NATIVE MENTALITY

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 4694, 16 May 1935, Page 3

NATIVE MENTALITY

MURDER OF OFFICER. A NEW GUINEA TRAGEDY. Sydney, April 18. Standing gaunt and beared, in the dock of the Supreme Court at Rabaul (mandated territory of New Guinea) Sipei, an ex-police boy, heard Chief Judge Wanless pronounce him guilty, of the wilful murder of his officer, E. C. McDonald, at Ambunti, on February 28. Sipei told a story showing the extent to which shame and humiliation can affect the native mentality, and how a bag of rice and a pet dog' were indirect causes leading to the tragedy. Sipei, who had a good record during his nine years as a police boy, gave evidence that he made a re-

quest to McDonald for the transport of a bag of rice and some sweet potatoes in a launch travelling up the Sepik River from Angorum to Ambunti. The request was refused, leading, according to Sipei, to McDonald assaulting him before other natives, including women. After this, said Sipei, McDonald compelled him to travel in a canoe towed after the launch. Another incident which was cited referred to litigation over a pet dog, which was claimed by Sipei. McDonald dismissed this claim.

These actions so shamed Sipei that, filled with indignation, he retired to his house and decided to commit suicide. Brooding over the incidents, he decided to kill McDonald and' then commit suicide. At 4 o’clock the next morning he awoke, dressed himself in his uniform, and taking a loaded rifle went to the bungalow, where he fired at the sleeping McDonald, wounding him in the right

breast. McDonald died shortly afterwards. The motive of the crime was given as intense shame and humiliation. Mr. Mantle, for the defence, said that although the circumstances of McDonald’s assault on Sipei appeared to the European to be paltry, to the native they were sufficient to upset his mental balance and to cause him to become morose and morbid.