FOUND HANGED
DISCOVERY IN CELL MAN ON MURDER CHARGE (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Saturday. While awaiting trial on a charge of the murder of Mrs. Ida Gwen Speight at Palmerston North on November 25, Ronald Herbert Mellar, aged 24, a railway surfaceman, was found hanged in his cell at Mount Crawford prison to-day. Mrs. Speight, who was found suffering 1 from severe head wounds Immediately after a constable had seen a man ride away from her house on a bicycle, died without recovering consciousness. Ronald Herbert Mellar, her brother, was arrested next day and charged with murdering her. When he appeared In the Magistrate's Court on December 11 the police produced a written statement, In which he said that he Quarrelled with his sister about family matters. He lost control of himself and hit her on the head with a hammer. When someone knocked on the front door, he hurried out of the back door and cycled home. He pleaded not guilty and was committed for trial.
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Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 302, 22 December 1941, Page 3
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165FOUND HANGED Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 302, 22 December 1941, Page 3
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