"SUDDEN IMPULSE"

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 3, 5 January 1938, Page 9

"SUDDEN IMPULSE"

STRANGLED HIMSELF.

DIED IN PRISON CELL

SOCKS KNOTTED ROUND NECK.

(By TelegTaph.—Own Correspondent.)

NAPIER, this day,

Commenting that it was probably a sudden impulse which was difficult to account for, the coroner, Mr. A. E. Bedford, returned a verdict at an inquest that Edward Frank O'Neill, a labourer, died in a,police cell at Napier, the cause of death being asphyxiation due to •strangulation self-inflicted.

O'Neill had been found lying on a bunk in a cell at Napier Police Station at 11 o'clock on Monday night with a pair of socks knotted tightly round his neck. He was to have appeared before the Court on a charge concerning a young girl. Received Complaint. Details regarding the arrest of O'Neill were given by Constable D. M. Campbell, who said he had received a complaint regarding the accused's behaviour towards a little girl on a merry-go-round on the Marine Parade. Deceased was taken to the station and charged with common assault. He admitted he had kissed the girl and assaulted her. He was placed in a cell at 8 o clock and did not worry so much about the charge as about getting bail. According to witness O'Neill showed signs of having had liquor, but was not at all drunk. Resuscitation Efforts. The discovery of O'NeiU's body with the socks tied tightly round his neck was described by police witnesses, who also detailed efforts to resuscitate him. The medical evidence was to the effect that O'Neill died of asphyxiation caused by strangulation. The coroner added to the verdict that on the evidence there appeared to be no special reason why the deceased should take his life, and he was satisfied everything humanly possible had been done to restore life.