BABY’S DEATH

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28540, 20 March 1958, Page 12

BABY’S DEATH

Girl Of 15 For Trial

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, March 19.

Margaret Elizabeth Louise Greenall, aged 15, an invoice typist, charged in the Magistrate’s Court at Wellington today with the murder of a male child born to her on January 26, was committed by Mr J. S. Hanna, S.M., to ,the Supreme Court for trial.

Mr G. C. Kent, with him Mr J. C. Sclater, appeared for Greenall. Mr W. K. Murray prosecuted. Gordon Murray Kirk, a doctor, said in evidence, that at 10.30 a.m. on January 26 a newly-born baby was admitted to the Wei lington Public Hospital. The baby was shocked, and had pieces of newspaper adhering to it. There was a swelling on the top of the head as well as minor abrasions on the forehead and bruises on the throat. Greenall had informed him that she had delivered the baby at 8.30 a.m. that day. The baby was put in an incubator at the hospital, and oxygen was administered. Its condition seemed to improve, but it died at 5 a.m. the following day after vomiting blood. Philip Patrick Lynch, a pathologist, said that in his opinion the baby’s injuries could not have been received in birth. He believed that they were caused by striking the child’s head with a flat object or banging it against a flat, rigid surface.