MAORI CHARGED
A WOMAN'S DEATH
INJURIES TO HIS SON
(By Telegraph—Press Association.)
WHANGAREI. July 12
On June 16, it is alleged, William Pera Paki, aged 26, a Maori, drove a motor-car up and down the main street of Okaihau. The car, in which he was accompanied by his little son, collided with a car drawn up on the side of the road. The occupant, Mrs. Annie Evelyn Marsh, was so badly injured that she died in hospital at Kawa Kawa next morning. Paki's son was seriously injured, and is still running a temperature, though his condition has unproved. Mrs. Marsh's three-year-old daughter escaped injury.
Paki, after the collision, was discovered with a cut throat, and taken to hospital.
Paki was charged in the Kaikohe Court today with attempting suicide, attempting to murder his son, and unlawfully causing the death of Mrs. Marsh, thereby committing manslaughter.
In evidence it was alleged that the accused went to a boarding-house and tried to induce his wife, who was living apart from him, to return. She refused, whereupon Paki went into a garage, took a lodger's car, placed the boy on the seat alongside him, and dashed away. The car was driven at a speed estimated at over 70 miles an hour and passed the boarding-house three or four times. On the last occasion the car swerved as it was approaching Mrs. Marsh's car, which was drawn up on the side of the road.
One witness said that the accused seemed to run deliberately at the car. Others said that the car appeared out of control. On one occasion it narrowly missed a bakehouse verandah post. A surfaceman, whose car had been taken by Paki. said that he met the accused with blood coming from a wound in the throat. When told that the woman would probably die, and asked why he did it, Paki replied: "It's done; that's the finish."
Dr. Frengley. superintendent of the Kawa Kawa Hospital, said that the accused showed no sign of liquor when admitted, nor any mental abnormality during his stay in hospital.
The hearing was adjourned
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19390713.2.17
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 11, 13 July 1939, Page 6
Word Count
349MAORI CHARGED Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 11, 13 July 1939, Page 6
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