TWO DEATHS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 119, 4 March 1950, Page 6

TWO DEATHS

FATHER AND SON DEAD WOMAN SHOT IN SHOULDER (P.A.) AUCKLAND, March 3. A tragedy occurred on a farm at Mangaorongo, nine miles from Otorohanga, this afternoon, when a man was found drowned, his son was found shot dead through the throat, and his wife received a gunshot wound in the left shoulder. The victims were:—> Dead Mr Edward George Ollett, aged 55, a farmer, found drowned. Raymond Ollett, aged 19, farmhand, fatal gunshot wound in the throat. Injured Mrs Edna Irene Ollett, aged 51, gunshot wound in the left shoulder. - Condition not serious. The couple had been married for 22 years and . had been farming at 'Mangaorongo for some years. There were two sons, Raymond, aged 19, who worked on the farm, and Reginald, aged 14, who is still at school. For some months Ollett had suffered from severe pains in the head, and these had become worse during the last two weeks. He was to see a Hamilton doctor next Tuesday. Mrs Ollett went out to-day to visit a neighbour and returned at 4 p.m. As she was about to enter the house she was fired at front inside the kitchen door and received the charge in the shoulder. Her son, Reginald, arrived home from school at this time, and she sent him for help. Dr. G. H. Forrest, of Otorohanga, arrived and Mrs Ollett was removed to the Waikato Hospital. Police searched the farm and found the body of Raymond Ollett on a tractor in the farm shed. A further search revealed the body of Edward Ollett in the Mangaoronga stream not far from the house. He had been drowned. A shotgun was found on the bank of the stream.

An inquest was opened at the farm and adjourned.