CRIME EXPIATED

Northern Advocate, 19 April 1923, Page 5

CRIME EXPIATED

JOHN TUHI HANGED. AT TEBRACE GAOL. DOOM CALMLY ACCEPTED. WELLINGTON, This Day. John 'Tuhi, the young Maori who was sentenced to death for the murder •of Herbert Henry Knight at Johnsonville, was executed at the Terrace Gaol this morning. The condemned maif' faas quite calm. He waited to the scaffold, where he thanked the gaol officials and the priest for their kindness and attention. It is understood that futi left a .statement regarding the crime which clears the matter up.—Press Assn. A PULL CONFESSION PREVIOUS STATEMENTS UNTRUE. WELLINGTON", This Day. Tuhi, in a statement witnessed by •the gaoler, Mr Scanlon, made a full confession of his crime. He said: "I •. .fun guilty of the crime for which I have been condemned. As lam about to pass into eternity I realise the awful nature of the crime of murder. I cennot explain the motive that prompted! me to do the awful deed. Some -demon mupt have taken possession of me. No one else is guilty; I alone am ■to blame. All the accusations I made against unknown persons are untrue; also all I said about the treatment •meted out to me by the detectives is Jikewise untrue. The only reparation I can make is first of all to make this confession of myself to the public." Tuhi asks the public not to think too j harshly of him, but to remember that j Nhe was a Native, with different ideas and dispositions from the Pakeha, and 'to consider his surroundings and upbringing.—Press Assn. r John Tuhi, a Maori, who had been -working at Johnsonville, a few miles from Wellington, for 18 months, was ■sentenced to death by Mr Justice Chapman, in the Wellington Supreme Court on March 22, for the murder of his employer, Herbert Henry Knight, ■at the latter's farm. The story unfolded was remarkable. The farm is a lonely one. and the owner was a lonely man, who had apparently neither friends nor enemies. He was a builder and contractor in -poor circumstances, and carried on dairying «.nd poultry farming. The mysterious disappearance of Knight and the fact that Tuhi was ascertained to be •disposing of his movable property and stock, caused inquiries to be made by the police, to whom Tuhi at first denied all knowledge of Knight's disappearance. He made varying statements to persons with whom he had to deal in Knight's property, and to neighbours. Confronted with these stories, Tuhi at first remained silent, but later made remarkable voluntary remarks. "You think I knock on the head and bury him. If I did I not stay'here." To a neighbour, who said the police •would get Knight if he ran away owing money, as Tuhi alleged, the accused replied: "No they would not get him. He never come tack." Finally, to a detective, Tuhi said he would tell the truth, saying: "Yes, Knight die, I 'bury him.'' He then took the detective and a constable to a grave concealed under a heap of manure, and indicated portion of the head of a body. Doubt existed in their minds ;e,ven then of the truth of the last of many stories, but the body found was that of Knight, and was buried as described iby Tuhi. From then on Tuhi's lips were sealed. The theory of the Crown was that Knight had been killed while asleep or while reading in bed, ,as copies of a newspaper of October 17 were found in the grave, also a singlet and underpants, in which Knight was known to usually sleep. 'After a trial of four days the jury, after a retirement of an lour and a quarter, returned a verdict of guilty.