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In essence the Crown's case was that the prisoner for
some reason and by some means gained entry into the James Bond
Restaurant, probably through the back door, and there attacked
the deceased with the knife found later on the fruit stall. It
was proved that the deceased used to stay on the premises at
night as a watchman. It was also proved that the only bedding found on the premises was one bed sheet, and the Crown asked the
jury to draw the inference that the deceased had also wrapped
himself in the table cloths found on the floor of the restaurant.
That at some time during the attack the prisoner was also injured by the same knife and he had escaped down the service lane while the deceased managed to let himself out through the front door of the restaurant where he collapsed outside on the pavement. There was evidence of a considerable amount of blood of Group B just inside the front door of the restaurant which indicated that because of his injury the deceased took some time in opening the door, and immediately afterwards collapsed on the pavement outside. That the prisoner then ran down the service lane, dropped the knife on the fruit stall, and ran to Reclamation Street, and because of his wound being unable to run any further climbed into the parked lorry to hide. That if the prisoner had been the innocent victim of a robbery he would have sought assistance and not hidden in the lorry.
The Crown submitted that the evidence which connected the
prisoner with the crime was the blood trail from the service lane to the lorry in which he was discovered. The fact that a paper sheath which fitted the knife was found tucked into the waistband
of his trousers. That this sheath was also stained with blood of Group B, the deceased's blood group. That the knife was also stained with blood of Group B on the blade and handle, and that adhering to the blade of that knife were found fibres which exactly matched the fibres of the table cloths, and that the cuts on those table cloths were caused by the knife. That therefore the knife had been used to stab the deceased in the restaurant, that the sheath connected the prisoner with that knife, coupled with the fact that the trail of the prisoner's blood started from outside the back door of the restaurant, and that the prisoner was found to have blood on his