DOUBLE MURDER.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 50, 27 February 1915, Page 8

DOUBLE MURDER.

/ERDICT OF THE CORONER. >N THE ONEWHERO TRAGEDY. REALS COMMITTED FOR TRIAL. The hearing was continued yesterday iftcrnoon, bfeorc Mr. F. V. Fra'zer, S.M., >t the charges of murder preferred igainst Norman Edwin Keals, in conscience of the deaths of his sister-in-law (Edith Emma Keals) and her'infant, at Onewhero, on or about February Bth. Mr. Selwyn Mays prosecuted on behalf of the Crown. The accused was not represented by counsel. The adjourned inquest on the bodies -was conducted simultaneously by Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., acting as coroner. Henry Bceclianv Lee, storekeeper, ol Tuakau, identified the accused as the purchaser of an oilskin coat at his store on February 4. THE LADY HELP'S STORY. Sophie Louisa Hunter, at present resid : ing at Devonport, said she was acting as l.idy help to Mrs. Keals at the time of the tragedy, having been there' for two and a-half weeks. She rose at f>.3o on the morning of February 8, not having heard any noise in the night. Witness went to the door of Mrs. Keals' bedroom once or twice. She was not awake, but was breathing heavily. Fearing that someThing was wrong, she roused the farm cadet, who was sleeping in a room dctnched from the house. WHAT THE CADET SAW. Cyril Thomas Wells, farm cadet in the employ of Mr. Leslie Keals, deposed to being aroused by the previous witness at about 7 a.m. on the morning of the Bth. He went to the door of Mrs. Keals , room, nnd saw that there were signs of blood. He then left to ring up for a doctor from a neighbour's house. A BROTHER SENT FOR. John Henry Eyre, farmer, said he was a brother of Mrs. Keals. In consequence of what he heard, lie proceeded to the house on the morning of the !)tJi inst. The French windows leading from the bedroom on to the verandah were opened, and Mrs. Keals was lying on the bed unconscious. The bedclothes were partly turned back, and in feelin™ for the baby witness found a heavy piece of wood (produced). His sister was badly injured, and there were signs of blood. THE DOCTOR ARRIVES. William Phillip Johnston, medical practitioner, said that when he arrived at 1.45 p.m. on the 9th inst. Mrs. Keals hud received temporary attention. Blood was oozing from a bullet wound about two inches above the left ear, and the hair and pillow were saturated with blood. There was also a wound on the back of the skull, such ne might have been caused by the wooden club (produced). He also observed bruises on the back of the hand and one of the shoulders. Mrs' Keals remained unconscious up to the time of her death in the Auckland Hospital. POLICE EXAMINATION. Similar evidence was given by the constables who visited the residence soon after the tragedy. At the old hut they found a box of cartridgps. a shirt, 19/7. in money, and a wooden club. In a buggy shed adjoining the hut was a new oilskin coat. A fire was smouldering in the hut and some fruit was lying about. (Some letters written by accused were subsequently found near the house. AT THE HOSPITAL. Frank Mucky, junior house surgeon at the Auckland Hospital, said that when admitted, Mrs. Keals wns quite unconscious, breathing irregularly, and having n. weak pulse An operation was performed at 10.45 on the night of admission, and a bullet wns extracted from the skull, also a piece of bone from the brain. The bullet wound was almost certainly the cause of death, which occurred at 5.3*0 p.m. next day. Alexander McGregor Grant, acting medical superintendent of the Auckland biiid that he ateisted Dr. Bull with the post mortem examination of the infant on February 14. The body was co decomjwDScd that it was impossible to declare the cause of death. i'OST MORTEM EXAMINATIONS. Dr. Bull gave particulars of the poet niori(-m exa-uiinations of the two bodies. Tire cause of lire. Keals' drain wae chock and hemorrhage, resulting from a bullet wound which had not been self-inflicted. It waa impossible, to state the cause of death in the case of the infant (a male), but tiic condition of tiic body was Consistent with hooiouidal strangulation or 6allocation. The child had not been give.! , , food lor some houiß-.prior to death. SEARCH FOR ACCUSED. • i'raiui Claude Bry a and- Herbert Htrliry Fordham, farmers, gave evidence oi the search lor the capture of accused. REVOLVER AND. ITS BULLETS. Wiiliam H. Hazard gave expert evidence to the ellect that the bullet extracted, from Mb. Keals was. the' eize ami kind of the bullets in-the revolver produced. INFANTS' CLOTHING.. Martha Eliza Spraggon identified the clothing found ou the child at* that belonging to -the " infant of' Mrs.' Ivesile which she had uunsed at birth. CHASE AND CAPTURE. William Bernard v McUveney, ■ SubJ Inspector of Pu&icc, Detective-Sergeani Holliti, and. Detective' Powell," gave cvi deuce of the search for the accused and Kb capture, ateo the confession which in leigned. They isaid that the accused was pin fectly normal, and did not give anj indications of excitement. In his etate meet Keals indicated where the ■body.o; the child would-be found. The body wa« fully dressed when recovered at the. epo , mentioned. Accused todd the police thai he would not have been taken alive, but for the fact that hie • (revolver. had , , re flined -to act on the night before his cap ttire. On hie way to town toe converse* freely on several subjects, and there wai nothing strange about his demeanour.. THE ACCUSED'S CONFESSION. "I HAVE TO FACE THE MUSIC." In bis signed statement the ac cused made the following confes sion: '"1, Norman Edwin Kealt having been cautioned by Sub-Inepecto M'cllveney, make the following eta.te.men on my own free will: I left my brother', baby on the furthermost ridge on th. opposite side of Optratia Creek. I put i in under a tree, and put some nJkai branches over it. I did this on th mowing" I took it away from here; o course it was dead. I held my thuni! over ite throat until it gave out. Tha wair within five minutes after I took' i out of the room. It didn't seem lonj

