Murder hunt after stabbing

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34120, 5 April 1976, Page 18

Murder hunt after stabbing

f.N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, April 4. Auckland detectives were gearing themselves for a full-scale homicide inquiry last night after the death of a man in Auckland Hospital. The 46-year-old man was knifed in the stomach outside the St James Presbyterian Social Service Association hall in Beresford Street. Auckland, yesterday afternoon. He died in hospital shortly before 1 p.m. today, although the wound was not at first thought to be serious. A team of detectives led bv Detective Inspector W. H. Shanks, of the Auckland C. 1.8.. is investigating the stabbing. Mr Shanks said tonight that the deceased had been

watching television with about six other men in the social rooms in the hall. He had apparently asked a young man for a cigarette and they had an argument. Both left the hall. About two minutes later the deceased returned to the social rooms and collapsed. He was bleeding from a wound in the lower abdomen. Mr Shanks said the police wanted to interview the other man who he described as being in his thirties and slimly built. He might have been wearing a grey suit and stood out among the '‘regulars.”