SURRENDER TO POLICE.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18674, 24 April 1926, Page 15

SURRENDER TO POLICE.

* ■ MAN WANTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER. (PRESS ASSOCIATION TELIOEAIt.) PALMERSTON NORTH, April 23. Ernest Taniwha Sutherland, a halfcaste Maori, who has been wanted by the police since iFebtuary 10th, on a charge of the attempted murder of his wife, Bangi Sutherland, at Awahuri, surrendered himself to the police at a late hour last evening, after sending a message stating where he was to bo found at a certain address in Palmerston North. Ho expressed sorrow for what he had done, and said he desired to give the police no further trouble. Sutherland appeared in the Police Court this morning, on a charge of attempted murder, and was remanded to April 30th. Thero is a prospect of a further remand. It will bo remembered that on the evening preceding the Awahuri incident, Sutherland was unsuccessful in persuading his wife to cancel separation proceedings instituted by her. He then left the house of his father-in-law, Drummond, where his wife resided. About midnight, Drummond awoke to find the house afire, as a result of sacks, soaked in kerosene, being placed beneath it and set alight. Drummond took his •wife, Mrs Sutherland, and the latter's three children to shelter in the shed, while he tried to pull the sacks away and extinguish the blaze. Sutherland then reappeared and allegedly struck Drummond with a garden implement. He again disappeared, then went to the shed where the women and children were sheltering, and allegedly inflicted a serious wound on the shoulder of his wife with a knife or axe, and made off. It is alleged also that he was responsible for injuries received by Mrs Drummond, who, howover, quickly recovered. Mrs Sutherland is still in hospital, but is now well on the road to recovery.