WESTPORT SHOOTING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20947, 10 August 1931, Page 8

WESTPORT SHOOTING.

CHARGE OF MURDER, WIFE BEFORE COURT, POLICE OBTAIN REMAND. DISCOVERY OF A RIFLE. [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] TVESTPORT, Saturday.' An inquest was opened to-day into thf death of Frederick Upham, a married man, aged 32 years, who was found shot in an unoccupied shop in Lower Palmerston Street yesterday afternoon. Follow, ing the discovery of the body, Upham's wife, Lena Maud Upham, was arrested on a charge of murdering her husband. She is only 21 years oldg • When the inquest was opened before Mr. L. R. Fox, coroner, Detective Holmes appeared for the police. Edward Upham, coal dealer, gave evidence of identification. He stated that the deceased was his nephew. Lena Maud Upham, who was in Court, was tha wife of the deceased." Detective Holmes Asked for an adjourn* ment sine die. Messrs. Molony and Black, who watched the proceedings on behalf of Mrs. Upham, consented and the adjournment was made. Lena Maud Upham was then charged before Messrs. E. R. Fox and C. D. Betts, J.P.'s, with the murder of Frederick Upham on August 7. Detective Holmes applied for a remand to August 26 and this was granted. Further details of Upham's death show that apparently he had been sitting oa a box when the shot was fired. Death must have been instantaneous, as the bullet, fired from a .44 repeating rifle, penetrated the heart. Upham had been living at the shop for about two years. At one time the husband and wife had been separated, but later they lived together again. Recently their three children were placed in tho care of the State, and since then Mrs. Upham had been living with friends. She was married when she was only sixteen years of age. A rifle was found by the. police under an outhouse at the back of the' shop.