A FIT OF JEALOUSY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 20, 24 January 1924, Page 6

A FIT OF JEALOUSY

MAORI KILLS HIS WIFE

SUICIDE OF MURDERER.

(»T HLECRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

' AUCKLAND, This Day. Mercer was yesterday the scene of a dual tragedy, a middle-aged Maori, Wi Rapana, in a fit of jealousy, murdered his wife, Moe Rapana, and then committed suicide. He left his whare about 8 o'clock, and did not return until between 10 and 11. Then he walked into the whare with a shotgun in his hand, and, pointing the gun at his wife's head, said: "I am going to shoot you." This threat he immediately carried out, and the woman fell mortally wounded in the head and neck. She .managed to crawl from the whare, but expired just outside the building. Rapana immediately stepped outside the whare, reloaded the gun, and shot himself under the heart. His death was practically instantaneous, and he fell close beside the body of his wife.

The murder of the woman was witnessed by her sister and her eldest daughter, a girl of 21. So swiftly did Rapana carry out his threat of murder that neither of them was able to lift a hand to prevent the deed. .•- The scene of the crime is a' lonely spot two miles from Mercer, on the south bank of the river. Rapana lived in the whare with his wife and family. There had been no sign of disagreement between the man and his wife, although it was common knowledge that Rapana was of a somewhat jealous disposition. He is said to have.suffered at times from asthma,'and the view prevails that worrying over his malady may have tended in some measure to have caused mental distress. Rapana had for some time been working at Pukekohe as a potato-digger, and this appears to have been his ueual employment. It is stated that his wife had always refused to leave her family to go to Pukekohe. How far this may have added "to the man's worries is not known. The Rapanas had lived in the district about nine years, and were well respected by the Maoris of the locality. They bore excellent characters for honesty, and the woman's conduct could in no way justify the jealous feelings which apparently influenced her husband. Rapana's age is estimated at 48 years, and his wife was about eight years younger. They had six children. Both the deceased were, well educated from the Maori standpoint. Pakia Moutu, the sister of the murdered woman,, states that she stayed with her-sister at the whare on the night prior to the tragedy. Wi Rapana returned "from Pukekohe on Tuesday. He was perfectly' sober, and she could advance no reason why he should have committed the' deed;