A DOMESTIC TRAGEDY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23706, 13 January 1939, Page 13

A DOMESTIC TRAGEDY

MAN’S DEATH FROM INJURIES WIFE CHARGED WITH MURDER PLEA OF NOT GUILTY A domestic tragedy which occurred in Dunedin on the morning of December 12 and resulted in the death of a man from injuries to the head allegedly caused by a tomahawk wielded by his wife, had its sequel in the City Police Court yesterday, when Jessie Eva Dickson, aged 30 years, appeared before Mr J. R. Bartholomew. S.M., charged with having murdered her husband, William Dickson. Chief Detective Holmes conducted the prosecution, and Mr J. G. Warrington appeared for the accused. The inquest proceedings were taken concurrently with the hearing of the charge. Discovery of Tragedy The first witness for the prosecution was Dr E. R. Harty, who said that, on the morning of December 12, a few minutes before 7 o’clock, he went to a house in Albany street in response to a telephone message from a woman that her husband was dying. When he arrived at the house the accused admitted him. and he saw William Dickson lying on a double bed in a front room. As witness was walking towards the bed the accused said: “ I do not know why I did it, but he has been going out with other women.” Witness asked what she had done it with the accused replying “An axe.” Witness found the patient unconscious and restless, his head was bleeding. and from his position it appeared that he had been lying on his right side. When asked for the axe. the accused produced it. and there was hair and blood on it. The tomahawk (produced) was the weapon which had been shown him. Witness summoned an ambulance, and the patient was removed to the Public Hospital. When witness arrived at the house the patient was in his night apparel He had the bedclothes up around his chest, and had apparently been struck whilst asleep, or at any rate he did not see the first blow being struck He had no other injuries apart from those on the left side of the head and cheek, and he was apparently suffering from a fractured skull, a fractured cheekbone, and numerous lacerations in the area between the outer margin of the left eye and the left ear below, and the left side of the skull above. The accused was agitated and weeping. especially when witness left her at a neighbour’s residence. When witness attended the post-mortem examination he saw that the injuries disclosed were consistent with the deceased having received blows from the tomahawk produced in court. To Mr Warrington: It was not possible to say whether the deceased was asleep or not when the blows were struck. The accused, who seemed thoroughly distraught, was waiting on the doorstep for witness’s arrival, and she seemed very anxious that her husband should live.

Finding of Axe

Constable Squire, of the North Dunedin station. who was summoned by Dr Harty, described the condition of the bed and pillow, which were bloodstained. The bed clothes were thrown back, but there was no sign of any struggle having taken place. A search revealed a short-handled axe in the coal box in the scullery. The accused was crying bitterly and loudlv and kept repeating, “Oh, why did 1 do it? Oh, jt’s terrible!” The kitchen table was partly set for two persons, and on a plate was a single slice of bread.

Replying to Mr Warrington, witness stated that, the accused was very upset. There were knives and forks laid on the table for two persons, and also a table napkin where, presumably, the child would sit.

Medical Evidence

Evidence as to the injuries received by the deceased was tendered by Dr K. F. M. Uttiey, an acting house surgeon at the Dunedin Public Hospital. He considered that at least three blows had been struck. The patient became quieter as the day went on, but as a result of his condition later in the afternoon Mr Speight performed an operation. The patient was kept under observation, but he did not regain consciousness, and died at 12.15 a.m. on the following morning. In witness’s opinion, the cause of death was fracture of _ the skull and laceration of the brain, which could have been caused by the carpenter’s tomahawk previously produced. Photographs Submitted Detective Brown, police photographer, produced photographs of the bedroom which had been occupied by William Dickson. James Alfred Samuel, a laboratory assistant at the Medical School, also gave evidence; and Frank Rochfort, a draughtsman, submitted a plan of the apartment occupied by the Dickr sons. To Mr Warrington, the witness Rochfort said that the distance from the coal box in the scullery to the side of the bed nearest the window was 26 feet 4 inches. Post-mortem Examination Dr D. T. Stewart, assistant pathologist, and Dr E. F D’Ath, professor of pathology at the Dunedin Medical School, detailed the result of a postmortem examination of the deceased and of blood stains found on the head of the tomahawk and the accused’s dress. The former witness gave it -s his opinion that the Injuries were the result of the deceased being struck a number of blows—at least four, and possibly six—with a heavy blunt instrument. The tomahawk shown him could have inflicted the injuries Devoted to Husband Robert Beatson Dicksor a salesman and brother of the deceased, said that the latter was 29 years of age at the time of his death, He was born in Dunedin, and was a carpenter by occupation. To Mr Warrington: From what witness knew, the accused was very respectable and a good housekeeper. She was absolutely devoted to her husband and to the child. “A Good Woman ’ Reata Hannah Barr, a neighbour of the Dicksons, gave evidence of the accused having come to her a few minutes after 7 o’clock on the morning of December 12, and asking her to mind her child while she telephoned a doctor. When witness inquired if Mr Dickson was ill, the accused replied, ‘‘l think I have killed him.” She also- said she had hit him either with ar. axe or a hammer, witness could not remember which, and added: “He has been carrying on with other women.” Cross-exammeu by Mr Warrington, witness said that the accused was a good woman, a good housewife, and a good mother to her child. She seemed devoted to her husband

