SON KILLED AND OWN LIFE TAKEN

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 94, 14 January 1939, Page 10

SON KILLED AND OWN LIFE TAKEN

Evidence At Rotorua

Inquest

HUSBAND’S DENIAL OF CRUELTY TO WIFE By Telegraph—Press Association. ROTORUA, Januar..’ 13. “I do not think that 1 can complete this inquiry without commenting briefly on the inconsiderate attitude of the husband toward his lute wife,” said the coroner, Mr. W. L. Richards, today at the conclusion of the inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death of Gladys Lane, married, aged 40, and Lewis Cottinglou, aged nine, Mrs. Lane’s sou by a previous marriage. Mrs. Lane was found lying on a bed in a bach in Ti Street, Rotorua, early on the morning of January 5, with a deep gash in her throat. Beside her on the bed lay the body of her son with a rope wound tightly round his throat. Mrs. Lane was not dead when tlie discovery was made by her husband shortly before 6 a.m., but died some hours later in the Rotorua hospital. The coroner, in returning a verdict that the boy died from strangulation inflicted by his mother and that the mother died from wounds self-inflicted, said that it must have been evident to the husband that his wife was in a delicate state of health. At the opening of the inquest for identification purposes, Lane had appeared overwhelmed by grief, but the subsequent evidence had disclosed that he was not very considerate toward his wife curing a critical period. Though he did not consider that the tragedy was altogether avoidable, because of the woman’s state of mind, he suggested to the husband that it was preferable to have shown consideration during the woman’s lifetime rather than an abundance of tears after her death. That kind of sorrow was frequently of very ’questionable sincerity. ' \ Detective A. J. White conducted the inquiry for the police and Mr. R. B. Chadwick appeared to watch the interests of the estate of the dead woman.

Evidence was given by three doctors regarding the nature of the womans injuries and those of the boy and also regarding her general state of heaitn. The evidence was to the effect that the woman’s injuries were self-inflicted and»that those of the boy were not.

Dr. H. Bertram said he had been attending Mrs. Lane for some time. She was in a certain condition which would tend to cause nervous unrest and it was possible that she had caused the injuries responsible for her own death and that of the boy during a brain storm caused by puerperal insanity. She had frequently attempted to discuss her domestic troubles with him, stating that she was not happy with her husband and that he was trying to get her money away from her.

Mr. Chadwick said that Mrs. Lane had had approximate!}’ £lOOO, when she married Lane, but had very little when she died. He asked witness whether Mrs. Lane gave»him any Indication as to what had happened to the money. Dr. Bertram said she did not, but she told him she would not separate from her husband because if she did he would get her money. He advised her to see a solicitor and see whether she eoujd get matters straightened out. • Husband’s Evidence. Arthur Leicester Lane, aged 27, a carpenter, husband of deceased, said he married her at Wellington in May, 1938, and the boy lived with them when tliey came to Rotorua. He said that for* a fortnight before the tragedy his wife had been in a very nervous and upset condition. On December 31, they had a difference of opinion about a motor-car and he removed his sleeping quarters from their bedroom to a garage on the property. His wife did not seem to care whether he did this or not. On the evening before the tragedy, when he returned from work, he found her in bed. She seemed very worried, but he did not take a great deal of notice trs she had been like that for some time. He retired to bed about 9 p.m., but was awakened about dawn next morn: ing by his wife knocking on the door of the garage. She was weeping and wanted him to return to their bedroom so that “they could part friends.” He refused, telling her not to be silly and she went away saying, “Don’t blame me for anything I might do.” He went to sleep again, and, when he went across to the house at 7.30 a.m. to get his breakfast, he found his wife’s bedroom door locked. He procured a key and found her lying on the bed with a deep gash in her throat but still breathing. The boy was lying beside her, almost covered by the bedclothes. He immediately summoned the police and a doctor. A razor belonging to him and stained by blood was lying on the dress-ing-table beside the bed. Th ' ,- e was also a letter on the dressing-table. Cruelty Denied. Witness denied that he had ever been cruel to his wife or that he had illtreated her. Asked by Detective White how he explained a statement made by Mrs. Lane in a letter to her daughter in Auckland that he hffil nearly knocked her bead off her shoulders and that he was a cur and a bully, he said he could not explain why she should write such a letter. Their married life had been happy till she became so irritable, that he left their bedroom and went to sleep in the garage. Evidence was given by Emma Stock who resided in another section of the house occupied by the Lanes, and by James Shannon, a labourer, who occupied tt room adjoining the garage in which Lane was sleeping. Both said that they had seen some signs of unhappy relations between Mr. and Mrs. Lane but Miss Stock said she had seen nothing which justified the terms used by Mrs. Lane in her letters regarding her husband. Questioned by Detective White. Lane said that lie did not know that his wife’s bank book showed that her account had dwindled from a .credit of £llOO/4/- a few months ago to £l6 before her death. He had had nothing from her with the exception of a few pounds while he was in Wellington. He admitted that he had not been as considerate as he might have been to her before her death but denied general allegations of cruelty and neglect.