MURDER AND SUICIDE

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1678, 27 April 1904, Page 31

MURDER AND SUICIDE

THE PUNGAREHU TRAGEDY. WANGANUI, A prill 23. The police received news this morning that a young native last night murdered his wife and then committed ..suicide, at Parakine, a Maori pah, about twenty miles up the river. WANGANUI, April 25. Details of the tragedy up the river show that it occurred at Pungarehu. Tiwha and his wife were sleeping in a whare with another native (Hone) and his wife (Hata). About 3 o’clock on Saturday morning the latter was aroused by the deceased couple quarrelling. Suddenly the woman ran across the whare and threw herself on the other two as they law down. The woman was bleeding profusely from a cut in her throat. Hone jumped up and caught hoVl of Tiwha, who held a razor in his hand. Hone was thrown to the ground, ' and on getting nip ran oiut for assistance. After he left, Tiwha again attacked his wife and killed her. Hata rushed to the rescue, and in the struggle with the murderer the latter cut her hand with the razor. She then rushed from the whare. Meeting her husband and uncle, they returned to the whare, where they found, Tiwha outride with his throat also cut, and dying. Tiwha was twenty-four years of age, and his wife nineteen. Jealousy was evidently the cause of the tragedy, as the murderer never cared to see his wifo leave him. At the inquest a verdict was returned that the woman met her death at the hands of heir husband while temporarily insane, and that the latter afterwards committed suicide.