Associated With Other Women

William Henry Saunders, petrol station and vulcanising plant proprietor, said that he had known the accused and her husband for some years. On December 10 the accused complained to witness that her husband had been leaving her during week-ends and that she had caught him in Temuka coming out of the pictures with a girl who said that she had no knowledge that Dickson was a married man and expressed regret for having been out with him. The accused told witness that she had a letter which had been written to Dickson and said “I have caught him before and we have talked of a separation. but he wants the custody of the boy.” She intimated to witness that she would take care that no other woman should have Bill, her husband. She showed witness a letter_ signed " Margaret.” and witness i - ead it. The accused asked him if he would speak to her husband, as she had done all that she could to break him of his association with other women and would do anything in her power to make him faithful to her. She was in a verv agitated state. To Mr Warrington: From his knowledge. the accused was very fond of her husband and her child. The Accused’s Story Detective Sergeant Hall said that when he first spoke to the accused and asked her what had happened, she replied. “ He has been neglecting me for other women.” Wi f .ess found the axe (produced) in the coal-box, and the accused then handed um the letter which had previously been mentioned. Witness produced a statement made on the morning the accused was arrested which stated that her husband was a carpenter on the railway, working at Temuka and latterly at Waitaki. Her husband had been carrying on with a girl at Temuka. and witness found him coming out of the pictures with this girl. He made all sorts of promises Latterly he had been going out with a girl named Margaret from Pukeuri. The accused said she knew the girl had gone away with her husband lor the week-end. She then admitted having gone to the coal-box for die tomahawk and given her husband a blow on the head with it. In a further statement made after the accused was informed that she was to be charged with murder, she said that she was married in 1935, and that (here was one child. Her husband and she had arranged to go for the holidays at Christmas, with the chad, to her parents’ home in Central Otaso, On December 9, as her husband baa been off work with a heavy cold, she procured the railway tickets, and it was later in the afternoon that she was given a letter sent to her husband by a girl called Margaret, from Pukeuri. Having suspicions as to ms conduct, she did not give the her husband, but read it herself. She said nothing until the following Sunday morning in bed, when a quarrel arose because her husband, when the little boy put his arms around ms neck pushed him away and made mm cry. She said to her husband that it would have been all right if it had been the girl who had her arms around his neck, but he did not want the little boy near him. An argument arose about the girl, and the husband s proposal to go away with her for the holidays, and he suggested that he and the accused should separate and that he would take the child. The accused said that she would fight to keep the child, whereupon the deceased agreed, and said that he would pay her 25s a week. On the accused’s saying that sne could not live on that, he said that he would give her more and he would still be getting off lightly. One minute he wanted a separation and the next he did not. and they seemed to be arguing backwards and forwards all day without getting anywhere, and in between the quarrels the deceased hardlv spoke, The accused tried without success to persuade him to go with her to Cromwell. The argument continued until a late hour that mght. and she did not sleep at all. On the Monday morning, she rose about 6.30. lit the kitchen fire, and made preparations to get her washing done so that she could go to town to buy Christmas presents. When she called her husband he said that he did not feel well enough to go tu work, and after reminding him that he had been able to go about during the week-end, she again tried to persuade him to go on a holiday with her and the child, and leave the other girl alone. While she was at the coal box in the scullery, her husband called out that he was going to Oamaru, and that “ she ” would be lonely if he did not go. “1 said.” the statement continued. “what about Billy and me being lonely; she’s only known you for a few months, but we’ve known each other for nine years. I have loved you and shielded you and stood by you when you were in troubleeven given yoq the money I’d worked for and saved—and now this is what you do to me. “Feeling# Boiled Over’ - “He did not answer, and then I don’t know what came over me, but as I was bending over the coal box with the axe with which I had been breaking up coal in my hand, I seemed to want to hit him or somethingjust something to give vent to my feelings. I went into the bedroom and round to the side of.the bed facing him, and struck him with the axe, I did not want to kill him—l do not think I even wanted to hurt him—in spite of all he had done, I worshipped him. I thought there was no one like Bill. I don’t know what made me do it; my feelings just seemed to boil over,” The statement went on to say that the accused, as soon as she saw the blood realised what she had done, and dropped the axe She then took her little boy to a neighbour’s house and telephoned Dr Harty. who summoned an ambulance and sent her husband to hospital. After this, she telephoned her mother and waited in an adjacent shop for the arrival of the police. Week-end at Christchurch Replying to Mr Warrington, witness said that the accused had been crying. She was completely frank when making her statements. Inquiries disclosed that the deceased was associating with a girl in Temuka, to whom he posed as a man separated from his wife, and that he had spent a weekend at Christchurch with a girl named Margaret, who came from Richmond, near Pukeuri. From witness’s observations, the accused appeared to be fond of her husband Re-examined by Chief Detective Holmes, the girl at Temuka stated that in the earlier stage of her acquaintanceship with the deceased, he had not told her that he was single nor had he said that he was married Committed for Trial On the accused’s behalf. Mr VVarrington entered a plea of not guilty, and she was committed to the Supreme Court for trial inquest Proceedings His Worship intimated that he would postpone recording his verdict until the indictable charge had been disposed of.