WEIRD CRIME

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21829, 16 December 1932, Page 13

WEIRD CRIME

NATIVES SENTENCED TO DEATH TRIBAL LAW PROBLEM. (Fbou Oub Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, December 1. Four bush aboriginals were sentenced to death at a special sitting of the Supreme Court held at Wyudham, in North-west Australia, this week, having been adjudged guilty of one of the weirdest and most horrible crimes in the history of Australia. It- is unlikely, however, that the sentence will be carried out, for it seems clear that the natives acted in accordance with their queer psychology and the requirements of tribal law, as they see it. In these circumstances the case is referred to the Protector of Aboriginals, who, in turn, will make a report to the authorities, who will act on hia recommendation. If it is shown that natives commit serious crimes while obeying their own crude laws, sentences are generally commuted. This strange case concerned the murder of a gin, whose kidney fat was eaten by the murderers, and whose blood was mixed with tea and drunk. The murder was committed with the idea of satisfying a desire for vengeance. Under tribal laws it is necessary to kill the murderer, blit often, in their strange psychology, a gin (native woman) or a child is sacrificed who has no relationship to the killer or the killed. Last year a mission black at Forest River was murdered, and a missionary, Harry Smith, was tried for the murder, and acquitted. The natives then decided to kill somebody in retaliation, and, for an unknown reason, settled on a gin, known as Nimalangoo. She was lured to a camp on King River, and one day she was, taken for a walk by two other gins. The four accused are said to have hidden behind stones, and on the approach of the : gin they sprang up suddenly and all speared her rapidly in quick succession. One man speared her through the heart, and the others in the back, arm, and thigh. One of the accused, Bemuda, is the tribal doctor, and he cut open the murdered woman’s flank with a shovel spear and removed the kidney fat. The shovel is a large, sharp, iron spear, mainly used for killing cattle. The four accused and their wives are stated to have eaten the .kidney fat to make them strong and to have drunk the blood of the deceased, which they collected in fruit tins and mixed with their tea. They also smeared the fat and the blood on their bodies. - The crime was not unearthed for nearly six months, and the arrests were made by Constable Marshall, who was the hero of the affair, concerning the lost German aviators. One man who had evaded arrest arrived at the mission on the eve of the trial, and he was at once recognised and placed in custody with the others. In returning a verdict of wilful murder, the jury made a recommendation for mercy on account of the murder being a purely tribal matter. It was pointed out by the Protector of Aboriginals in the district (Dr Webster) that the natives concerned had never come into contact with whites.