The Fortune Men
Page 22
Q. Be good enough to listen to my question before you start anticipating the answer. If you do not want to make money why were you in business the night you saw Mattan?
A. Because if we do not stay in business we have to pay the rent just the same.
Q. You are not in business for pleasure. You are in business to make a livelihood?
A. Yes. But what has that got to do with the case?
Q. Your answer to Jury –
A. You have no right to ask that. I do not want to answer any more questions on that.
Q. I am afraid you will have to. You told my Lord and the jury that you did not sell him clothing and that you told him to go away because he had no money. Is that right?
A. Yes.
Q. Then he showed you that he had money, according to you?
A. Yes, and I still told him to go away.
Q. Why?
A. Because I did not want anything to do with him, as I have had enough trouble with him in my premises, and I cannot understand where he had the money from, because the night previous to that he was trying to borrow a pound.
Q. When did you hear that Miss Volacki had been murdered?
A. Pardon?
Q. Did you not hear my question?
A. Yes, I will answer your question if I hear it.
Q. You were not stopping for time to think?
A. Pardon?
Q. Mrs Gray, when did you know that Miss Volacki had been murdered?
A. I did not know until the next afternoon when the paper came out.
Q. The afternoon of the 7th March. Did you read about the murder?
A. Yes, I did, and I immediately thought of that gentleman there.
Q. Did you read about the reward –?
A. I did not read about the reward. A reward is of no interest whatever to me.
Q. You did not let me finish my question. Please –
A. I am interested in no reward, no interest at all in no reward.
Q. But although you knew about Miss Volacki’s murder the following day and although, according to you, you instantly thought of the man who had come to your shop the same night as Miss Volacki was murdered, you did not give a statement to the police until the 13th, a week later?
A. I waited until the police came to see me.
Q. Did you say that he was cheeky and that you did not like him?
A. I never said no such thing.
Q. You do not like him, do you?
A. He is of no interest to me. I do not want to like him. What do I want to like him for?
Q. According to you, I understand he has been cheeky to you?
A. Yes, and very cheeky, and to everybody else, as far as I know.
Q. And for that reason you do not like him?
A. Why should I want to like him? Certainly not. I don’t like him.
(The witness withdraws.)
Mr Harold Cover Sworn:
Q. You live in the Docks area of Cardiff, do you?
A. Yes.
Q. Are you a carpenter by trade?
A. Yes.
Q. On the 6th March last, which was a Thursday evening, were you anywhere in Bute Street?
A. Yes, I was.
Q. Did you have occasion at all to pass the shop of Miss Volacki?
A. Yes.
Q. Just tell my Lord and the members of the jury where you had spent the earlier part before you went past Miss Volacki’s shop; tell the jury where you had been?
A. It is general, when I come from work, I generally goes to the Mission; I am very fond of playing billiards, and I went in there approximately ten to eight, or a quarter to eight, and after I went in there the tables were all booked up so I could not get a game, so I stopped and started playing a few games of draughts. On the finish somebody said it was about eight o’clock and I consider it was time to go home. I found I wanted some cigarettes and there was none in the Mission at the time, and I decided to go up to the Club and see if I could get something.
Q. As you approached Miss Volacki’s shop, did you pass a Maltese lodging house?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you pass the men?
A. Yes.
Q. When you passed the Maltese and passed Miss Volacki’s shop, did you see anybody outside or near Miss Volacki’s shop?
A. Actually I seen somebody, but it was not until after I passed Miss Volacki’s shop I seen him. It was on the approach of Miss Volacki’s shop and the Maltese I see the accused gentleman over there.
Q. When did you first give the information to the police, or when was the first statement taken from you, about these matters?
A. The first night when we were all told about the murder of this woman I was there; as you know, I have seen the accused coming from the shop. Naturally I did not take any notice whatsoever of it, and when I was told of the murder of the woman I still did not believe it would have been a coloured man, until when I came home and I was told in work they were looking for a Somali. I suddenly realized then I had seen this man, and I went up to police and lodged a complaint about it.
Q. When was that – a day later, two days later, three days later?
A. No, I think it was the following day.
Q. As you very fairly said, you had no reason to think it was this man who committed the murder. Had you any reason at all, at the time you saw someone – you say this man – in the doorway or porchway of Miss Volacki’s shop, to take any notice of him at all?
A. No, not at all, not in the least, because I know Miss Volacki do sometimes oblige people by selling them certain things at certain hours if they want.
Q. Do you personally know Mattan?
A. Not personally; I have seen him about. At the Colonial Annex Dance and near a Somali lodging house in Bute Street, I have also seen him walking in various parts of the Docks.
Q. Have you seen anybody else who looks like him in the Butetown area?
A. I am afraid I have never been that interested.
Q. It was you who were just passing Miss Volacki’s shop and saw a man. Are you positive beyond any shadow of a doubt that the man you saw was Mattan?
