charge against the two men w r as that, on November 27, with intent to cause bodily harm, they fired a revolver at Henry B. Fletcher, Percy Fletcher and Douglas Stewart Wallace.

Stewart was charged with obtaining credit by fraud to the amount of £S 11s Id fr .1 Smeeton’s, Ltd., £l2 4s from Hutchinson Brothers, and £23 7s 6d from Winnie Turner, by representing cheques to be valid. Stewart appeared first on the three fraud charges.

Winnie Turner, clerk, said that Stewart arrived at the Central Hotel

on November 6. He and Kitching had arrived by the Sydney boat and stayed for several days at the hotel. Stewart asked that a cheque should be cashed for as much as she could give. She cashed the cheque, and Stewart informed her that he was going away for the week-end. The next day, November 25. a Sunday, he said he could not get away, as he had to sea his banker, his account having been overdrawn. He said the cheque would be met, but the bank returned the. cheque on the Monday. “INTERESTED IN AVIATION”

Elsie Benton, cashier at Sjneeton's, said that Stewart said he was interested in the flotation of the “New Zealand Aerial Service,” and warned to open an account. She cashed a cheque for him.

George Roland Walsh, manager of Hutchinson's, said he was also informed by Stewart that he was connected with aviation. An account was opened. Thomas A. Felton, public accountant, met Stewart in a restaurant. Witness was a joint promoter in an air service between various towns in New Zealand, but the formation, he said, was not definite. Stewart had no connection with the formation in any way.

Henry B. Ball, an employee in the Bank of New Zealand, said Stewart opened an account on November 6 with a deposit of £B2. By November 26 the account was exhausted. Two cheques presented after that date were marked overdrawn.

Stewart pleaded not guilty to the charges and was committed to tbe Supreme Court, for trial. He reserved his defence.

George Roland Walsh gave evidence as to how £5 was obtained from him by a false cheque. Both men pleaded not guilty and were committed for trial.

How Stewart and Kitching had hired a car for a month was told by Albert Shorter, of Shorter’s Rental Cars. Stewart was the spokesman when the pair came to witness on November S, and he said he was connected with aviation, but his plans were indefinite. Stewart signed an agreement not to travel more than 700 miles without paying extra mileage. On the information ultimately received by witness, a mechanic had to be sent to Kaikohe about the car. It was in a bad condition, although practically new when supplied to the accused. The man who rented a house at Liverpool Street, Epsom, to the aroused, said that he had been informed by Stewart that he was an aviator and would be a director of an aviation company.

“NOT A WORD" Samuel Henderson, a jockey, who was with the party returning from the races at Te Kuiti, gave a detailed description of the hold-up at Weatfleld. The man who jumped on the righthand running-board said to witness: “Not a word.” The faces of Lhe two robbers were covered with black masks. One of the men held an automatic gun against witness's chest. The hold-up occupied 10 minutes, probably.

“From the time the two meu got on the running-board of the car until they drove off, I was covered by the man with the automatic,” Henderson said. Witness described how his party was ordered on to the roadway and how the members were forced to yield to the threats of the robbers.

“The shorter man kept telling us he would not shoot us,” Grace Henderson said in her account of the hold-up. “The two Manson;; and Holland were lined up at the back of the car. The gun was not pointed at me, but I was made to throw by bag into the car.” “A revolver was pressed against my temple,” George Holland said “A man on the running-board held it, but 1 could not see him.” Describing the hold-up further, witness said that a man with an American accent told them to leave t.he car. The men in the party were ordered to put their coats and their vests in the car. Witness later hailed the riders of a motor cycle and side-car and sent them to chace the robbers. THRILLING PURSUIT Robert and Leonard Manson. the other two members of the car party, corroborated the evidence of the previous three witnesses. The thrilling pursuit of the hold-up men was retold by Douglas Wallace, one of the arrivals on the motor-cycle. He reached the scene of the robberv soon after 1 a.m. The cyclists were stopped hv Mr. and Mrs. Henderson and the three cyclists went off in chase. At the top of Penrose Hill they saw a stationary car facing toward the city and a car moving off in the direction of the city. They saw a man leave the standing car and jump on the running-board of the moving car. The cyclists gave chase for a couple of hundred yards. Then, witness said, a man clambered on to the running-board, crouched and fired at the pursuers. The report was heard and the flash seen distinctly.

The pursuers kept on and increased their speed. The tyre and the tube on the side-car wheel gave way and the pursuers were eventually forced to halt. Three tacks were in the back tyre.