afterwards." I wish to, tell you thie: l> came up here under great provocation;. I intended to kill my brother. I couldn't get a good opportunity The night I did come up hero he was away. I went into the room, and there "wae just hie wife and children in there. I thought I murdered hie wife. I thought I killed someore. I think it was his wife. I intended to kill tlrem all. After I fired the ehot L didn't like to-do. much more. I thought I had done enough. I left then. 1 thought about the baby. I didn't like to leave it there. It wae singing out, and I took it outside. Well, I went right away then into the bush. I don't knew that 1 ihave any more to 6ay excepting that my brother and I did not on very well while I wae here. He wanted mc to go away some time ago— about a couple of years ago. Well, I did go away. I went up north to Whangarei. WeH, I met a young lady, up there, and wanted to come back. I thought I would leave it a bit longer, and I went over to Australia then. While I wae in gaol over there the place wae taken out of my hands. Well, of course, v.htr. I heard I was not coming back here again I made up my mind 1 would hay« my revenge come day. Well, it is all over now, except my part—l have to face the music, that ie all. By saying that I intended to kill my brother the night I "came up 'here, I mean the night I came into the house, the Monday night. I had come to the old camp on .the previous Thursday. The leters now in your possession are in my 'handwriting. The revolver now in the hands of the police is the one I used to fire the shot at my nietcr-in-law Edith, who wae Edith F.yre before ehc was married." ' Then followed in the handwriting of the- accused this poetecript: "This is ray own statement, made of my own freewill, after I had been cautioned on several occasions by the officer. It was read over to mc, and ie quite correct."

> UHE INQUEST. VERDICT OF DOUBLE MURDER. ' The finding of the Coroner (Mr. E. C. " Cutten (S.M.) at the inquest on the 1 body of Mns. Keals was as follows:— "That Edith Emma Kcale died on the lOtl' day of February, 1915, at Auckland, ; th- cause of death being a bullet wound » in the head. The deceased was murdered . by Edwin Reals. , ' » This verdict relating to the death of . the infant was as follows: ''The infant mal<- child of Leslie William Keals died . on or about the 9th day of February, r 1913. at Onewhero, in the provincial die- • triet of Auckland, the cause of death 1 being strangulation. The deceased wae . murdered by Norman Edwin Kcate." NOTHING TO SAY. 1 THE ACCUSED CAUTIONED. ' The customary warning was carefully ' given by Mr. Frazer, and the accused, in 1 reply to the inquiry as to whether he had anything to cay. remarked in a colr lected manner, "No, I do not wish to say ■ any more, sir." 1 COMMITTED FOR TRIAL, j He was then formally committed to - *taml his trial at the next sitting of the Supreme Court, commencing on May 17 _ next.