YOUNG MAORI TO HANG.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18356, 23 March 1923, Page 8

YOUNG MAORI TO HANG.

; — •— V. ? IHra MURDER OF HIS EMPLOYER.

JUDGE ASSUMES BLACK CAP. DEATH SENTENCE PASSED. J JOHNSONVILLE TRAGEDY. [BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATIOK.] 'Krji£i4 WELLINGTON. Thursday, " I do not believe the story you have told, and it is my duty to pronounce the '£1# sentence the law provides for a man who has murdered a fellow being." Such were the words of Mr. Justice Chapman at the Supreme Court to-night, before assum- M(ing the black cap and sentencing John vA* Tuhi, a young Maori, to death for the ~iM murder of Herbert Henry Knight at John- ; sonville on October 17. The jury reached a decision in 75 minutes. "I do not agree with your verdict. / Another man murdered him The man who murdered him also buried him," said Tuhi after hearing the verdict. Tuhi went on to give a long statement of what he knew of Knight's death, referring continually to seeing the murderer, and "I saw this other man burying something, but not until iater did I discover it was Knight's body." He declared he also signed a statement to the police. His Honor said that counsel for the . defence would have (suggested Tuhi'e story if he had believed it. Instead he chose not to call the accused as it would weaken the accused's case. " If you have any complaint about the verdict, you must petition to the GovernorGeneral," concluded His Honor. -

Tuhi was arrested in connection with the disappearance of his employer, Knight, ■'»' builder and farmer, from The Hollies, an isolated farm at Johnsonville, near Wellington. Knight's body was discoverea buried near the house. Injuries wiere found on the head { which a medical witness considered might have been caused hv a Mow from a sludge hammer. Death /fas believed to have occurred on October 1 7, 1922, about six weeks before the ax. numation of the body. 1