FOUND SHOT IN OFFICE

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 225, 19 June 1936, Page 12

FOUND SHOT IN OFFICE

Mr. P. S. K. Macassey, Crown Prosecutor

RIFLE IN LEFT HAND

Discovery by Brother and

Partner

With a small bullet hole almost in lhe middle of bis forehead and a sporting rifle grasped in his left hand, l ho Wellington Crown prosecutor. Mr. I’ercy Seaborn Kettle Macassey. was discovered dead in his office in lhe Supreme Court building shortly before .8 o'clock last night. The discovery was made by his brother. Mr. James I - ,. Macassey. of St. Clair. Dunedin, ami one of his partners, Mr. C. Evans,Scull. who is assistant Crown prosecutor in Wellington.

The body was found lying out tretehed on lhe floor with a .22 calibre

sporting rifle in Ibe left hand. Although tho discovery was not made until nearly 8 o'clock, death is believed to have occurred some hours earlier, probably about <5 p.m. On the desk lay two briefs of cases in which Mr. Macassey had been engaged in the Supreme iCourt earlier iu the day.

Detectives at the Central Police Station were immediately notified and took charge. Dr. Alister Young was called in, but could do nothing. Inquiries as to Mr. Macassey’s whereabouts were made by his family when he did not arrive home for dinner, and when his brother and Mr. Evans-Scott entered his office in the Supreme Court they discovered the body. Mr. Macassey was occupied in' bis duties as Crown prosecutor in the Supreme Court in the morning, when three prisoners appeared for sentence before Mr. Justice Blair. Mr. Macassey did not then appear in the best, of spirits, and he did . not address lhe court. OUTSTANDING CAREER Although Mr. Macassey had practised in Wellington for 24 years, he was educated ami commenced his professional career at Dunedin. A son of Mr. James Livingston Macassey and Mrs. Elizabeth Macassey, whose father, Charles Henry Kettle, laid out Dunedin, he was born, m December, 1815, on a vessel on her way to Dunedin, where he arrived in January, I 87(». Mr. Macassey was educated at Otago High School and Otago University, and commenced practice on his own account in Dunedin in 1900. He went into partnership with Mr. Donald Reid, and subsequently was a partner in the firm of Eraser, Woodhouse, and Macassey, barristers anil solicitors. He came to Wellington in 1912, and was appointed Crown prosecutor and Crown solicitor. In 1921 ho joined the firm of Menteath aud Ward, lie was joint author of Thompson and Macassey’s Manual of Accountancy and Commercial Law, which went to eight editions. Mr. Macasse.v was elected to the Dunedin City Council in 1905, but resigned on coming to Wellington. This brief experience of civic life was his only one.

At the time of his death he was senior Crown prosecutor in New Zealand. He appeared in a number of famous trials, most important being the Cooper and Coats murder cases. During the war years lie conducted a number of difficult profiteering prosecutions. In 1905 Mr. Macassey married Miss Alice Aline Eraser, daughter of Mr. J. F. M. Fraser, K.C., of Dunedin. He leaves one daughter. Miss M. Macassey, Mr. J. E. Macassey, of Dunedin, is a brother. Like many other of New Zealand s leading lawyers, Mr. Macassey was a versatile sportsman. Ho was particularly well known as an athlete, and for some years was the Dunedin Athletic Club’s long jump and 120 hurdles champion, and represented Otago at the New Zealand athletic championships. He was a footballer. too, being a member of the powerful Pirates club, and when his playing days ended owing to a foot injury, when still young, he became prominently associated with the administrative side of the game in Otago, being an ex-vice-presi-dent of the Otago Rugby Union, life member of the Pirates club, ex-president of the Dunedin Amateur Athletic Club, and ex-vice-president of the Dunedin Boxing Association. In addition he was an amateur boxer of prowess, a -cricketer, and an oarsman.