GISBORNE MURDER

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 26, 31 January 1924, Page 2

GISBORNE MURDER

AN ARREST REPORTED

MAN ADMITS BEING THE PERPETRATOR.

(Bt TEUORAPB— PRtsS ASSOCIATION.) GISBORNE, 30th January. An arrest has been made in connection with the murder of the girl Gwendoline Kathleen Murray, whose dead body was discovered near the Makaraka Cemetery on Tuesday morning. .. " As the result of certain information, the police journeyed to Matawai, 47. miles from Gisborne, and Inspector Hutton and Detective. M'Leod arrested a man named Robert Herbert Scott, 33 years ■ of age, on a farm between Matawai and Motu. In a statement to "the police accused admitted the'outrage and mur-' der. The police and the prisoner re-turned-to Gisborrife at 1.30 a.m.\ ' GIS.BORXE, This Day. The arrested man, Robert Herbert s Scott, is the man for whom the police have been searcliing since Tuesday. He called early on Sun-N----day morning- at the house of a Makaraka. resident, and gruffly demanded food, and his movements since have been erratic. He stated on Sunday that he had comejrom the Hicks Bay freezing works, and was making for the Wai'paoa works, but he appears to have hung about the vicinity of the cemetery till the night of the "crime, and subsequently took tp the hills. The police arrested yesterday a Maori of a similar description, on a, charge of vagrancy, but satisfied themselves that he was not the man they wanted. Scott told the police that he had decided to surrender, because he fcnew he was being hunted and could not possibly get away, and he felt exhausted. The murderer is of "slim build, but wiry. He gave his age as 33 years. Inspector Hutton and Detective M'Leod reached town with their prisoner at 1.30 a.m., having already obtained a full confession. Scolt was charged at the liagistrate's Court ihis morning with having murdered Gwendoline Kathleen Murray. In^ spector Hutton applied for a remand till Bth February in ordor that further inquiries could be mnde, and the accused was'accordingly remanded. Inspector Hutton statesl that when Ssott was • apprehended at Matawai hewas in a bad way, being completely €x-, haustad from constant travelling, lack off food, and apparent great mental strain. He said he was beside himself, being ' tired out with being hunted from pillar to post, and intimated that he wished to give himself up to the police. He made admissions in respect to both outrage and {he murder. A statement to this effect was taken in writing, and is in possession o£ the Inspector. The accused is understood to be a Canterbury man, whose parents are both dead. He had been working at Hicks's Bay, but tilings were slack there, and ho endeavoured to get work on the Port Elliot wreck; but was unsuccessful. He caui'e down the coast looking for work, and reached Gisborne ,on Sunday. He had little or no money. A singular coincidence i n connection with the police investigation is that two men were roving the.country; both were unkempt in appearance and erratic in their movements, and both were wearing while shoes. They crossed and recrossed each other s tracks, and both were arrested