CHILD MURDERED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 16 April 1932, Page 7

CHILD MURDERED

AT UPPER HUTT BODY FOUND IN SCRUB PIECE OF IRON PIPING NEARBY (By Telegraph—Press Association) WELLINGTON, This Day. With a wound on the back of her head. Vera Forster, aged four and a half years was found murdered in a clump of scrub beyond Upper Hutt last evening. She had been missin'g all day. The body was discovered 100 yards from her parents’ home. A piece of stout iron piping was found lying near the body. The little girl was the youngest of four children of Mr arid Mrs James Valentine Forster, of Cruickshank road, Maori Bank, Upper Hutt. She had been playing around the house during the morning, and her absence was not noticed by her parents until about noon. The news that the girl was missing quickly spread through the district, the search being taken up by all available. The party split up into groups to cover exhaustively dense scrub and undergrowth. Shortly before 9 o’clock two youths, James Wyeth and Frank Jones, who were among the Upper Hutt members of the seracli party, were exploring some bushes with torches about 100 yards from Mr Forster’s house, when they noticed a splash of colour in the scrub, and on investigating discovered the girl’s body. They called out to the other searchers who immediately joined them. Constable Stewart, who was among them, took charge until the arrival of his superior officers. The body was later removed to Upper Hutt police station. Lying near the dead girl was a piece of iron piping about two feet in length, and almost an inch and a half in thickness. It was stained with blood. The motive of tlie murder was unknown late last evening. A superficial examination of the body was made by Dr Tweed at the Upper Hutt police station, but the result was not disclosed The police are now actively engaged in investigating the features of the tragedy.