HEART STAB.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 284, 1 December 1938, Page 7

HEART STAB.

STINGRAY'S ATTACK GIRL BATHER'S FATE. REVELATION BY DOCTOR. "A VERY RARE HAPPENING." (By Tolefrrapli.—Own Correspondent.) THAMKS. this day. "One could sum tliis case 11 {> as being a most regrettable ami very rare happening, and it will he recorded as evidence of a happening al>le to occur to sea bathers under unusual circumstances." said tlie coroner. Mr. W. Bongard. when t;i\ ill<r 11>rs verdict at tlie inquest in ilie Thames Court this morning coiicerninsr tlie death of Miss .les*ie • Merle Lain"', of Waitakaruru. whose ] death occurred on the Thames Coast on Sunday afternoon last. The unusual circumstances, said the i coroner, were that the young woman • was bathing at a particular beach at low ] water, that there was a high off-shore 1 wind which would encourage stlngravs i to make for shallow water, and that 1 deceased had tlie misadventure to walk 1 or . swim directly on to the fish. 1 - Frederick George Banlield. of Wai- i takaruru. said lie and Mis<s Tiling < travelled by motor cycle to the coast 1 on Sunday afternoon, and about four i o'clock they changed into their swimming costumes. The tide was well out. 1 and there was sand and smooth rocks where they entered the water. Witness soon left the water, as he thought it was too cold, but Mi><s Laing said she < would stay in for a few minutes longer. 1 "Saw Fin of Fish." Witness was standing a few yards away with his back turned to the water ' when Miss Laing called. "Fred. Fred."' '"1 immediately turned round and saw ( her pointing." continued witness, "ami looking in the direction in which she . was pointing I saw the water in a disturbed state and saw what appeared to be the fin of a lirdi just above the water." 1 Witness said that when he heard Miss ' Laing call she was coming towards him ' and when he reached her she collapsed. He stopped a passing truck and the ' girl was taken to the Thames Hospital. ' Dr. .T. B. Liggins stated that on an ' external examination there was a fresh incised would over the precordia. and three wounds on the left thigh. Later 1 in the evening, at the request of the coroner, he performed a post-mortem examination of the liodv of deceasAl. On removing her bathing dress he found a hole torn in the front of it on the left side, which coincided with the wound ill the precordial region. Dr. Liggins stated that the external injuries were: — (1) Chest injuries—an incised wound, clean cut. 2in long and gaping open lin wide. (2) Injuries to the left leg. On the inner aspect of the left thigh there were two parallel wounds 2in apart, each about (iiu long. These were clean, incised wounds. Between these two wounds there was a further wound parallel to them, about 2in long, which went through the skin only. CO On both knees there were superficial abrasions and bruises. Heart Transfixed. Witness then gave detailed evidence showing that the girl's heart had been completely transfixed by a sharppointed instrument. "In my opinion death was due to hemorrhage, following a penetrating wound transfixing both ventricles of the heart," he concluded. The coroner's verdict was in accordance with the medical evidence that death was caused by stabbing by a saltwater fish, believed to be a stingray.