TOO INDIFFERENT TO INQUIRE

NZ Truth, Issue 1228, 13 June 1929, Page 9

TOO INDIFFERENT TO INQUIRE

Girl Lay Dying, but Stepfather "Not lnterested " STARTLING INQUEST DISCLOSURES (From. "N.Z: Truth's " ; Napier Representative) . .

Although his step-daughter proved 1 to be on her death bed, Alfred William Hepburn, whan he called at the Napier Hospital to see her m response to a telegram he received, was not sufficiently interested to inquire why she was there. He made the admission to the Coroner following the girl's death that he did not inquire because he was not interested as she had been "quite well when she left Gi3borne,"

AN air of mystery surrounds the death of the unfortunate girl — Biloen Carroll Hepburn, aged 16, who Vas taken seriously ill when travelling from Gisborne to Napier. She was being conveyed to a home m Wellington, bu^ so ill did she become that it was necessary to rush her into the Napier Hospital. ■ { • An unusual feature was that she entered the hospital under an assumed name. She failed to recover, and following her death Mr. Mowlem, S.M., opened an inquest at which some remarkable evidence was given. It was made clear at the inquiry that the girl had been m a certain condition, and that the intention was to send her into a home m Wellington. Hepburn, her step-fa+her, said that so far as he knew the girl's age was about 16. Her mother had been dead for two years and deceased and her twin sister kept house for him. •He last saw his daughter alive on Saturday, June 1, at the Napier Hospital. He' had come down to Napier m response to a wire. Hepburn had no idea- why his daughter' was m the hospital, ..although he knew that, she was m the hospital under an assumed name. He inquired of his sister as to the cause of this and she replied that It was done m order, to shield ■ her name. The girl had been examined by Dr. Angetl m. Gisborne about a month before she came to the. Napiev Hospital. After that examination the doctor stated thVglrl was m a certain condition. , ■ ■•.'.■ ; . ■■/•':-.. ■■-' . Hepburn had questioned his daughter and she admitted having been intimate with a man when aged 15 years nine months. He did not inform the police as he intended to send her away to a home

m Wellington where she would be i looked after. She actually left Gisborne for this dome on May 2, accompanied by his brother and sister and a lady friend. He could not tell what home. His brother was going to pay for her m the home. Hepburn had no knowledge that either m Gisborne or since leaving there his daughter had been the subject of an unlawful act. He was told by his sister that the girl was taken ill on the road from Gisborne to Napier and they put her m hospital on arrival. Questioned as to why he did not ask - his daughter 'when he found her m hospital why she was there, Hepburn replied that he was not. interested, as she had been quite well when she left Gisborne. He ■ had never questioned anyone as to why deceased was m the Napier Hospital. > .'""'■ The detective-sergeant pressed the point until the coroner interposed, pointing oiit that he could not compel a, further answer. He remarked that the attitude of the witness lent itself plainly to. only two interpretations — either he did not care, or else he knew. , Arthur Cedrio Hepburn, brother of the previous witness, who brought the girl to Napier m his car, said that on arrival m Napier he put. up at ."Munro House," a boarding-house, but the ladies of the party stayed at an apartment house occupied by a Mrs. Pratt, m Nelson Crescent. So far as he knew the deceased stayed at Mrs. Pratt's from the Thursday night of arrival until her ent'-y into hospital on the following Tuesday. The inquest was adjourned.