A. I am positive.
Q. I must suggest to you that you are mistaken: you may think it is the man you saw, but it is not?
A. If I was not positive I do not think I would be here – I have no right to doubt it or to say anything or come here at all if I was not sure of the man I have seen.
(The witness withdraws.)
William Reginald Lester James Sworn:
Q. Dr William Reginald Lester James, you are Lecturer in Pathology at the Welsh National School of Medicine?
A. Yes.
Q. On the 7th March last, at the Pathology Institute, did you carry out a post-mortem on the deceased woman, Miss Violet Volacki?
A. Yes.
Q. Will you tell us what you found and what conclusions you came to?
A. Externally there were several cuts on the right side of the neck extending from beneath the chin to behind the right ear. There was one main cut eight inches long by two inches deep. There were three smaller cuts leading into this and one inch below the main cut, two inches deep. There was a much more shallow cut, four and a half inches long, which had also gone through the dead woman’s blouse at the junction of the collar and the shoulder. Over the left shoulder blade there was a bruise approximately two inches across.
Q. How could the bruise have been caused?
A. By any recent pressure by something blunt about the size of one’s knee.
Q. Could it have been caused by knee pressure?
A. Yes, it could have been caused by that.
Q. Was there anything noteworthy about the scalp?
A. Yes. On the right of the crown of the head there was a red area which contrasted with the general pallor of the body.
Q. Consistent with what?
A. The tearing of the hair.
Q. The tearing out of the hair or pulling back the head?
A. Pulling back the head by graspi
ng the hair.
Q. Did you form any view as to whether the long main cut or the three minor cuts were caused first, or in what order they were caused?
A. The long main cut was caused first.
Q. Did the major cut result in a gaping wound?
A. Yes, and it involved the backbone.
Q. In other words, you would have an aperture there?
A. Yes, of about an inch and a half wide.
Q. What would the effect of the main cut you have spoken of be?
A. Extreme shock and haemorrhage.
Q. The blood marks on the knees and toes. I think you are about to tell us of those.
A. Yes. There were blood marks on the knees and toes and on the palms of the hands and the knuckles.
Q. Consistent with?
A. Crawling on a bloodstained surface.
Q. What height was Miss Volacki?
A. Four feet ten inches.
Q. And her weight?
A. Ten stone three pounds.
Q. And the cause of death?
A. Haemorrhage due to a cut throat.
Q. How long would she remain conscious after her throat was cut?
A. I would think, not more than three minutes at the outside.
Q. Fit yourself into the theory which I suggest, at all events, you do not contradict at the moment, that the murderer had come back after hearing Miss Volacki crawling towards him and inflicted the three subsequent wounds. You would expect, would you not, some considerable staining of the feet and shoes and possibly also the hand which wielded the weapon?
A. On the feet and shoes, unless he was very careful where he trod.
(The witness withdraws.)
Mr Ernest Leonard Madison Sworn:
Q. Are you feeling alright?
A. Yes.
Q. I am sure my Lord will allow you to sit down if you want to.
A. Thank you very much.
Q. He has not been well, my Lord. (To the witness:) Do you keep lodgings at number 42 Davis Street?
A. Yes.
Q. On the 6th March of this year, the Thursday night that Miss Volacki was killed, did you have lodging in your house the accused man, Mattan?
A. Yes.
Q. And a Jamaican named Lloyd Williams?
A. Yes.
Q. And a man named James Monday?
A. Yes.
Q. Face the jury. Had each of those lodgers a separate room with a separate key?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you remember the Thursday evening, the 6th March?
A. Yes.
Q. In what state of health were you at that time?
A. I was sick, lying in bed in the front room.
Q. Do you remember Mattan coming into the house that night?
A. Yes.
Q. When he came in, what did he do?
A. He come in the front room and he sit down on the settee, and there was James Monday sitting beside him.
Q. I want you to tell us about what time it was that Mattan came in.
A. It was about twenty minutes to nine, or a quarter to nine.
Q. Are you quite sure about the time Mattan came in the night Miss Volacki was murdered?
A. I was under the care of the doctor, and the doctor prescribed to me what time I should take each tablet, and my clock was right beside my bed.
Q. How long did he remain in the front room downstairs with you and Monday?
A. He stopped there until about ten minutes after ten, somewhere after ten o’clock.
Q. During that time how was he behaving?
A. He come into my front room and he sit on the settee, and James Monday handed him the Echo, and he took the Echo and he dropped it on the floor. He is a man who generally speaks about horse racing and football pools. That night, me and Monday and he tried to speak about the racing.
Q. Usually he was a man who spoke about horse racing and about football pools. That evening, what happened? Monday did – what?
A. After Monday handed him the paper and we were speaking about football pools and horse racing for that day, he took no part in it.
