MURDER OF WIFE

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28936, 2 July 1959, Page 13

MURDER OF WIFE

Stockman Charged

(Rec. 11.45 p.m.) CANBERRA, July 1. A lower court hearing at Queanbeyan, 20 miles from Canberra, was told today that a man had left his unconscious wife in a bath tub filled with water while he ate his evening meal with his two children.

Later he had taken the body of the then dead woman, tied it in a chaff bag, and had thrown it in a river. Before the Court was Walter Harold Thomas, aged 40. a stockman, charged with the murder of his wife, Jean, aged 32. After hearing preliminary evidence, Mr R. Hughes, J.P M remanded Thomas in custody until July 30. Thomas was not asked to plead. Police alleged that Thomas, on the night of February 26, had knocked his wife unconscious after a violent argument. He had then stripped her, placed her in a bath filled with water and held her under, the police said. Police said the body of Mrs Thomas, partly decomposed, had I ’en found yesterday after a three-month search.