MURDER CHARGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 68, 22 March 1933, Page 8

MURDER CHARGE.

KAITAIA FARMER. MAORI YOUTH IN DOCK. EVIDENCE OF -WlD'OVr. (By .Telegraph'.:—Special Reporter.) KAITAIA, this day. The preliminary hearing of the charge of murder ■ against the 17-year-old Maori Eiri Manuel commenced in the • Kaitaia Police Court this morning before Mr. G. N. Morris, S.M. I Manuel is charged wifli the murder of Hati Wira Honkamon Rapihana, known as Hati Robson, a Pukepoto farmer, on January 8. Accused is represented by Mr. R. K. Trimmer, of Whangarei, and Mr. R. H. JKelly, of Kaitaia. Mr. V. R. Meredith, Crown Prosecutor at Auckland, is conducting the case for the Crown. There are 25 witnesses, and as the majority are Maoris the services of an interpreter are needed. An inquest into the death of Rapihana is being held simultaneously b#fore the coroner? Mr. L. A.' Mclntosh. The widow of Hati Eobson was the next witness, and at her request she gave evidence through the interpreter. She married Eobson, her second husband, in 1929. She had three children of the firet marriage and two of the second, the elder being three years of age. She had known accused ever .since he wae a child and ho had been working at deceased's farm for the last two years. At times accused, she said, was well-behaved, but at others used to get out of control. Objection to Evidence. . Mr. Meredith: Can you recall any incidents ? Mr. Trimmer: I object. These things get into the Prees, and I maintain that no injury will be done the Crown'e case if the incidents are ruled out. If they can be substantiated they can come out at the Supreme Court. If that evidence is not admitted now it will not harm the Crown's case, but if it is published and later cannot bo exibstantiated, it might cause incalculable harm to the accused.. The magistrate asked Mr. Meredith if he was prepared to argue the position. Mr. Meredith replied that he was not, whereupon Mr. Morris said he must uphold the objection. On January 7, continued Mrs. Eobson, she, her husband, children and others intended to go to the pictures. However, only accused and two of the children went, witnees. having given them money. She and her husband and the other children stayed at home and h© went to bed before her. Witness said she went to bed about midnight but did not go to sleep immediately. She was in bed when her sons came in, but accused was not with them. Manual and one son slept in a shed at the back of the house. , She called to the boys and then went to sleep. She awakened between 5 o'clock and 6 o'clock a.m. "Heard Husband Yelling." "Daylight was breaking, and I heard my husband calling and yelling," said witness. "I asked him what was the matter, and he said, 'I am suffering great pain. I am all wet.'" Mr. Trimmer asked his objection to conversation being given as evidence to be noted. "In fact," he added, "we object to the whole proceeding, of course." Witness continued that sho put her hand under her husband's clothes and found that he was covered with blood. She noticed nothing unusual in the atmosphere when she went to bed. The window was closed. After ringir , / the doctor, witness helped her husband on to the floor. Accused came through the kitchen, and witness asked him to get a pillow. He did so. Sho did not remember accused saying anything, but noted that lie Mas wearing dungarees and a white shirt. There was a boy in the kitchen with accused, and although she did not know who it was at the time she later discovered it was Willie Nathan. Witness was then questioned regarding a blood-stained quilt which she said had been on the bed at the time of the tragedy. There was a hole in it which had not been there previously. She said that the holes in deceased's singlet had not been there before. There were also a tin of cigarettes and some cigarette papers on the dressing table in the morning, but they were not there when she went to bed. At this stage the Court adjourned for lunch.