KIRWEE TRAGEDY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 32, 8 February 1928, Page 8

KIRWEE TRAGEDY.

ATTEMPT to remove child.

WIFE'S VISIT

IN A TAXI.

EVIDENCE OF UNHAPPY- LIFE,

(By Telegrafeh—own Correspondent.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. Incidents leading up to the tragedy at Kirwec, 'where a child of two years w'as found drowned, after its father had burned his house, outbuildings, . hayv stacks and motor car, . were reported to-day. It is learned that two hours before the affair - at; the ■ farjn Mrs. Duncan arrived in a taxi, with the object of taking her, little boy away. She was accompanied by a relative, but they found Duncan in a dangerous mood, and' he refused absolutely to part with the child. It is alleged that he threatened both his wife and her relative with a tomahawk. Mrs. Duncan then left the farm. Drove Off With Child. After paying off his housekeeper and the farm hands, Duncan was seen driving a gig across a paddock. The child was with him. Then the house was noticed to be on fire, and later the stacks of hay were seen to be ablaze. Some time afterwards Duncan's horse, drawing an empty gig, galloped round to the house from the direction in which the boy was later found drowned. Before Constable Johnu, of Darfield, arrested him, Duncan had been hiding in a gorse hedge. He had a deep gash in his arm. When asked where the child was, Duncan said that they had taken the boy from him. A search party found the child drowned in a pool beside the fence in which Duncaif had been hiding. Cruelty to Girl Alleged. The proceedings in the Magistrate's Court earlier in the day, when Mrs. Duncan sought, and was granted, orders of separation, maintenance and guardianship, are also recalled. Mrs. Duncan said that her husband used to ignore the child of her first marriage, a little girl, but once he thrashed her with a razor strop. He had not spoken to the child for two years, but the girl remained in terror of him. One day she and the little girl were in town together when Duncan appeared, and the girl screamed, and called out, "Daddy wont hit me, will he, mummy?" Duncan had used bad language to her, the wife said, and had directed a certain filthy epithet toward her at least once a week, until his attitude changed and he refused to speak at all. He sulked for months at a time. In more than two years of married life her husband, had bought her or provided her with the wherewithal to buy only one dress,' and that had cost five shillings. Duncan's Allegations..; Duncan said he given ; his wife money frequently to buy clothes, but she had never done so. "She went away to town with the money and came home without it, or anything to show for it," he said. He complained that his wife had taken food from his home and given it to hey relatives.v . ' ■ .(.''■■■s? "He called me the greatest bread and butter 'cook. jnthe tsa id Mrs. "but he" would hot allow me to buy anything to make something better/' She said her husband had 'questioned and "rowed" about almost' everything she bought in the way of food. Argument arose between 1 the magistrate and Duncan on whether Duncan bad said "1 corrected the child," or "I hit the child." Duncan denied he had said he had hit the child, and the magistrate referred to him as "a very poor bluffer." •: - * Duncan also contended that he was financially embarrassed, and that if Pyne, Gould and Guinness, his agents,, were to foreclose on him, he would have nothing but what he stood up in. Duncan, who is 51 years of age, is a short, thick-set man. He is said to have been very fond of children. Evidence of identification of the boy, aged two year?; was given before the Coroner, Mr. E. D. Mosley, yesterday morning. The inquest i!was then adjourned sine die. Desolation at Farnl. The farm was a scene of desolation yesterday. Only the chimney stacks remained of the house, which was near the road, and pieces of twisted corrugated iron marked the place where the stable and implement sheds were. Many tons of chaff were destroyed in the stable. The only sign of life was the barking of three dogs and four pups, still chained to their kennels.