SHOT IN GOLD BLOOD

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11225, 2 June 1922, Page 4

SHOT IN GOLD BLOOD

A WANCANUI MYSTERY MURDERER CARRIES VICTIM’S BODY 'JO ROADSIDE. WAS ROBBERY THE OBJECT? PER PRESS ASSOCIATION. WANGANUI, June 1. At a late hour yesterday evening tie body of a Chinaman, Chow Yat, aged 6ixty-two years, was found on the roadside on Longacre road, five miles from town, with bullet-holes in his head. The police investigations to-day convinced them that it is a case of murder. The scene of the murder was a whare situated in the corner of a market garden. It is evident that the man was shot in cold blood, as lie walked to open the door in response to a knock. The wounded' man must then have made towards a neighbour’s house, leaving a trail of blood on his track. Finally, he collapsed on the road, as a big pool of blood is there.

Seemingly tile murderer picked his victim up at this spot, and earned him about 1000 yards down the road, where the bod'y was found with the legs placed together and the arms folded across the chest.

The whole affair is shrouded in mystery. Stewart, a son of a nearby settler, declared he heard four shots in quick succession.

Tho victim was a most inoffensive man, and had resided in the Dominion for many years. At one time he was on the goldfields at Greymouth, and accumulated wealth, and probably robbery was the motive, though nothing is missing apparently.

FOUR BULLETS IN HEAD

ROBBERY THE MOTIVE. A later message states that a postmortem examination held to-day shows that Chow Yat received four bullets in the head, and that one shot, behind the ear, penetrated the brain. The police believe the murderer followed the victim, and finished him off. although it is still a mystery how the body reached the place where it was found. It has now been definitely ascertained that the motive of the crime was robbery. Deceased’s empty purse was found on the road.