Man wounded, assailant killed

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33035, 30 September 1972, Page 2

Man wounded, assailant killed

(N.Z. Press Am- Copyright) GLADSTONE (Queensland) Sept. 29.

An Auckland man was recovering in hospital to* night from wounds received in a knife battle in which one of three youths who attacked him and his wife was killed.

Kevin Harold Corcoran, aged 25, of 1 Filgate Street, Auckland, was in “quite satisfactory condition,” in Gladstone Hospital. He is suffering from a stab wound in

the back, and a fractured rib. Mr Corcoran’s wife, Susan, aged 22, was not hurt in the affray. She visited her husband in hospital this afternoon. Neither was available to talk to reporters. The name of the dead youth still had not been released late today, and the police were still questioning two other youths in connection with the incident. No charges had been laid. The police said the Corcorans had been on a hitch-hik-ing holiday around Australia for two months. They were married in Kaeo on July 8. Yesterday, they thumbed a ride just north of Brisbane with three teen-age youths at the New South Wales town of Queanbeyan. The police said Mr Corcoran gave them this description of the events that followed: The party drove all day, then pulled off the road at Colosseum Creek, 280 miles north of Brisbane, to camp for the night. The New Zealanders took their camping gear a few hundred feet away to pitch a tent for the night, while the youths slept in their car. Later, Mr Corcoran saw the three youths advancing toward his camp site, where

they made remarks concern-' ing his wife. Then they rushed him, and a fierce fight developed. Mr Corcoran pulled a penknife from his pocket to defend his wife. Two of tk»3 assailants were stabbed, ano one of them staggered away and fell. The two others, one bleeding from a stab wound to an arm, entered their car and drove off. Mr Corcoran, who had been stabbed in the back, called the police who drove to the scene from nearby Miriam Vale and Gladstone. One of the youths was found dead, some distance from the tent At 5 a.m. today, Senior Constable F. Butler, of Mount Larcom, 22 miles north-west of Gladstone, found a car with New South Wales number plates out of petrol, eight miles north of his station. He detained two youths, one with a wounded arm. The injured youth was treated at Gladstone Hospital, then taken to the Gladstone police station with his companion. Detectives, led by Inspector S. Henry, later arrived from Bundaberg to join the Gladstone C. 1.8.

chief, Detective Sergeant T. Channells, in his investigations. The police said they believed they knew the identity of the dead youth, but the identification was not positive. After they were interviewed at Gladstone this morning, the two youths accompanied the police to the death scene.