TRAGEDY NEAR OPOTIKI

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19502, 4 December 1926, Page 14

TRAGEDY NEAR OPOTIKI

OPENING OF THE INQUEST, FORMAL EVIDENCE ONLY. ACCUSED SENT TO GISBORNE, ; I [by TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONOEXT.] OPOTIKI, Friday, j The inquest into the death of the man I killed at Torere on Wednesday v.-as j opened this morning by Mr. P. A. Craw. •1 ford, coroner. John Sullivan, .who has [ been accused of the murder, was not pl-e----1 sent, but was represented by Mr. V Hodgson, Detective McLeod stated that he onlv proposed producing evidence of idectiScai tion at this stage* i Charles Henry Middleton, a hotel i porter employed at the Opotiki Hotel, ■ I said ho had identified the body of the •' deceased as that of a man known to him ias Jeremiah Williamson. Witness had ! been acquainted with the deceased foe | about 22 years. They had worked to- ' gather at various times. He could not i say where the deceased belonged, or i whether lie had any relatives in New Zealand. Deceased had never*mentioned where he came from. He last saw the i deceased when he was going away in a s car, but witness did not know the names ' of either the driver or another man who i was in the car. Detective McLeod said this would be , all the evidence ho would call at present. He asked for an adjournment ■ until December 15, which was granted. ' Deceased was buried in the Opotiki • Cemetery this morning, the service being i conducted by the Row D. D. Hird. The accused man was taken to Gisborne to-day by Constable Hislop, and will ba brought back to Opotiki to appear before a magistrate on Thursday, Decernber 13. I