TWO DEAD ON BED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23850, 28 December 1940, Page 9

TWO DEAD ON BED

MAORI GIRL AND MAN BOTH WITH THROATS CUT CONSTABLE'S DISCOVERY I [BY TEI.EO HAP II PRESS ASSOCIATION'] WAX' r AXUI, Friday While searching yesterday morning I for a Maori girl who was previously reI ported missing. Constable S. 11. Cave, i I of Ohakune, discovered the bodies of a I girl, Mairnai Howe, aged 14, and another Maori, Whakahu Paoranui, known as Charlie Paul, aged L'.'i, in a farmhouse two miles from Pipiriki, on the Raetihi road. The bodies were lying on a bed and the girl's throat was severely gashed, indicating that the wound could not have been self-inflicted. Whakahu's throat was also cut, but the. wound was smaller. A blade razor, later identified at the inquest as the property of Whakahu, was found on the bed. Notes written by the girl and W hakahu produced at. the inquest indicated that, tlic.v would '"seek happiness in another world." The handwriting was identified a.s that of Whakahu and Maiinai Rowe. The inquest was adjourned sine die. At, the time of the tragedy the occupants of the house wore attending Christmas celebrations in a pa at Pipiriki. Ii is understood that Maimai Rowe lived with relatives near Pipiriki and she had been keeping company with Whakahu. She left her home shortly before midnight on Christmas Day and , subsequently was reported missing.