MURDER OF A CHILD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18756, 9 July 1924, Page 11

MURDER OF A CHILD.

CHARGE AGAINST MOTHER.

AN ALLEGED CONFESSION.

Anstralinn and N.Z Cable Association. (liecd 11.45 p.m.) MELBOURNE, July 8.

Mrs. Dodds has been committed for trial on a charge of murdering her daughter, aged eight, at Armadale, on April 4.

The police gave evidence that on their arrival at the house Mrs. Dodds said "I have a job for you at last. lam sorry I did not finish the two of us."

It is also alleged she confessed she had battered the child's head with a hammer.

A cablegram from Melbourne dated April 4 stated that Mrs. Dodds early that morning called a neighbour and asked her to go for a doctor. When the medical man arrived he found Mrs. Dodds and her daughter in a state of collapse from loss of blood. The woman had a deep cut on one leg, and one of the child's wrists was almost severed. The child's head also showed marks of battering with a blunt instrument. A bloodstained table-knife and a blacksmith's hammer were found in the house. A rambling, written statement, unsigned, and addressed , to a doctor, mentioned that this doctor once told Mrs. Dodds it was better to commit suicide than bring a curse on another life. The note asked that the woman's body might be examined, as well as her brain. There were also references to an alleged injustice done to the writer.