ATTACK WITH AXE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23153, 27 September 1938, Page 10

ATTACK WITH AXE

MAORIS INJURED WOMAN AND MAN POLICE MAKE ARREST INCIDENT AFTER SOCIAL [jJY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] KAIKOHE, Monday An assaulj; with an axe, in consequence of which two people are in hospital, is alleged to have occurred at Tahoko, a small settlement 12 miles from Kaikohe, on Saturday. A party consisting of Mrs. Janie Nelson, widow of Mr. E. S. Nelson, who was murdered at Waihou two years ago, Mrs. Rawiri and Mr. Harold Joseph, all Maoris, visited Kaikohe on Friday night to attend a basket social held to raise funds for the Ngapuhi centennial canoe. They left the social at a late hour and arrived at Mre. Rawiri's home, where Mrs. Nelson also lived, at about 3.30 a.m. Mrs. Rawiri's husband, Noka Rawiri, also visited the dance, but arrived home before his wife. After arriving at Taheke the party was sitting in a car conversing when, it is alleged, Mrs. Rawiri and Mr. Joseph were attacked with an axe. Mrs. Rawiri suffered a severe shoulder injury, the blade cutting right through the arm joint, and Mr. Joseph was gashed on the chin and had his jaw broken. They were taken to the ltaweno Hospital. Their condition is not serious. Mrs. Nelson was not injured. Constables E. J. Gibbs and J. Frain, in charge of the Rawene police station, arrested Noka Rawiri, and he appeared before Messrs. F. C. Hargrave and T. P. Lane, J.P.'s, on a charge of assaulting Harold Joseph so as to cause actual bodily harm. On the application of the police, Rawiri was remanded to appear on Friday. Bail was refused.