CHARGE OF MURDER

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 32, 8 February 1927, Page 11

CHARGE OF MURDER

THE.LEVIN TRAGEDY

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

PALMEESTON N., This Pay

The hearing has commenced on one of the two charges of murder against William George Sloman, that of murdering his wife; Margaret Abigail Sloman.

Outlining the case, the Crown Prosecutor stated that the parties had lived at Levin for seven or eight years. On the morning of 4th November an employee named Strong, on going to work at the accused's poultry farm, found the house shut. No one was about, and he found the accused's son lying on a. bed with his head battered. 'The •police were summoned, and found Mrs. Sloman and her daughter- Bitia in a similar condition, - and the accused unconscious, through having' taken poison. Mrs. Sloman-died on'the way to-the hospital, and Rita Sloman. died later^ '

Arthur Horace 'Strong said that Sloman suffered from insomnia and had taken bromide to assist him to sleep. Sloman was a devoted father and husband, and some time prior to the' tragedy he. ,had been suffering frdm financial and other worries, and was depressed. •■ : '■ •'.•".

Constable Bagrie, stationed at Levin, detailed the.finding of the victims'; On a table were three letters sighed "W.G.S. One-stated, inter alia, "I have sent my wife and children to heaven. I am going also."

_ Further evidence related to the identification of the handwriting of the letters as that of the ' accused's. It was. also stated that accused had been advised to.undergo'a serious operation. Dr. Fraseiy medical superintendent at the hospital,, saici: that when ;the accused was admitted he was ' suffering from melancholia, and witness considered that he was of unsound mind, and was quite prepared to sign an order for his admission to a mental hospital. At the conclusion of the case for the Crown, counsel for defence said that he would endeavour to prove insanity.