WOMAN RUNS AMOK

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 September 1927, Page 8

WOMAN RUNS AMOK

SLASHES FAMILY WITH RAZOR. Another of those ghastly attempts to wipe out a family by a demented parent, of which Australia has, unfortunately, had a series recently, occurred at Brisbane on August 31. One child is dead as a result, anothei’ is seriously injured, while a man was also slashed with a razor. Responsible for this attack is Jane Lackey, a married woman, who lives with her husband and family in Breakfast Creek, a suburb of Brisbane. Dudley Robert Lackey, aged 25, told the police that he was seated at. Breakfast with his two children — Robert James Lackey, aged 4, and Audrey Mavis Lackey, aged 8 "months, when his wife suddenly rushed in and attacked him with a razor. Before he could make a move to defend himself she had slashed him across the back of the neck. He leapt from the table and cried for help, neighbours rushing in to find him trying to staunch the flow of blood from his wounds. They discovered that in the interim the woman had attacked her two children. Audrey was so badly slashed that, she died shortly after admission to hospital, while the other child is still in hospital in a critical condition. Lackey’s wounds proved least serious of the three. The woman was taken to hospital and detained for observation. She told the medical staff that she had no recollection of the occurrence. ■ . Police state that a letter found in her room indicated that she intended to kill the whole of her family and two other children as well. The letter was addressed to ""Everybody,” and requested that the two other children, who lived nearby, should be killed. Mrs Lackey has been in bad health for months, and had recently been an inmate of the reception ward at Brisbane Hospital, from which institution she was discharged only two weeks before the occurrence.