Ohakune District Court

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 4, Issue 23, 4 November 1986, Page 10

Ohakune District Court

The following cases were heard by District Judge E. W. Unwin in the Ohakune District Court on Thursday 23 October (continued from last week). Sergeant Neil Coker appeared for the police. David Anthony Claxton, 29, unemployed of Wanganui pleaded guilty to one charge of discharging a firearm in Seddon Street, Raetihi, on the night of 16-17 September and to one charge of being in possession of a .303 rifle without a licence. He pleaded not guilty to the possession of an offensive weapon (a knife) in his jacket pocket with intent to commit bodily injury in the early hours of 17 September in Duncan Street, Raetihi. On the not guilty plea testimony was heard from police sergeant R. D. Rattenbury of Wanganui who gave evidence that he and Sergeant Neil Coker had gone to Raetihi on the night of 1 6 September as the result of a report that a firearm had been discharged in Seddon Street. Following enquiries they traced the defendant to an address in Duncan Street. The defendant was searched and, when a heavy solid object was felt in his jacket pocket, defendant claimed that it was his "smokes". However, the object turned out to be a single-bladed pocket knife which was produced in -Court as an exhibit. In his testimony Sergeant Neil Coker confirmed the evidence given by the previous witness and he identi-

fied both defendant and exhibit in court. The defendant was called to the wrtness stand and testified that the knife was used for scaling and gutting fish and that he had had it for "four or five years." He said that he was a regular fisherman who, because he was unemployed and lived near the coast, fished "nearly every day." Asked by the prosecution under cross examination to explain the remarkably clean condition of a 4-5 year old knife used for fishing he said that he'd only lived in Wanganui for about a year and he always cleaned the knife and other fishing tackle thoroughly after use. Asked what the knife was doing in his jacket pocket in Raetihi on the night of 16-17 September he said that he didn't know it was there because he was wearing his wife's jacket. The next defence witness was Cynthia Mary Claxton, wife of the defendant. She gave evidence that she remembered the armed offenders squad arriving at a house in Duncan Street at about 2ani on 1 7 September. She said that her husband had put on her jacket to go out and get some beer. Asked why the knife was in her jacket pocket she said that she also went fishing regularly and used the knife to cut up bait. She identified the knife in Court and when asked by the prosecution how long her husband had had the knife the witness replied: "Two to three months." In his summing up on the

not-guilty plea Judge Unwin said that, while there was obviously some discrepancy as to how long the defendant had owhed the knife — "two-to-three months or four-to-five-years" — prosecution had, in the charge before the court, to establish beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant intended using the knife to cause bodily harm. This had not been proved and he was therefore giving the defendant the benefit of the doubt. The charge was dismissed. On the two guilty pleas relating to the firearm defendant claimed that he had fired the .303 rifle into the air once to clear the breech of a jammed cartridge. ( Members of the public had reported hearing three shots). He was convicted and remanded to appear in the Wanganui District Court on 17 November for a probation officers report and sentence. An order was made for the forfeiture of the .303 rifle but the knife was returned to defendant. Counsel: D. G. Harvey. ★ ★ ★ Cliff James Leed, 31. mechanic of Raetihi, appeared fora defended hearing on two charges to which he had pleaded not guilty in July. He had been charged, with possession of an offensive weapon (an axe handle embedded with nails) and with being in possession of restricted weapons (two 'molotov cocktails'). Testimony was heard from two prosecution witnesses: Constable Greg

Whyte of Waiouru and Constable Brian Wilson of Ohakune. Constable Whyte said that he, with a number of other police officers, had . gone to defendant's address in King Street, Raetihi, at about 0120 in the morning of 28 June in response to a call. He was detailed to search an outside shed. In the shed he found a home-made axe handle studded with nails. He also found two petrol-filled beer bottles with rags protruding from the top of each in a laundry peg-box on the floor of the shed. These were produced as exhibits in Court. Constable Wilson testified that he had spoken with defendant at Raetihi on the night of 28 June and, as a result of what was said and found, defendant was invited to make a statement at the Ohakune Police Station. At the police station defendant was asked what the axe-handle and molotov cocktails were for. He replied "To protect my family." He said he had made them that night. He explained there had been a long-running dispute between him and another person over some vehicle repairs that defendant had done. Defendant had retained some property belonging to this other person as he was owed a lot of money. Earlier that evening he had seen this other person together with some associates drive past the house several times and one person had come onto the property

