THE MANUNUI MURDERS

Evening Star, Issue 25699, 24 January 1946, Page 8

THE MANUNUI MURDERS

KAHU ON TRIAL (P.A.) TAUMARUNUI, Jan. 23. The hearing was continued in the Magistrate's Court to-day, before Mr \V. Meads and Mr O. W. Thomas, justices of the peace, of the case in which Ivan iManford Kahu is charged with the murder of his wife, Hine Piri Kahu, at Manunui on December 8, and also with murdering Massey Amundsen on the same date at Manunui. Mr N. 11. Bain, Crown Prosecutor at Wanganui, conducted the case for the Crown. The accused was represented by Mr D. H. Hall, of "Taumarunui. Hjalmar Amundsen, a retired labourer, father of Massey Amundsen, gave evidence that he had known the accused and his wife since June last year. It appeared to him that Mrs Kahu was starving half the time. He had heard about a shortage of food and Kahu being in bed for three parts of the week dodging his creditors and the solicitor who wished to serve a summons on him for.rent. Before Mrs Kahu's baby was born witness and- his wife invited her to come and have food with them. Mrs Kahu helped with the housework. Witness's son, Massey, was friendly with Mrs Kahu in the same way as witness and his wife were. Witness and Kahu had. heated discussions on two occasions, and once witness slapped Kahu over the face with a paint- brush. Witness described finding his son Massey on the verandah seriously injured and Mrs Kahu in the doorway of Walsh's house in a similar condition. He took her by the arms and asked,' "Did Kahu do this?" and she nodded her head. Mr Hall objected to this evidence. Witness said he went to Kahu's house and saw blood and signs of a struggle. He found a hammer near his son's ,body. James William Atkinson, bus driver, said that as a neighbour he had not seen anything out of place about the relations between Mrs Kahu and Massey Amundsen. They appeared to be only good neighbours. Ernest Walsh said he saw the accused pass his window on the way to Amundsen's a few minutes before the murder. . Marton Ernest Trebes, another neighbour, said he remembered seeing the accused leaving the Amundsens* house about the time of the murder. A few minutes later he heard cries and went to Amundsens' place, where he saw Massey Amundsen lying on the verandah gasping for breath and with severe head injuries. Fanny Edwards, wife of Constable Edwards, of Manunui, said that the accused came to the police station and stated that something terrible had happened. John Hasant, brother of the last witness, 6aid he had heard the accused say he did it and was sorry for his poor people. He had been goaded into it. The accused asked: "Do they hang people now? And what is a life sentence?" Constable Edwards, of Manunui, said the accused asked him if he could apply for deportation to another country after serving a sentence. The accused asked for a doctor and a clergyman to give him consolation. Sergeant Tumility said he had found a blood-stained safety razor blade on the floor of the accused's home. The hearing was adjourned.