AUCKLAND MAN’S DEATH

Kaikoura Star, Volume LVI, Issue 86, 2 November 1936, Page 3

AUCKLAND MAN’S DEATH

VERDICT OF SUICIDE BY GUNSHOT AUCKLAND, October 28. A verdict of suicide by gunshot was returned at the inquest into the death of John Reginald Smith, aged 31, who was found dead on the roadside at Runciman, early on the morning of October 4, after a girl companion had driven from the scene of the tragedy to notify the police at Newmarket. The inquest was held before Mr F. K. Hunt, SjM., the coroner. Mr Bryce Hart appeared for the widow, Mr Ah Kew for the girl, Miss K. V. Benner, and Detective-Sergeant Meiklejohn for the police. Eva Maud Smith, the widow, said she had been married 10 years. She had three children. For the last six months her husband had been manager of the British Laundry, Parnell. ‘‘ He did not come home to tea on the evening of October 3,” she said, “and I was in bed when he returned. I could see that he had had a good deal of liquor, but he was getting over it by that time. He said: ‘Hullo, darling. How are you’? He sat down on the bed beside me, and I said, ‘You are very late. It is five past twelve’. He said, ‘Good Lord, is it’? And then he got up and said, ‘Where is my gun’? I said, ‘I don’t know’. He found the gun in a wardrobe and a box of cartridges, which he put in his pocket. I said, ‘ Oh, dear, what can you shoot at this hour of the night’? He replied ‘Ducks, of course’. He came over and kissed me. He said, ‘Good-bye, dear. I ’ll be seeing you ’. Then he left, taking the gun.

“My husband was away for a holiday for nearly two weeks in June. When he returned, he told me on being questioned that he had taken a lady passenger to Kerikeri, and about a month later he told me that he was friendly with a girl. After this there was coolness between us, and he became moody.” Evidence of Young Woman Kathleen Vera Benner said she was a typiste. She was 19 years of age. “I met Mr Smith in June,” she said, “when we were on holiday, and we became friendly. After we returned to Auckland I saw him two or three times a week. I knew he was married and had three children; but I had not met his wife. He discussed with me our relationship, and we knew that it could not go on. He said his wife would not give him a separation. During Saturday, October 3, I had not seen him up to my return from the pictures at 10.45 p.m., when he was asleep in his car in front of the house where I was boarding. T woke him, and he started to talk; but I said we could not talk there, and got into the car and drove up Mount Eden. He was very depressed, saying he was not good enough for me, and that he had made a mess of things. He said we could not go on any longer as we had done, and that the bosft thing he could do was to shoot himself. I was shocked at this and did not believe him. I drove him to his home. He said he was going to get a gun and shoot himself and that if he did not get a gun he would drive over a bank. When we stopped at his home he went inside and brought out a shotgun and a box of cartridges. Ho asked me to drive out to the Groat South Road, and I did so. He asked nie to drive further and further. We did very little talking. He asked me to saV that he accidentaly shot himself. We both arranged for this, as he convinced me it was in my best interests that this shoud be done. “Determined to Kill Himself’ ’

“I knew he was determined to kill himself. I felt that it would be easier for everyone concerned if it were put down as an accident rather than as suicide. I drove out to Runciman, and we turned down a side road for a short distance, and I pulled the car up. It would then be about 1.40 a.m. He told me where to pull the car up. He was sitting on my left. We both got out, and he took the gun from the back seat. He had cartridges in his pocket. He said he would go away, and when I heard a shot I was to go over and see what had happened. He walked a few paces towards the fence and pulled the trigger of the gun; but it did not go off. The gun was pointed towards the fence*. He then swung the gun downward, and it went off somewhere into the ground through the fence. He then took the empty cartridge out, and reloaded the gun. “After coming and kissing me, and saying ‘Good-bye’, he walked over towards the fence again. I was standing behind the car, and saw him with a piece of wood in his hand. I heard a report; but I had my back turned toward him. I heard him say ‘Kay, Kay’, the name by which he always called me. He staggered and fell his back. I went and felt for the beat of his heart. I knew he was dead. I got his overcoat from the car and covered him. I got into the car and drove to town, where I reported his death as an accident.

“Detective Waterson came out, and I accompanied him to Runciman. On returning, I made a statement that death was accidental. Later, 1 was seen by Detective-Sergeant Meiklejohn and Detective Codrington, and I then made a statement on the- lines of the evidence given to-day.” “You were unable to persuade him not to go on?” asked Mr Hunt. Witness: I tried to talk him out of Mr Hart: But you had the opportunity of going into his house and telling his wife or somebody. Witness: I did not take him seriously then. Mr Hart: The rest of your evidence, Miss Benner, suggests that you did take him seriously. You had plenty of opportunity when he stopped for petrol. Thon you stood and watched him shoot himself. Witness: I am not clear what happened. Suppression of Name Refused A number of other witnesses gave evidence, after which Mr Ah Kew asked for the suppression of the girl’s name. “When a young woman goes about

knowingly with a man who has a wife and three children, and stands and watches him kill himself in cold blood, the public should know,” protested Mr Hart. “I am an older man. It rather seems to me to be. a case of a girl of 19 being led astray,” said the coroner. Mr Ah Kew submitted that the witness had given the police every assistance. She had the whole of her life to live in New Zealand. The application for suppression of the name was supported by DetectiveSergeant Meiklejohn. “I do not know if I have power to suppresse the name,” said Mr Hunt. “If 1 suppressed the name it would be said that I was suppressing it because of social position or something.” The coroner declined to make an order, and returned a verdict of suicide by gunshot.