MAORI’S SUICIDE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20152, 23 January 1940, Page 6

MAORI’S SUICIDE

WANTED MAN’S FATE TE TEKO MURDER SEQUEL POLICE SEARCH ELUDED INQUEST EVIDENCE (Per Press" Association.) ROTORUA, this day. A verdict of suicide was returned by the coroner, Mr. G. A. Brabant, yesterday, following an inquest into the circumstances of the death of Robert Tukehou, a Maori labourer, who was concerned in the sensational incident near Te Teko on Saturday night, when another Maori, Jonnie Maarka, and a woman, Bessie MacMannus, were allegedly the victims of an assault on the part of the deceased. Maarka was found lying dead on the road and the woman beside him partially conscious. Both had been struck about the head with the crank handle of a car.

Sub-Inspector E. J. Carroll stated that as a result of advice from the Whakatane police he organised a search for Tekehou on Sunday. This was carried out at the house of the deceased’s mother at Te Ngae, Rotorua, and over the surrounding country. Believing that Tukehou might have attempted to reach Mokoia Island, the police returned to Rotorua to procure a boat, but had hardly reached the station when a telephone message was received stating that Tukehou had shot himself in a gully near his mother’s home. The deceased was found lying on his back with a discharged shotgun beside him. His mother and another Maori woman stated they had seen Tukehou run from the house with a gun and then heard a shot. It appeared that th,e wanted man had hidden in the bush until the police departed and then dashed into the house and secured the shotgun with which he took his own life.