SON'S STATEMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 74, 29 March 1932, Page 8

SON'S STATEMENT

NO ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE

(By Telegrapl i.—Press Association.) MASTfERTON, 28th March. A lonely farmhouse near Mangamahoe was the ccene of the double tragedy. The tragedy ipceurred at about 2 a.m., when the victVms, Mr. John Corrigan, and his wife, 'jvere asleep in bed. Mr. Corrigan was wounded above the right eye, and death.- must have been instantaneous. ■ There are indications that Mrs. Corjigan, who was wounded in the right side, sat up in bed to see what had happened before she was hit. The Corrigaii homestead rests peacefully amidst shelter belts of pine tree 3 in a sparseJy-populated area. There the family rjesided for some considerable time, farming successfully on the best of termß. , On Sunday night Mrs. Corrigan, accompanied hjy a son, Lewis, aged 20 years, and,at daughter, Agnes, aged 17 years, spenj /the evening with a neighbour, leavinjg at home the father, the brother JoLjn who has been arrested, and two o;i|her children, one a boy, Patrick FrHncisj 13 years of age, and the other a girl, Bernadine, about 10 years old. When they returned at 11.45, all.were in bed. Mrs. Corrigan retired to- tihe front bedroom where she and her hiusband occupied a double bed, while; the son Lewis and daughter, who lead accompanied her, went to their respective rooms at the back of the,, house. The son John occupied a room the door of which' was opposite that of his parents' bedroom. After the tragedy the s,on John told one of his brothers that he had shot his father and mother. He made no attempt to leave the house. «i A brother, Lewis, rushed to the nearest neighbour, Mr. John Hanson Birney, about a mile away, where a telephone call was put through to the Eketahuna police. Constable Ede and Dr. Simmers proceeded to the scene. - Upon their arrival Mr. Corrigan and his wife were found dead. c The bodies were removed later to Masterton. REFUSAL TO SPEAK. It is reported that after making a statement to his brother that he .had shot Ms father and mother, the son refused to. speak. , Both barrels of a double-barrelled shotgun which was taken-possession of by the police had been discharged. - ■ \ The son retired to bed the previous evening in the usual way, and apparently was on good terms with his parents, of whom he was very fond. The house, which stands some distance back from the road, is three miles up the Mangamahoe Central road from the main Eket'ahuna-Masterton I via Mauriceville highway. It contains six or seven rooms, including four bedro6ms":. ' , The victims had lived in the Eketa- . huna district off and on for about forty | years and wore highly respected. They ' had been on the present farm for the ! last eight years.