PIHA FIRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 April 1939, Page 6

PIHA FIRE

CHARGES AGAINST MCKAV & TALBOT POLICE COURT HEARING OPENED. COUNSEL MAKES' UNUSUAL APPLICATION. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, This Day. The hearing of joint charges against two Australians, James Arthur Talbot, aged 43, a labourer, and Gordon Robert McKay, aged 47, alias Tom Bowlands, wool and skin dealer, was begun in the Police Court today before Mr C R. Orr-Walker, S.M. They were charged that, on or about February 12, at Piha, they wilfully set fire to a dwelling house, thereby committing the crime of arson and further that, on or about■February 10. they improperly interfered with a dead human body, that of Patrick Henry Shine. Interest iff the heating is intense, hundreds' of people waitifig outside the court building from an early hour hoping to gain admission Witnesses to the number of 40' have been called'. The hearing is expected to last for two days. There was a hush in the crowded court when the names of McKay ahd Talbot were called. Defective-Ser-geant Nalder pro's'ecttted.. Mr R. C. J. Sanderson appeared for McKay and Mr J. Terry for Talbot. Mr Terry asked that all witnesses, with the exception of Detective-Ser-geants Alpin and Trethewey and also Detective-Sergeant Alford, of Sydney, be ordered to remain out of court. The request was granted. Mr Terry made a further application, which he .said might be ah unusual one —namely that the magistrate should' invoke his powers under the Justices of the Beane Act concerning the place where an examination is taken Other than in open court. He asked that the publication of evidence at the preliminary inquiry be presented'. . The magistrate declined tfe request. Gertrude Elearior Sturt, a nurse at the Auckland 1 Public’ Hospital, said Shine was admitted on January 7 last and died on the morning of February 8. He was' thin; aWd emaciated’. . She laid hint out after death. He had no teeth in when he died and a large quantity of cotton wool’ was used on that' account in plugging m's mouth. Cecil Bertie Shirie said’ that his brother, Patrick Henry Slline, was 54 i,’ears of age and had served in the war with the 38th Battalion of the Australian Forces, Immediately before the funeral, which he attended, witness said,, he saw the body of his brother ih the Casket and witnessed the screwing down of the lid. He saw th’e' casket lowered into the grave and saw the grave-diggers commence to fill in th’e grave. Before death, Ms brother was very thin and emaciated. “I have never seen a man so thin',” he added. Stephen Walter Tilton, fun'erai director, corroborated earlier evidence. He said he noticed a string of rosary beads with a cross attached, round Shine’s neck. He could not- say. if there was a ring on a' finger. The screws with which he screwed th’e lid were the same' as those produced. There was no clay in the casket then. He saw the casket buried iff the Catholic portion of the soldiers’ and sailors’ section of the Waikumete Cemetery. Charles CaradUs Tyler, monumental mason, said he remembered th’e 1 burial of two returned soldiers; Shiite ah’d Cherry, on February 9’. With’ others, he was working close to Cherry’s grave. Detective-Sergeant Nalder: “Did anyone approach you?” Witness: “Yes, a man came from the main gate and approached me,” Mr Nalder:' “Do you kn'oW that man? Can you see him in Court.” Witness, pointing to the' a’ccused, McKay: “Yes, h'ewas that mkh.” Mr Nalder: “Did McKay speak to you?” “Witness: “Yes; he said: ‘Where is the soldier being buried today? I i said: ’Which one?’ He said': ‘Are there two?’ I said: ‘This is Cherry’s. Tbe other is being buried this afternoon. I indicated' each' grave to- him.” The Magistrate: ‘Wa’s Shine’s name mentioned?” Witness: “No.” Mr Nalder': “Wa’s there any other conversation?”-" Witness': “No except that he mtid'e a remark about it being a nice day.”' Witness said he attended' ah identification parade at the Central Police Station on April 15. From a. number of meh lined up, he identified McKay as the man who talked to him at Waikumete. (Proceeding.)