MAORI TRAGEDY.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18096, 11 June 1924, Page 7

MAORI TRAGEDY.

INQUEST ON RUKI PENE. (PEBS3 ASSOCIATION TELBGBAIt.) WHANGAREI, June 10. The circumstances concerning .the death of lluki Pene, of Waijna, were the subjiect of a Coroner's enquiry, this afternoon. The police testified that on June 6th the deceased returned home and had aji altercation with his wife. He procured a stone and battered her head, the wounds resulting in the woman's death some hours later. Pene then decamped. The police were summoned, and tns search for Pene proceeded all night. ■ The deceased was at length located at 8 a.m. in a tall macrocarpa tree. He cried out: "I am ready to die. Goodbye," and dived into the creek below, a distance (of thirty feet. The creek contained only a foot of water, and had a rocky bed. Pene, who was obviously badlv injured, was conveyed by road to Iv&ikoho, and thenoe by train en route to Whangarei for medical treatment, but he expired during the journey at Whakapara. _ , . ' i A Maori witness said that when he saw P6ne in the tree, Pene called out: "Don't let any Maoris come near me. Take all jny horses, saddles, bridles—everything—and pay my expenses. I am ready now. Good-bye." Then he took a headlong plunge. Dr. Kard said the post-mortem revealed a fracture of the base of the skull. The deceased had also been suffering from pneumonia, affecting the left base of the lung. Death was due to shock and injury to the brain. A verdict wns returned in accordance with the medical testimony. Dr. Ward subsequently expressed the view that Pene might, have murdered his wife while he was in a demented state due to pneumonia.