TORONTO TRAGEDY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVI, Issue 10415, 5 June 1925, Page 5

TORONTO TRAGEDY.

AN ALLEGED CONFESSION. SEQUEL TO ILLEGAL MARRIAGE. ("Per Press Association—Copyright.) v SYDNEY, June 4. The inquest on Mona Beacher, the victim of the Toronto tragedy, was held at Newcastle. Augustus Oakes, aged 23, was committed for trial for wilful murder. < A huge crowd, mostly woemn, violently struggled to gain admittance to the Court. Oakes was present in ensMedical evidence showed that the girl died as a result'of concussion, perhaps hastened by hemorrhage. The police produced a statement alleged to have been made by Oakes at the police station, after his arrest, in which he said that in consequence of what the girl told him they agreed to get married. After the ceremony they went to Toronto. About midnight he got up while Mona was asleep and murdered her with a razor and a hammer. He then detailed how he tried to obliterate the traces of the crime. He took train to Sydney, sent a telegram to Mona Beaeher's parents, and then returned home. He did this as he knew he had done wrong and did not want to be found out.

Oakes, who is said to be a married man with a family, was married to the girl on Friday, May 15. They rented a cottage in Toronto, near Newcastle, under tlic name of Turner. Uncollected food supplies aroused .suspicion, and when tlie owner of the dwelling forced an entrance he found the girl's body in the bedroom.