MURDER TRIAL OPENS SEPT. 8
Black's Harbor, July 4
- Sergt. Tom Roland Hutchings, 21-year old armourer in the Royal Air Force,
stationed at Pennfield, late Friday afternoon was committed to stand trial at
the next court having criminal jurisdiction in the County of Charlotte for the
murder of Bernice Connors. The next sitting of the Charlotte Circuit Court is
scheduled to open at St. Andrews on Tuesday, Sept. 8.
Accused heard 36 prosecution witnesses testify against him,
asked not a single question and informed Magistrate E.A. Nason prior to being
committed to jail to await trial, that he had nothing to say and did not wish to
call any witnesses in his own behalf.
Friday afternoon Dr. John M. Roussel, medico-legal expert, and
assistant to Dr. R. Fontaine, in the Province of Quebec medico-legal laboratory,
testified that he had discovered a number of human blood stains on the R.A.F.
uniform handed to him by Detective Staff Sergeant F.W. Davis of the R.C.M.P. and
Sergeant Davis told of securing the uniform from Hutchings at the Pennfield air
station.
During the two day preliminary hearing, Hutchings was not
represented by counsel, while H.M. Groom, clerk of the peace for Charlotte
County conducted the prosecution and had associated with him E.B. McLatchey, of the
attorney-general's department. Flt.-Lieut. Elvanson, of the R.A.F. attended
court proceedings and took a watching brief for the Air Force.
Friday's Evidence
Friday afternoon the
first witness was R.C.M.P. Constable William Charley, who told of his
investigation concerning measurements and positions where he had found certain
objects. He said he had put stakes into the ground at certain spots where
objects were found, and made a notation on each of what had been found in that approximate
area.
The second witness of the afternoon was Detective Staff
Sergeant F.W. Davis of the R.C.M.P. He told of coming to Black's Harbor in the
early morning of June 8 arriving here at 12:15 a.m. He told of his investigation
at the spot where the body of the girl was found and said that at 9 o'clock that
morning, June 8, he interviewed the accused, Sgt., Tom Roland Hutchings, at the
R.A.F. station at Pennfield in the presence of Wing Commander Crocker, Squadron
Leader Musgrave, Corporal Tudor and Constable Evans.
"I gave the accused the
customary warning. I told him he did not have to answer any questions. He said he
clearly understood the warning and he gave me a short resume of what he had done
on the night of Friday, June 5.
I asked him for the uniform he wore
on Friday night. He was wearing it at the time, and took it off and gave it to
me. I also took several other articles of clothing from his room. He was wearing
glasses when I interviewed at Pennfield," said the witness.
He said he took from the room of the
accused, and with the consent of the accused, two pairs of socks, two
handkerchiefs, two collars, a tie, a suit of underwear and a pair of shoes.
These were later turned over to R.C.M.P. Corporal Prime.
"On the morning of June 10,
while looking around the Community Hall here, I discovered a bluish handkerchief
near the kitchen door. The handkerchief was stained. I kept this in my
possession and turned it over to Dr. J.M. Roussel in Montreal on the morning of
June 25.
I interviewed the accused in the
jail at St. Andrews on June 13, and asked him to give me a ring he had on his
finger, and he gave me the ring," continued the witness.
The tunic, trousers and belt taken
from the accused at Pennfield were produced at this point, and offered and
received in evidence as well as a pair of shoes, a handkerchief found by the
witness outside the Community Hall and several other articles taken from the
room of Hutchings at the air station.
Detective Sergeant Davis said he
located a rock, stained with blood on the highway near the spot where the body of Miss
Connors was discovered. He found the rock on June 10, and this too was handed
over to Dr. Rousell, and identified by the witness in court and submitted in
evidence.
The article of clothing taken from
the body of Miss Connors were identified by the witness, and likewise offered in
evidence. He said he had instructed G. Percy Rigby, St. Stephen, to draw a plan
of the area in which the body of Miss Connors was found.
Dr. Roussel
Dr.
John M. Roussel was the third witness of the afternoon. He said he had studied
medico-legal work in Paris and since 1932 had been an associated with Dr. R.
Fontaine in Montreal as assistant. He told of Detective Staff Sergeant Davis
leaving a number of articles with him and Dr. Fontaine on the morning of June
25, including a complete airman's uniform - tunic, trousers and belt.
The witness identified the uniform
in court as the one handed to him, and said he had made an examination of the
clothing and found a number of blood stains on the tunic and trousers.
"I would say the stains were
human blood stains," said the witness, and then went into details as to the
different places such stains had been found. He said there was a single dark
stain on the belt, and was of the opinion it too was a blood stain, but could
not say that it was human blood stain.
Dr. Roussel said he was unable to
group the blood from the stains. He attributed this to the fact that stains that
had been on cloth for some time or on cloth which had been submitted to heat lose their properties,
therefore making it impossible to group the blood.
"Human Bloodstains"
The
witness said he has not completed his examination of the various articles as of
yet other than ascertaining that the blood stains on the skirt and blouse were
human bloodstains.
SOURCE: The Saint Croix Courier (St. Stephen, NB) - July 9, 1942.
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