S murder charge

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 148, 8 June 1932, Page 7

S murder charge

THE UPPER HUTT TRAGEDY. PRELIMINARY HEARING. I " By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, June 8. The preliminary hearing of evidence in the murder charge against Horace Frank Livermore in connection with the death of Vera Margaret Forster at Upper Hutt on April 15 was proceeded with before Mr E. Page, S.M., to-day. A plan of the vicinity and photographs of the spot where the body was found were produced. The chikl’s mother said that the deceased was four and a half years old. At the end of September the accused fell off a horizontal bar and injured his back and was unable to do any heavy work around the farm. Witness knew the accused’s father had left him some money and it was arranged that the accused should not do any work but should stay on at the Forsters’ and pay 15/- a week board. He got on fairly well with the children but said Vera was a bit of a nuisance to him. She was always following him about. About a week before her death he remarked at the tea table that she would be better off dead and when witness remonstrated with him he said it wouM be one less to keep anyway. On another occasion he remarked that he would pay half Vera’s funeral expenses. Witness did not take much notice of these remarks at the time because he often used to make remarks like that. He used to get very depressed at times. Mrs Forster said that one night a man named Hobbs came to her house. In reply to his question she said that the accused had not been working and had been behaving rather strangely of late and had not been treating her too well. The next day the accused told her he had been listening. She said -he had not said anything very bad about him. He replied: “No; I don’t say you did, but it’s nice to know what your landlady knows about you.” MOVEMENTS OF ACCUSED. Witness detailed the movements of the accused, herself and the child on the day the child disappeared. The last she saw of the child was with the accused at mid-day when she fed the fowls. Wtiness went on to speak of becoming uneasy when she could not see the child. Several times the accused was questioned and once he replied that he did not take her about in his pocket. At witness’s request he went to several houses looking for her. After the accused had had dinner and witness had returned from another look outside, the accused asked if they were not going to have a drink of tea? She said they would have it later and he asked: ‘ 'ls the finding of the child of more consequence than my tea?” However, ho went out to find Mr Forster, who returned while he was away. Later when witness said to the accused that he had not been searching like the rest, he replied that he had done as much as anyone and told her that the last he had seen of the girl was in the duck pen. Witness learned about nine o’clock that night that the body had been found. Witness said that in the preceding three weeks the accused had got noticeably depressed. She put it down to his back; also, he was worrying about getting the lease of a duck farm. He was always worrying because he could not get a job. Mr Forster also gave evidence. He said he had not noticed anything peculiar about the accused during the time he was at witness’s house. He did not see much of the accused.