OHAKUNE DISTRICT COURT (continued)

with what appeared tc be a large baseball bat. Cross-examined by defendant's counsel Constable Wilson denied that defendant had told him that the nail studded axe handle was used as an eel gaff and the bottles of petrol were used for cleaning carburettors and engine parts. In his testimony defendant told the Court that he used the outside shed where the exhibits were found as a workshop. He said he had used the petrol filled bottles earlier that day to clean a carburettor. He had recently used the other exhibit as an eel gaff. He denied making them on the evening in question or telling the police that he had made them "to protect his family", but he did say that he had hammered some nails into a plank and left it in his driveway to prevent the cars he had seen driving up and down the street coming onto his property. He told Court that he asked his wife to ring the police from a neighbour's telephone when he saw someone outside the house with a baseball bat who "started swinging"at him. Natalie Leed, defendant's wife, said that she had seen men in two cars driving up and down past their house and had gone to a neighbours to phone the police after she'd seen someone carrying a baseball type bat. She said in evidence that because the police took such a long time to come round in answer to her call she intended lighting the two petrol-filled bottles to attract the attention of the local fire brigade to obtain help. In his summing up Judge Linwin said that the truth of what a person says often depends on when he says it. For that reason he was inclined to believe that the statement made on the night in question was the truthful one. "The evidence given in Court today lacked credibility", he said. Defendant was convicted and remanded to appear in the Wanganui District Court on 24 November for a probation officer's report and sentence in order to try to resolve the matters in dispute by calling for a report to see how deep the problem was between defendant and this other person. Bail 'of $500 with a surety of $750 to continue. Counsel: S. J. Ross

Carolynne Anne Stephens, 25, clerical operator of Ellerslie, Auckland, pleaded not guilty to assaulting Constable John Fraser of Ohakune in the execution of his duty on 22 August. In a defended hearing convened last Thursday at the request of the defendant who. lives and works in Auckland. Court heard testimony from Constable John Fraser and Miss Stephens. In his testimony Constable Fraser said that he had been asked to go to the Ohakune Hotel to remove a troublesome male patron from the lounge bar at about 7.30 on the evening in question. Outside the hotel he had cause to arrest this person. A's this person was being led away to the police vehicle Constable Fraser said that he felt a sharp blow to his leg which caused him to trip. When he turned round to see where the blow had come from he saw defendant (who he later found out was the fiancee of the person arrested) retreating back into the doorway of the hotel. After escorting the male person (who has since appeared in Court) to the police cells he returned to the Ohakune Hotel to ask the defendant to accompany him back to the police station to answer some questions. At the police station Constable Fraser said that he asked defendant: "Why did vou kick me?" to which she replied: "Because you didn't have to push him." In reply to another question: "Did you mean to trip me?" defendant was alleged to have said: "Yes." In her testimony in Court defendant said that she had not spoken these words to the constable. She claimed that the alleged assault was

the result of an accident when she went to help her fiancee as he was being led away to the police vehicle. However, in his summing up Judge Unwin said that this explanation had not been made initially when the defendant had an opportunity to do so at the police station following the incident. This had not been challenged by the defence and he was inclined to believe the constable's testimony and account of events. Judge Unwin said that attacks on police were verv serious matters but as this was defendant's first appearance in court and she was obviously very distressed to find herself in this situation, he felt the impact of the court case itself had been considerable. "It will probably have the desired effect and serve as a deterrent." he said. Defendant was convicted and discharged and ordered to pay $250 towards the cost of prosecution. Counsel: D. G. Harvey. ★ ★ ★ A 28-year-old male faced threecharges of usinginsulting language to a female on three separate occasions (30 September, 7 and 10 October) in Seddon Street, Raetihi as well as to one charge of behaving in a manner likely to cause violence to start on 10 October at the Raetihi Hotel. When local constable Trevor Pullen was asked by Judge Unwin if the problem was now resolved or if there was likely to be any further incidents of this sort iavolving the defendant and complainant. Constable Pullen replied: "No sir. I think he's seen the error of his ways." The defendant who was granted name suppression was given a 12-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay $50 towards the cost of prosecution on each charge.