MAORI TRIED FOR MURDER.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIV, Issue 124, 2 June 1910, Page 3

MAORI TRIED FOR MURDER.

"THOUGHT IT WAS A GHOST."

VERDICT OF NOT GUILTY,

AUCKLAND, May 31. ' A young Maori named Matetu Purua was to-day placed in the dock at the Auckland Supreme Court on a charge of niurdering one Te Mana Horomano, at Waingaroa, in the Raglan district, on March. 15th last. Some interesting evidence about old Maori superstitions was given. "On the fateful evening," the Crown Prosecutor stated, "the prisoner and another native were in a whare squaring up matters in connection with a bushfelling contract. When, they had finished, the prisoner's companion went outside to catch his horse, and ride to his habitation, Purua also going into the paddock, when the figure of a human being was seen on the track passing down the hill about a chain or a chain and a half away. A challenge was issued as the figure moved forward: 'If you are a Maori, speak, or I will shoot you!' This was repeated in English, and as there was no response prisoner discharged his firearm, a double-barrel gun, and the figure disappeared. The two Maoris then returned to the whare, put out all the lights, and peered into the darkness, but no further sign of the object was seen. In the morning they went along the track, and found a deaf and dumb native lying on the ground. He was carried to the whare, and the prisoner and his friend did what they could to relieve the injured man, but he breathed his last in a few minutes."

Cross-examined by Mr Reed, who appeared for the defence, Takuata Rawiri, prisoner's mate, was asked: "What opinion did yon form?"— "When no answer came from the object I thought it was a ghost." His Honor: "Have you previously seen anything that you thought was a ghost?"—"No, but I have heard about them, and I thought this 'was a ghost—the things the people had always been talking about. We came to the conclusion that it was a ghost. It did not speak and did not answer."

Proceeding witness stated that the prisoner was greatly distressed on finding that he had shot Horomano. He voluntarily gave himself up to the police, asking witness to accompany him to Raglan.

Mr Tole: "Did you have any ghosts in the house that night?"— "No."

"No spirits?"—" No." "Did you have any kind of spirits?" "No."

His Honor: "Do you think ghosts will do you any harm?"—" The old people in the village have spoken about bad people ever since I was a child, and I thought this object was. what they had always been speaking about, and' that a ghost had s come &% last." \> k N : After further evidence Mr, Reed submitted, on behalf of the accused j that when he challenged the object on ' the hill in both the Maori \and European languages and got no reply, he did not believe it was a man, a"nd did not know what to make of it, and so discharged his gun in the darkness intending merely to frighten away the figure. Accused and deceased were on friendly terms. Accused bore a good character, and after he discovered the mistake he had made he did all that a respectable man could do, eventually giving himself up to the police.

I The accused, in evidence, said when ! he saw the dark object on the hill he called out "Who are you, friend?" He felt afraid. No answer was received, so he discharged his gun at random without putting it to his shoulder. His intention- was to frighten the apparition. He thought it was the spirit of some dead person, or a man on murderous intent. Cross-examined by Mr Tole, the accused said the ghost theory was not an afterthought. He had told Mr Gilmour of the ghost at Eaglan on the day after the occurrence. Mr Reed: "When did you think this object was a spirit?"—" When I shot at it I thought it was a ghost." His Honor: "Didn't you tell us you did not aim at the ghost, but only wanted to frighten it?"—" Yes, I pointed my gun at the object and tried to frighten it." A juryman: "When you didn't get a reply to your challenge did it not occur to you that there was"a deaf and dumb person in the district?"—"No, it was at such a late hour and deceased was never out on the hill at that time before." In addressing the jury Mr Reed reviewed the circumstances surrounding the incident, and remarked that though it seemed ridiculous to the European mind in the twentieth cen--1 tury to have faith in ghosts and j spirits, old traditions died hard with the Maoris, and it was difficult in one or two generations to eradicate beliefs and superstitions handed down through many years. Counsel submitted that the whole of the circumstances supported the probability of accused's story. It was a lamentable case of misadventure. After his Honor's summing up the jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and prisoner was discharged.

Faith in prayer was dramatically exhibited at the Petone police station on Friday morning (says The Post) by a man charged with drunkenness and obscenity. Despairing of acquittal on the evidence available, the prisoner cast imploring eyes at the Bench, where two Justice of the Peace were seated, and reverently sank to his knees. Then he prayed, fervently, and protractedly. "Your Honors," the sad prayer went, "let me off just this once, and if I am found drunk before next Christmas, you can giye me five long solid years." One gentleman, it is alleged, suggested in an aside that the delinquent would be more gladdened by "five long, solid beers. The Bench gave the accused, an old offender, an opportunity to keep part of his resolution not to get drunk before Christmas. • He was sentenced to six months' sojourn, with bard labour, in a place where the beer is neither long nor short.

One of .the latest methods of preserving- peaches and apricots is by placing them in brandy. A Nelson gentleman who grew some very fine samples of peaches last season sent half-a-dozjen jars of "brandied" peaches to the parson at whose church he worshipped. Recently the church people had a harvest thanksgiving service, and, during the social meeting which followed the dedication service, the parson got a sly one off on the donor of the fruit. "I wish," he said, "to thank Brother Brown right here for his generous present of brandied peaches. I appreciate the peaches, and thank him for them, but I more particularly appreciate the spirit in which they were sent!"