MURDER AND SUICIDE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 294, 13 December 1927, Page 9

MURDER AND SUICIDE.

VERDICT IN PAPANUI CASE. GRAVE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST FOSTER. INTERVIEW WITH POLICE. (By Telegraph.—Own Coriv-ondent.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. The inquest into the death of William Alexander Foster and his wife, was resumed to-day. Foster, who was an assistant master at Papanui School, killed his wife and then drowned himself.

A detective gave evidence 4hat he had interviewed Foster on the day before the tragedy with regard to statements that Foster had been guilty of an indecent assault.

John James Hall said he had visited the Fosters on Friday last, and left their house about 12.15 a.m. The couple were on affectionate terms. Foster was a hard worker and witness thought the trouble was that he was doing too much. Homicidal Mania? Dr. Crooke, police surgeon, said Mrs. Foster had a huge wound on the back of her head. It could not have been self-inflicted. Mr. Hunter (who appeared for the relatives of Foster): In your experience are cases such as this due to homicidal mania?— That's rather a difficult question. The question is, if he wanted to kill himself, why did he kill his wife? Is it not a case that with homicidal mania it is common to kill those dearest to them?— Yes, frequently. Is it not a fact that homicidal mania comes on very suddenly?— Yes, quite frequently. Thomas Gates, headmaster of Papanui School, said that for some months Foster had been under the strain of heavy work and financial worry. No Charge Laid.

Detective Sergeant Young said Foster was upset when he heard the allegations. , The Coroner: What was the nature of the allegations?— The nature of it pas that he had been guilty of an indecent assault on schoolboys.

Mr. Hunter: You didn't inform him that a charge would be laid against him?—No, I had no idea then.,, The allegations' themselves were not of a most serious description?—No, the most serious part about it is that he was a master and that the boys were pupils.

A neighbour said that Foster on Friday, evening appeared gloomy. He did not discuss the charge that was levelled against him. He was of a highlystrung temperament.

In a letter to Detective-Sergeant! Young, Foster said: "I've saved you a bit of unsavoury work, old man. There will be no need of a warrant, and you knew I was guilty, but you had only a very small corner of the case. The more you dug the more you would have found, so cease Are. This job is over. Pigeon-hole the papers, and, thank God, you didn't have to see it through. Good luck. (Signed) W. A. Foster." In a letter to his mother Foster said he * had promised Olive (his wife), he would, never go without taking her too. "Act Waa Deliberate." "The male deceased, as a school teacher, had more than ordinary responsibility with respect to children, and yet he evidently indecently assaulted the schoolboys under his care. This shows that he was not normal," said the coroner (Mr. H. A. Young). "The act of killing his wife and then leaving five young children without parents shows, too, that he was not normal. So, too, does his suicide and the manner of it.

"On the other hand, the letters written by him and the note left for the milkman shows that he committed the acts after deliberation, and with a realisation of their nature and consequences. Had he been unsuccessful in his efforts towards suicide, the jury, on the evidence before me, would not have been justified, in my opinion, in judging him not guilty of murder on the ground of insanity. "The inference might be drawn from the letter written by deceased to his mother, that his wife consented to die, but all the circumstanccs of her life and death negative this. If his possible suicide was mentioned between them, she, in order to put off such a step, might have said that he would take her too.

Nature Of Hia Offences. | "It might be said in favour of deceased that the nature of the indecent acts alleged against him consisted of only the I minimum essentials, and from one of his letters that the acts writh respect to boys were due to his being obsessed by certain ideas on juvenile sex matters. One of the letters ehows that it was his intention to kill the children, but fortunately they were spared. "I find that at Christchurch, on December 10, 1927, the deceased, Olive Ethel Foster, was killed by her husband, who struck her on the head with an axe, with the intention of causing her death. The deceased, William Alexander Foster, committed suicide by drowning himself in a bath."