Q. You mean, Mattan took no part in it?
A. He took no part in it.
Q. Was that a usual thing for him to do or not?
A. Very unusual.
Q. Apart from being silent, was there anything else you noticed about him?
A. Yes.
Q. Tell us, please.
A. He was sitting on the settee. I was lying in bed facing him. He was looking, you know, towards the window, very serious, and I have noticed him myself, and I could imagine that the man went in a trance, just like somebody was trying to hypnotize him.
Q. He seemed to you like he was in a trance?
A. Yes.
THE JUDGE: Like somebody who had been ‘hypnotized’. Is that what you said?
A. Yes, my Lord.
Q. Have you ever seen him like that before?
A. Never before.
Q. When he left your room to go to his own room, did he say any greetings as he went away?
A. Nothing at all.
Q. Was that a usual thing for him to do?
A. That was an unusual thing for him to do. He always bids me ‘Goodnight’.
Q. Tell my Lord and the jury quite slowly, and I want the jury to hear every word, what he said about the murder when he spoke to you on the Saturday?
A. I says to him, ‘Well, Miss Volacki is a very heavy woman and it must be a very strong man to go and hold a woman like that and to kill that woman,’ and he directly says to me, ‘That is easy.’ I says, ‘What do you mean?’ He says, ‘You can get to the back of this woman and catch her by her throat – that – way.’
Q. You are demonstrating by putting your left arm over your face and drawing your right hand across your neck, are you?
A. Yes.
Q. Just tell us this, please: have you ever known Mattan to go out wearing one suit of clothes and, without returning to number 42, appear in a different suit of clothes afterwards?
A. Yes, many times.
(The witness withdraws.)
Mr Hector Macdonald Cooper Sworn:
Q. Are you Chief Security Officer at the Arms Park Greyhound Racing Company?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you attend greyhound meetings at Somerton Park, Newport?
A. Yes.
Q. And at Cardiff. Do you know the accused, Mattan?
A. I do.
Q. Did you have any particular reason to speak to him?
A. Yes.
Q. What did you speak to him about?
A. Begging from patrons.
Q. Did you tell him on one occasion that you had received a complaint?
A. I did.
Q. And did you inform him that if he persisted you would have to ask him to leave the track?
A. That is so, yes.
Q. Do you remember when that was?
A. No, I could not.
Q. Do you remember the 6th March, 1952?
A. I do.
Q. Was it before or after that?
A. Before.
Q. Did you see the accused on the 7th March?
A. Yes.
Q. Was that at Somerton Park?
A. Yes.
Q. Where did you see him there?
A. Just inside the main door between the Tote and the ‘Pay-out’.
Q. Just in case any member of the jury should be unfamiliar with the procedure of the Tote, the ‘Pay-out’ windows are the windows where you draw your winnings, are they not?
A. That is so, if you are successful.
Q. What impression did you gather?
A. Well, on this occasion he was holding a roll of notes rolled up in his hands, and he came from the direction of the ‘Pay-out’ towards the south side of the stadium.
Q. Do you know whether he did bet on any of the races?
A. Oh, he had been betting, yes.
(The witness withdraws.)
Miss Angela Mary Brown Sworn:
; Q. Were you, in the month of March this year, employed as a counter assistant at Miss Volacki’s shop?
A. Yes.
Q. For how long had you been working at Miss Volacki’s shop?
A. I worked for Miss Volacki for sixteen months.
Q. Do you know the accused, Mattan?
A. Only by sight.
Q. Had you ever seen him at the shop?
A. Yes.
THE JUDGE: Can you remember the last time he called before Miss Volacki was killed?
A. The last time I saw him was a few weeks before.
(The witness withdraws.)
Detective Sergeant David Morris Sworn:
Q. Are you a member of the Cardiff City Police Force?
A. Yes.
Q. On the 6th March last did you go to 42 Davis Street with Detective Constable Lavery?
A. Yes, at 10.25 p.m. I went to 42 Davis Street.
Q. As far as you and Detective Lavery were concerned, when you saw Mattan that same night Miss Volacki was murdered, there was nothing found that night to connect him with that murder?
A. Nothing was found that particular night.
Q. Would you look at the wallet. (Same handed.) That wallet which was found in the room was subsequently handed to the Forensic Science Laboratory for examination?
A. I understand it was.
Q. As far as you could see, Sergeant Morris, there was neither a large quantity of money nor any bloodstains apparent to you during your search of Mattan’s room that night?
A. The room was illuminated with a low-wattage bulb, and as far as the naked eye could discern there was no blood on any garment.
Q. I am quite sure you do not want to sound grudging. In fact subsequently a complete and thorough search of the room was made by daylight?
A. That is right.
Q. And nothing of evidential value was found there?
A. That is correct.
Q. It is quite clear from the statement that at first, at any rate, Mattan was quite willing to answer your questions: the first part of your interview he was cooperative?
A. Yes.
Q. It was not until about halfway through, when there was mention of a coloured man, that he started to get excited?
A. Really excited, yes.
(The witness withdraws.)