TRAGEDY IN THE NORTH.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 1039, 11 June 1924, Page 5

TRAGEDY IN THE NORTH.

REASON FOR THE CRIME

For Press Association. WHANGAREI, June 10. The circumstances surrounding the death of Ruki Pene, of Wftima, were the subject of a coronial inquiry this afternoon. The police testified that an June 6 deceased returned home and had an altercation with his wife. He then procured a stone and battered her head, resulting in the woman's death some hours later. Pene then decamped. The police were summoned and a search proceeded all night, deceased being at length located at eight o'clock in the morning, in a tall macrocarpa tree, whereupon Pene cried out: "I am ready to die; good-bye, Kelly," and dived into the creek below, a distance of thirty feet, which contained only a foot of water over a rocky bed. Pene was obviously badly injured and was conveyed by road to Kaikohe, thence by train en route to Whangarei for medical treatment, but he expired during the journey at Whakapara. A Maori witness testified that when he saw Pene in the tree, the latter exclaimed: "Don't let any Maoris come near me. Take all my horses, saddles and bridles, everything, to pay expenses. lam ready now; good-bye." He then took a headlong plunge. Dr. Ward gave evidence to the effect that a post mortem revealed a fracture at the. base of the skull. Deceased had also been suffering from pneumonia, affecting the left lung. Death was duo to shock and injury to the brain. A verdict in accordance with the medical testimony was given. The doctor subsequently expressed the view that Pene might have murdered his wife while he was in a state of dementia due to pneumonia.