THE ORAMAHOE MURDERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17250, 28 August 1919, Page 8

THE ORAMAHOE MURDERS.

INQUEST ON THE VICTIMS. — > i DYING MAN'S STATEMENT. ■EVIDENCE OF HIS SON. imn in i ■ i "•' v- '''■- I i CORONER'S OPEN VERDICT. ACCUSED AGAIN REMANDED, tmr *ksuEssa*h.--sfßctu, BBttrnTSs.] , KAWAKA.WA, Wednesday. The adjourned inquest into the deaths 1 resulting from the Oramahoe shouting tragedy opened to-day at Kawakawa. The first inquiry was into the death of Ihiraa- ! era Haratua, the aged Maori who died in the Kawakawa Hospital on Tuesday, , , August 19, from wounds received at Ora- j i mahoe on Thursday night, August 14. Mr. I , P. H. Levien, S.M., coroner, presided, i . The native half-caste, Walter Ashby, who is in custody on the double charge of murder, wis present in Court, seated beside > his solicitor, Mr. 'H. F. Guy, of Kaikoho. He is a man about 33 years of age, ' of dark complexion, with curly black hair , and brotm luminous eyes. He wore a , : brown suit with white collar and blue tie. I His face bears a quiet and kindly expres- ' sion, «Etnd he followed the proceedings with ' composed and attentive interest. The ' courthouse was ccrowded. to the utmost ex-1 tent. Mr. H. G. Woods, of Whangarei, I ■ was sworn as interpreter, j > Senior-Sergeant Cassells conducted the i • inquiry' for the police. A series of photo- 1 ' graphs taken by Constab.e Thomas Kelly, : . of Auck'-aftd, were put «n at the beginning of the inquiry as an exhibit. Thesa showed i the lonely hillside where the tragedy took i ' place, the house in the distance where i ] Ihimaera sought refuge after he was shot, j , and the " tent-vfhare" where- he and his i step-sister lived, and where they were ! shot. . Dr. Samuel! Green, in charge of the J Kawakawa Hospital, gave evidence of , being called to the scene of the tragedy , on Friday morning, August 15. He found , the dead body of the woman lying out- . side the tent door, with what was appar- . entiy a bullet wound in the region ol the heart. She was quite dead, and had been , j dead for probably 12 to 24 hours. He , | then visited a house some distance away, ( where he found the man lhimaera suffer- . ing from wounds in the right breast and ' left arm. Ho ordered his removal to the '' hospital, where he was again examined j , and attended to. The wounds consisted of i , i one in the right side of the chest, one I , I above the left elbow, and two below the ' ,! same, all apparently caused by hul'ets, j but only one allowing both the entry and exit of a bullet. On the Sunday following his admission the deceased v s condi- j tion became ser'-ocs. Witness performed ! an operation, after which the man's con- ' dition improved for a time. On the Monday night, at nine o'clock, he was obviously dying, and witness informed the po'ice, who, represented by Sergeant Cassells and Constable Dempsey, visited the hospital and saw the patient. | Continuing, the doctor stated that he I last saw the patient the nest morning at j • half-past nine o'clock, when he was alive, i i'but in a moribund condition, and quite i hopeless. Later in the morning, at about . five minutes past eleven o'clock, he died. ! 'Hattirs of Wounds Beeeived. | At a subsequent post-mortem examina- ' turn, witness found the bodv was that ot • a nourished man. He could not recover j . any bullets from the body. Death was" '■ duo to septicaemia, following upon a i wound in, the chest. Examining a .82 i 1 calibre bullet produced, the doctor said; the wounds "could have been caused by j such bullets. i . To*" "the Jury: ; The man ' was quite rational on the Monday nifHt before he 'died;'* There was no trace of scorching' ' on the clothes or flesh. ; He found no evi- ] I dence of bullets coming in contact with the bones. He could not say at what 'distance the shots might have been fired. %Hfo Ballets Located. , To the Coroner* It was almost im.possible to, find tiny bullets in a postmortem examination wit-bent a search that would severely mutilate- the body. He made a very thorough search, hut could not, find, any bullets. To find them would have meant practically cutting the whole . back to pieces. He was used to rifles, but could not say from the wounds whether a large or small bullet might have caused ,th'en:; : ■' "'■'■■? T '■.'.'" To the Sergeant: He was asked„ by the v police to make a thorough search for the bullets in the body. The bullet pro-! , duced looked to him Hke a .22 ballet.' The wounds could be caused by a similar bullet. . , The doctor added: I would like to ' make it clear that I have spoken of '"apparent" bullet wounds. 1 To the Coroner i Though I have used •> | the expression "ballet wounds," I do not • : say definitely that they are bullet wounds, [ | but only apparently so. A' Recalled later in the afternoon, the doctor stated, in reply to a. question by I I the coroner, that such wounds might be '• t cttused by a shot or piece of shell, but, by the nature of the path followed, he could i -not think of any missile other than a. '■ ballet which would be likely to cause the I wounds he had examined in the man's body. 3mpty Cartridges Found. Constable Dempsey, in charge at Kawa- ! kawa, gave evidence to the effect that ] i he.' proceeded to the scene of the crime ; j with Dr. Green, and saw the body of | • the woman, and afterwards the wounded matt. The -woman lay about five feet from the entrance to the tent. The wounded man was at a native house some distance away.'' He picked, up seven empty cartridge-cases of a .22 pea-rifle about 23ft- from the door of the tent. The constable also testified to finding bullet marks in wood and tea-tree about j the whare. s A Cry in the Sight. i Ngatikawa Apiata, a native, examined ' through the interpreter, stated that he lived about 400 yds from Ihimaera's tent, and after dark heard a cry from the direction of the fence. He went out and found lhimaera lying inside ' the fenre of his house. He asked him what was the matter, and the deceased replied : " I have , been shot." Witness brought him into ■ the house and gave him water, which he asked for. The deceased told witness nothing except that he had been shot by I a half-caste. He would not' say who the I half-eaßte was. The deceased man was ! a tohunga, and had a bad reputation in the district. Many natives died during the epidemic, and witness heard Ihimaera blamed as having a " makutu" influence over them. Witness liked the old man. but the people of the district did not. Coroner lasistn on Answer. Pressed by the coroner for the names of any m the district who disliked Ihiniaera, witness said it was a general feeling. - The deceased was not good friends with namtofS Ple " Ho CoUl '' not s»v the names of any. The Coroner: But he must. Witness : I can only say he was not liked, as he was a tohnnga. °* Ihe Coroner But you must give m« some nan-es oi the peonle vm, f,J know disliked him. * yU my >' ou Witness still evaded the answer md Mrs. Ashby hid 'the old man. That was Mrsf Ashby "J?* known as Hooni Ashbv. Ho could name others. conia not Hori Tukimoana said he lived at Ori mahoe. , The previous witness on th, ih« ti'"' the shooting came and told him that Ik-mam had been shot, and that hia, -sister had been shot dead, and that the wounded man was at his (N^tijkawa a) -house. Witness said all his family 4

