SUICIDE'S PLUNGE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLIV, Issue 10134, 11 June 1924, Page 8

SUICIDE'S PLUNGE

NATSVE WOMAN MURDERED. (Per Press Association.) WHANGAREI, June 10. The circumstances surrounding the death of Ruki Pene, of Waima, were the subject of a coronial inquiry this afternoon.

The police testified that on June 6 deceased returned homo and had an altercation with his wife. He then procured a stone and battered her head, resulting in the woman's death some hours later. Pene then decamped. The police were summoned, and the search proceeded all night, deceased being at length located at 8 a.m. in a tall macrocarpa tree, whereupon Pene cried out: "I am ready to die. Good-bye/,' and dived into the creek below, a distance of 30ft, the creek containing only a foot of water and havinpr a rocky bed. Pene, obviously badlv injured, was conveyed by road to Kaikohe, thence by train en route to Whangarei, for medical treatI ment; but he expired during the jour- ; ney at Whakapara. : A Maori witness testified that when he saw Pene in the tree the latter ! exclaimed: "Don't let any Maoris jcom© near me. Take all my horses, saddles, bridles, and everything and I pay expenses. I am ready now. ' Good-bye." He then took a headlong plunge. \. _ , i Dr. Ward gave evidence to the ettect that a post-mortem revealed a fracture !of the base of the skull; also, deceased had been suffering from pneumonia, I affecting the left base of the lung. ! Death was due to shock and injury to ! the brain. 1 A verdict in accordance with the I medical testimony was returned. I The doctor subsequently expressed i the view that Pene might have muri dered his wife while he was in ado- ! i" en ted state due to the pneumonia.