A MAORI TRAGEDY

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9108, 17 July 1888, Page 5

A MAORI TRAGEDY

MURDER OF A NATIVE WOMAN.

SHOT BY HER HUSBAND.

IN PURSUIT OF THE MURDERER.

[by telegraph.OWN correspondent.] Tologa Bay, Monday. A brutal murder has been committed at Waiapu, near East Cape. Wiremu Turei, son of the Rev. Mohi Turei, has shot and smashed in the head of his wife, Mary, daughter of Te Kepa, of Hicks' Bay. The left side of the head is completely shattered. ■ \ r;j ■'.;■* :

They were both young people, the man being about 26 and the woman 23. She was an industrious, amiable girl, but he was a man of violent speech, and was often drunk. He threw her on the fire some weeks ago, and has often maltreated her and threatened to take her life. He was such a source of discomfort at Te Hatepe, the paternal kianga, that his father, who is an Anglican church clergyman, some few weeks ago banished him from the place, which is close to the sea on the north of the Waiapu River. The wife accompanied him, and they were engaged in the construction of a new home, about three miles inland, when the crime was committed. ' r

On Friday afternoon, about half-past three, a Maori searching for cattle was attracted by the cry of an infant, which he found lying' on the; open ground with a faithful little dog licking its face to soothe it. ' : This was the ; year-old child of the unhappy couple. He took it to the settlement, called Makara, which was close by, and gave it to a woman to take charge of. He said, " There must be something wrong; I heard a shot fired; William must have shot Mary; he has often threatened to shoot her." ' _' ::

A man, named Terurahuihui, went with several others and found the poor woman's body within a quarter of a mile of Makara settlement, lying' in the - open field. A blanket was hung on the fence close by, and a shawl a little further on;

The murderer's tracks were followed over a ploughed field leading to the mountains..!:: Sergeant Villars, A.C., has sent word of the occurrence to the adjoining settlements, and engaged a search party of Maoris to go after the murderer., , ,;.;,,■

a Their marriage was a forced one against the woman's inclinations, and they seem never to have agreed;together. When his father banished him from Hatepe he said, When you get a little older I shall come back and kill you." . ,