MAORI ON TRIAL

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 16, 19 July 1939, Page 13

MAORI ON TRIAL

OKAIHAU TRAGEDY

DEATH OF MRS. MARSH

INJURIES TO CHILD AND HIMSELF

(Ij.v Toioyrajib—Press Association.;

AUCKLAND, This Day

The final scenes of the sensational incident at Okaihau, North Auckland, on the afternoon of June 16, when Mrs. Annie Evelyn Marsh was fatally injured in an unusual type of motor collision, opened at the Supreme Court today when a Maori labourer, William Pera Paki, aged 26, was charged before his Honour1 Mr. Justice Fair and a jury that he attempted to murder his son, aged four, and that he committed manslaughter of Mrs. Marsh. Minor counts against the accused included charges of reckless driving and causing actual bodily harm to the boy.

Paki pleaded hot guilty and was defended by Mr. W. Noble.

The Crown Prosecutor, Mr. Meredith, lengthily outlined the evidence to be called to Show that Paid, who was separated from his wife, called to see her at the boarding-house where she worked on the afternoon of June 16, and had words with her.

He was seen to leave with his young son -and drive off furiously ia another man's motor-car. It would be shown that Paki drove at a terrify. pace back and forth several times between the townships of OkaihaU and Horeke. Eventually the car struck a stationary car which Mrs. Marsh had been driving and had brought to a standstill, Mrs. Marsh later dying from the injuries she received in the collision, The car driven by Paki was stopped 300 yards away and Paki was seen swinging the boy up and down, at the same time holding him by the ankles, causing the impression that the child's head was being hit on the road. This was seen by people on a nearby golf course. Then the boy was thrown down and Paki made off. He was later seen with a gash in his throat and was attended to.

Meanwhile, a sister of Mrs. Paki had received a telephone call and a voice she recognised as Paki's said, "I've done it at last." When asked what, he replied, "I have gone mad." Asked if he had hurt the boy he said he did not know.

Mr. Meredith said it would be shown that after Paki left the car after the collision the boy was found unconscious on the floor of the car so critically injured that he did not recover consciousness for five or six days. A razor was recovered from Paki.

Counsel said that Paki had pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted suicide. The hearing is proceeding.