It probably was him
The Herald reports:
Nearly 40 years after a caretaker at a union building was killed picking up a suitcase with a bomb in it, the chief suspect has died. A never-before-released transcript reveals what the man told police, writes Sam Sherwood. …
However, circumstantial evidence did point to one person, marine engineer Edgar Kidman, a former army sergeant with experience in handling explosives including gelignite.
The Herald on Sunday can reveal Kidman died in May 2021 with a cloud of suspicion hanging over his head. And for the first time, a transcript of his interview with police from the time can be shared. …
The device was wrapped in newspaper and fragments from the scene were identified as coming from the June 18, 1977 edition of the Evening Post, specifically pages 9, 10, 19 and 20. …
Police also believed there were two bottles of accelerant, likely petrol, inside a Teal brand soft drink bottle and a bottle sealed with an Asti Riccadonna cork. There was also an Eveready 6-volt battery. …
In August 1984, police searched Kidman’s home in Breaker Bay. Inside the home, police found four Teal brand soft-drink bottles, electrical tape, a packet of detonators, safety fuses and a torch without its battery.
Also inside was the Evening Post dated June 18, 1977. Pages, 9, 10, 19 and 20, which were found inside the suitcase, were among the pages missing.
This is not proof beyond reasonable doubt, but certainly well beyond the balance of probabilities.
Very very few people have experience in explosives in NZ. What is the chance that at one house you have someone who:
- Had experience with explosives
- Had the same brand of soft drink bottle as used in the bomb
- Had a missing battery, where one was used in the bomb
- Had detonators at home
- Had a copy of the very same newspaper as used in the bomb, with missing pages that corresponded to those found in the bomb
The last one especially takes it from plausible to very likely he did it.