' were afraid. ..He, went over to where • Ihimaera was and stayed all night, but . did not talk to the wounded man. He did j not even ask him" if he 'wanted a drink. He was groaning'all night. The deceased ■woman", was witness's-' another. ; ■."' ~ : •■j ■ ■ ~:" '" ' - ■ «... "<■<-.-'..•'.'- ■ '■■;. i '.; ! Statement by Deceased's Son. , j '"'. "'■' " ■'.:'■':.<■'■ ;'\ „■' ' Waehaere lhimaera, the next, witness, a fine upstanding young man about 25 years of age, said he was allowed, to visit his father in the hospital on. Monday, August 18. A ' friend went in with him 'and the matron. His father, when he saw | him, started crying. His friend asked if I Ihimaera -knew who shot him. Ihimaera said: " Yes j I'll tell the police myself I to-morrow morning." He also said: "If Marianne is not buried yet/take her to I Palcaraka cemetery, to be* buried beside Haratua." •-"+•' H Just as wo were leaving, and when I was halfway out fee the passage," .continued witness, "I looked back. "'My father was crying. I went back and said he was not to cry. When ho stopped crying I asked him to toll me if* he knew the man who shot him. He said: " Yes? :it was Walter Ashby." I said : "Are you quite sure?" "He said> Yes." He then said : "Don't tell the police. I will tell it-hem myself to-morrow morning." To Mr. Guy : The conversation was in Maori, in the presence of other patients. I Two children were in a bed in the room, which was the size of the courthouse. His friend went back with him to the bedside. The first time he bad told of this conversation was on the day ho tods the body from tho hospital. Coroner's Comments, In summing up, the coroner said that in view of the medical evidence the cause «rf death was clear, but having regard to the l&w concerning dying declarations, he did not. think he could, at this stage, lean heavily on the evidence of the last witness, i who was only stating what his father told j him. He found, therefore, that the death of lhimaera Haratua was due to I septicaemia following upon a bullet wound j in the right chest, such wound having been inflicted by some person unknown, j Immediately following the inquest, Walter Ashby was brought up on remand before Mr. F. H. Levian, S.M., and I charged with the murder of the man and wonten. The accused was further remanded to Wednesday, September 3. I The adjourned inquest on the woman j began at 7 p..m„ before Mr. J. D. Hall, J.P., and a jury of six. The evidence so far is proceeding along similar lines to those followed at the opening of the previous inquest.