FAMILY TRAGEDY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 197, 20 August 1943, Page 4

FAMILY TRAGEDY

■■ " i ■■■• ■. DEATHS BY DROWNING MOTHER AND FOUR CHILDREN (P.A.) INVERCARGILL, this day. "This is a tragic affair where a mother and four of her children lost their lives. It is quite clear that the mother was in comfortable financial circumstances, and had no reason for worry on that score, though she recently lost her husband. It is also clear that she looked after her children well, and nothing suggests that she was other than normal and a good mother." This comment was made by the coroner, Mr. R. C. Abernethy, when inquests were held concerning the deaths of Emma Mcßae Atkinson Robertson, and her four children James William Robertson, Struan Woodside Robertson, Nan Robertson and Graham Churchill Robertson, j "Mrs. Robertson fell to an attack liable to come to anyone in times of great stress. No woman would have done what she did to her children if she had not been under great mental stress," added the coroner "The case is simply one of sudden mental aberration, following continued stress and worry." Mr. Abernethy returned a verdict that Mrs. Robertson died on June 26, the cause of death being suicide by drowning while in a state of mental aberration and worry following the death of her husband, and that the children died on June 26 the cause being drowning caused by the hand of Mrs. Robertson while in a state of worry and sudden mental aberration. The coroner expressed the Court's sympathy with the relatives and referred to the good work done by all in the search for the bodies. "It is a satisfactory commentary on the generosity of the public throughout New Zealand that offers of relief came from so many directions and such long distances," said the coroner.

The tragedy occurred in the Waihopal River, on the outskirts of Invercargill, on June 26 last, and Mrs. Robertson's husband, Mr. James Robertson, had died ten months earlier. According to a statement made by the police Mrs. Robertson early in the evening took the children for a walk to a nearby bridge and dropped each child into the river, after which she jumped into the river. The eldest child, Joan Robertson, aged seven, and one of twin boys, Alister Robertson, aged four, were able to scramble ashore. The others sank immediately or were carried downstream by the fast-running current of the flooded river.