MOA FLAT TRAGEDY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24832, 4 February 1942, Page 6

MOA FLAT TRAGEDY

FLAXMAN ON TRIAL ALLEGED MURDER OF WIFE "The list you have to consider today comprises only one charge," said Mr Justice Kennedy in his address lo the grand jury at the opening of the quarterly session of the Supreme Court yesterday. "But, in spite of the reduction of the penalty, you will be disposed to think it one of the most serious of all charges. A man is charged with murdering his wife, and it will be said that in, her own home he struck her blows which penetrated her brain and killed her; Evidence will be brought lo show that an attempt was made to conceal the crime by burning the cottage in which the woman's body lay." His Honor discussed the evidence that would be presented to show that no attempt was made to rescue the body until neighbours arrived on the scene, that she had suffered only superficial burns which could not have caused death, that there were grave wounds to the head which undoubtedly caused death, and that when the body was taken from the cottage the accused went away and attempted to cut his throat with a knife. a No doubt," his Honor concluded, "you will find that there is a case to answer." Allied to the charge of murder, there were charges of arson and attempted suicide. „ . ■■. The following Grand Jury was empanelled:—Wilfred Neville Satterthwaite (foreman), Leslie Dunn, George Wakelin, Herbert McDonald Thomson, Harold Douglds Tennent, John Simpson, John Walsh Delbridge. Warren Boyd, Charles Melville Bruce, Walter Palmer Birchall, Henry Young Blair, Winston Richard Brinsley, Alexander Allan, Robert Stevenson Allan, Alfred Thomas Hart, George Allan Henderson, George Abercrombie, William Keith Esson, Arthur Vincent Gain, William Gordon Kindley, Charles Tasman Lee, James Irvine Ross, Lewi3 Edward Routledge. The Grand Jury returned a true bill against Charles Henry Flaxman on the indictment for the murder of his wife, Marion Beatrice Flaxman, at Moa Flat, on November 18, 1941. Flaxman, a farm labourer, aged 34, pleaded not guilty. He was represented by Mr O. G. Stevens, who had with him Mr C. H. S. Stevens. The case for the Crown was conducted by Mr F. B. Adams. The Crown's Case'

'in his outline of the case to. the jury, the Crown Prosecutor said that the Flaxmans were a young married couple —the man's age was 34 and Mrs Flaxman was 25 —with one child, aged 15 months. They lived in a cottage on the property of Mr A. J. Hodgkih, a farmer, of Moa Flat, by whom Flaxman was employed and for whom Mrs Flaxman did some washing; sewing and cooking.. On the night of November 18 Mr and Mrs Garden, who occupied a neighbouring house, were working late on the books of the church to Which they belonged, arid about 1.30 o'clock in the morning Mrs Garden turned on a veranda light and went outside. She then heard cries of "Fire! Fire! "and she and her husband hurried to Flaxman's cottage. The case for the Grown was that by this time the accused had already slain his wife, had made preparations to destroy her and the cottage by fire, and already had set the fire alight. "Perhaps," Mr Adams said, "he believed that by that stage the fire had developed sufficiently to destroy everything in the cottage, that the evidence of his crime would never be disr covered, and that the time had come for him to call his neighbours" The Gardens responded to his call, and found that the fire Was only in an incipient stage. When they arrived, Flaxman entered the bedroom through the window, and appeared to pull a burning mattress away from a wall. He came back to the window and said: " She's dead, Jack. I'm getting out of it." Garden then qliiribed through the window and with his wife's assistance, got Mrs Flaxman's body outside, and for some time attempted to resuscitate her. "He knew nothing of the wounds to her head," Mr Adams continued, "but Flaxman knew of them, and still wished that the evidence of his crime should be destroyed by fire." "Palpable Untruth"

Turning to the statements made by Flaxman to the police, Mr Adams said that in the first statement, made in the Tapanui Hospital on November 20, he said that he and his wife had spent the evening alone, that they had gone to bed in the same room, and that he was awakened by smoke. He wakened his wife, opened the window for her to escape, and went to take the baby out of the cottage. "He would have you belie,ve," the Crown Prosecutor said, "that all his wife had to do was escape from the room. Yet it was found later that her head had been battered and that she was already dead before the firje broke out. The accused, definitely and palpably was not telling the truth. The woman was already dead, and he must have known it, before the fire." After removing the baby, Flaxman's statement went on, he came back to the window of his wife's room, arriving there at the same time as the Gardens. He then described his attempts to save his wife's body. "If he were innocent and his story true," continued the Crown Prosecutor, " would he have made only such half-hearted attempts to get his wife out of the room? Obviously he was keeping Garden out of the room as long as possible." Flaxman's next action was to rouse Mr Hodgkin, with whom he started to go back to the cottage. On the way he said he felt dizzy, and told Hodgkin to go on alone. His mind went blank, and when he " came to" he found himself in a 400-gallons water tank. He could not say neck was cut. but he was sure that the shock of seeing his wife's body brought out had caused his ■ nerves to collapse. He did not know how he obtained the knife. Mr Adams again emphasised that parts of Flaxman's story were palpably "untrue. I Medical Opinion

Evidence of his examination of Flaxman at the Tapantii Hospital at about 4.30 a.m. on November 19 was given by Dr R. G. Stokes, of Gore. He said that Flaxman was suffering from cuts on the throat none of which was dangerous. Witness examined the body of the deceased woman two hours later, and considered that death was due to the head injuries. Dr E. F D'Ath, professor of pathology at the Otago Medical School, detailed the results of his post-mortem examination. His opinion was that the woman was struck at least five blows on the head, which had caused laceration of the scalp, fracture of the skull, and laceration of the brain, that she died as the result of the shock of these blows, and that probably she was already dead when the burns on her body occurred. The burns were superficial. It would not have been 'possible for the head wounds to have been self-inflicted. They could have been caused.by the tomahawk of which the head was produced in evidence. Formal evidence of the locality ot the tragedy was given by Francis Hothart Little, a Government surveyor, and by Detective Macdonald Brown, whose deposition was read.' Neighbour's Experience - .

John Millar Garden, a sheep farmer, whose home was about 120 yards from Flaxmah's cottage, repeated the account of the night of November. 18 which he had given when Flaxman was committed for trial. When Flaxman prevented him from entering the room and went in himself, witness said, he (Flaxman) did not appear to be making strenuous efforts to get ■ his wife"" out. He was. wandering about the room rather aimlessly and coming to the window for air. Witness described his actions in getting the body out of the room and his application of artificial respiration. He said that he had not noticed any wounds in the head. When they approached Flaxman later, he called out: "It's too late,