Divorcee Relates Friendship Story At Weedons Inquiry

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23211, 24 March 1950, Page 6

Divorcee Relates Friendship Story At Weedons Inquiry

(P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, March, 23. The storv af her association with Waata Haremia Momo, who was shot dead at the R.N.Z.A.F. station, Weedons on December 14. was told to the commissioner. Mr. Raymond Ferner S.M bv Geraldine Marv Jarman, married woman, of Christchurch, when the inauirv was resumed this morning. Mr. A W. Brown, who appeared with Sir Arthur Donnellv for the Crown, said that what Momo had said to the officer at Weedons had given rise to a false impression. There was no prospect of Mrs. Jarman returning to her husband and she intended to marry Momo when Momo and she were free to marrv.

In evidence Mrs. Jarman said that she had been living apart from her husband for more than two years. Last vear her husband obtained an order for restitution of conjugal rights with which she did not comply and her husband obtained a decree nisi on Nov ember 15. She had a daughter, aged 4$ years, of whom Doth her husband and she were very fond. Threat cf Suicide Last vear she met Momo. They proposed to marrv when he obtained a divorce from his wife. Mrs. Jarman proposed that on their marriage the child should be given into Jarman's custodv. but Momo had become much attached to the child and wanted her io keep it when she married him. On Saturday. December 10. she met Momo. who was somewhat intoxicated and he said he would give her up ir she did not keep the child C.-i Decern ber 13 she spoke to Momo on the telephone on the subiect. She said that if she married Momo she would return the child to Jarman. This annoyed Momo. Shortly before noon on December 13 she went to Christchurch with her hus tand and again spoke to Momo on the telephone. There was no suggestion of her returning to her husband. That was a misconception. The onlv question at issue was the return of her daughter to her husband. Marriage Planned She again said that she had agreed with her husband that the latter should have their daughter, but Momo became very upset and said he would commit suicide if she returned her daughter to her husband. Momo had threatened to commit suicide if she ever did anything that displeased him. Her husband later rang Weedons station at her reauest to ask that Momo should not be allowed to have any iiauor as she thought he might commit suicide. “Without drink he was very respectable,! but with drink he was temperamental and excitable,” said Mrs. Jarman. “I had threatened to have nothing more to do with him if he did not stop drinking. “He said 'that if I left him he would be dead next day, but he often threatened to commit suicide.” Request to Adjutant

To her counsel. Mr. W. R. Lascelles, Mrs. Jarman said that when she rang the adjutant at Weedons she told him that Momo had threatned to get a rifle and commit suicide and she asked the adjutant not to let Momo have any drink, or get possession of a rifle in case he did so.

The adjutant had promised that he would see that Momo did not get into trouble.

At Momo’s request she had allowed herself to be called Mrs. Momo, she admitted to Mr B. J. Drake who appeared for Momo's widow. That would explain why official telegrams of condolence were sent to her address at 908 Colombo Street. She forwarded them to Momo’s widow.

Momo’s last will left his property to her daughter, said Mrs. Jarman. Detective-Sergeant R. S. Smith said he made inquiries into all the circumstances of Momo's death. He first knew Momo about 1947. Momo was known to him as a person who, when under the influence of liquor, was addicted to violence. Momo was convicted In October, 1947, on two charges of unlawfully presenting a firearm and one of assault. Loaded Rifle With Body

At about 5 a.m. on December 14, the witness went to Weedons and took possession of a rifle and bayonet (produced). The rifle was lying in front of Momo’s body. There were two apparent bullet marks on the rifle, one on the stock and one on the forepart. There was a live shell in the breech and seven in the magazine. To Mr. C. S. Thomas (counsel for the commanding officer at Weedons, Squadron Leader G. S. Evatt) the witness said that, in addition to presenting a pistol at two men in an hotel bar, Momo hit a man over the head with a pistol. If he had been called on to make a report on Momo's suitability for the Air Force he could not have made a recommendation, but in the light of what had happened, there could be only one answer to counsel's question—Momo was not a suitable person. To Mr. E. A. Young fcounsel for the Police Department) Detective-Sergeant Smith said the ammunition used by Momo was of high velocity. One round penetrated a quarter-inch steel plate cn a tractor.

From a reconstruction of what had happened in the paddock the witness was satisfied that Momo was killed by a bullet which struck the stock of his rifle while he was actually sighting the rifle to fire it. The mark on the stock corresponded with the fatal wound in Momo's right cheek. Service in Japan Squadron-Leader D. F. St. George, of R.X.Z. A.F. Headquarters, Wellington, said he was Momo's commanding officer in Japan for several months. The Air Department had given approval for all confidential and privileged documents to be produced to help the commission. Momo had a dear service record in Japan, from where he was repatriated because of worry over domestic troubles. He suffered from anxiety, a state which manifested itself in abnormal personality changes, insomnia and excessive drinking.

Momo was later discharged at his own request. Later he re-enlisted and was posted to Weedons. When Momo was discharged his character was assessed as very good. Warrant-Officer D. O. Hardwick, of Wigram, said he was in Japan when Momo arrived there early in 1947. When Momo took too much liquor he was unpredictable, but tne witness never had to make disciplinary action against him. Momo became upset over domestic troubles and the witness advised him to apply for a compassionate posting back to New Zealand. Momo was of an emotional type and under the influence of liquor became abnormal.

The inquiry was adjourned until Wednesday when counsel will make submissions.