Woman Jumps From Car And Falls To Death

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31542, 2 December 1967, Page 1

Woman Jumps From Car And Falls To Death

A West Coast woman was killed yesterday when she leapt from a police car and fell over a steep cliff into the Otira Gorge, not far from Candys Bend.

The woman had been charged at Greymouth earlier in the day with murder and was being taken to Christchurch.

Four rangers of the Arthur’s Pass National Park -Board took an hour and a half to recover the body.

The woman, whose name was suppressed at her appearance in Court, had been remanded to Sunnyside Hospital on a charge of murdering Patrick John Galway, aged about 54, at Rapahoe yesterday morning.

Soon after 4 pun. when the (forced to stop on a narrow police car was about three section of the road to allow miles on the Arthur’s Pass a car travelling west to pass, side of Otira the car was! The accused woman leapt

from the police car while it was stationary and fell over a steep face, landing on the rocks some 160 ft below the highway. The woman, who appeared to have been killed instantly, could not be reached without ropes and other special equipment. Inspector R. P. Silk and Chief Inspector B. Kelly left Christchurch late yesterday afternoon to investigate. Court Appearance The woman, whose name was suppressed on the application of Mr J. D. Cadenhead, had been remanded to the Sunnyside Hospital until the next sitting of the court, on December 12. The accused appeared before Messrs D. H. Copeland and R. W. Sansom, Justices of the Peace.

Mr Galway was shot through the head while in his bed at his home in Morpeth Street, Rapahoe, about two miles from Runanga. The shooting was reported to the police at 6.35 a.m. by a neighbour on the advice of a woman who went to his house, and Constable E. Gilmour notified the Greymouth C.EB. Investigations were begun under the supervision of Detective Sergeant N. J. Dennelly. The police took possession of a .22 calibre rifle.

Mr Galway was formerly well-known as a Runanga Borough Council foreman who later worked for . the Ministry of Works and the Grey County Council. He was not working at the’time of his death, having been ill.

The woman was arrested at 11.45 a.m. and appeared in the court soon afterwards. The District Coroner (Mr R. A. Kay, J.P.) later opened an inquest, which was adjourned after evidence of identification.

During the court hearing, Mr Cadenhead made submissions in chambers on his application for the interim suppression of the woman’s name, but he did not oppose the police application that she be remanded to the hospital.