VIOLENT ASSAULT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26042, 4 January 1946, Page 4

VIOLENT ASSAULT

MAORI WOMAN BATTERED COMPANION LATER COMMITS SUICIDE (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Jan. 3. A young Maori woman, who was violently assaulted at Waihihi beach, five miles from Kaiaua, on the Firth of Thames, in the early hours of this morning, was admitted to the Thames Hospital shortly after 6 a.m. severely battered about the head and face and with a fractured jaw bone. She was Moi Hikuroa, also known as Maud Andrews, aged 23, of Buckland. Her condition to-night was serious. Soon after dawn the body of a Maori labourer, John Henry, aged about 32, also of Buckland, was found hanging from a tree less than 200 yards from where the injured woman was discovered unconscious in a clump of blackberries. Spending Holiday Together Moi Hikuroa and the deceased, who were employed in a market garden at Buckland, were spending their New Year holiday together at the farm of the woman’s uncle, Kanu Andrews, at Kaiaua. On Wednesday night, according to the police, Hikuroa and Henry left the farm and went to have a meal with a party of three men. two women and their children, relatives of the woman, who were camped at Waihihi, further up the coast. Later in the evening some of the party, including Hikuroa and Henry, went back to Kaiaua to empty some fishing nets, which had been left. When the nets were cleared about midnight, Hikuroa and Henry did not return to Mr Andrews’s house, but went back with the others to their camp at Waihihi. One of the party, who had gone into his tent, told the police that about 1 a.m. Hikuroa and Henry were walking together near his motor truck. About a quarter of an hour later he heard several heavy thuds, followed by the sound of a woman moaning. He ran outside, and, with the aid of a torch, found Hikuroa lying near the truck in some blackberries, suffering from severe head injuries and with her face covered in blood. As he approached, the man ran off into the blackberries. Found Near Scene of Tragedy The police were telephoned from a nearby house, and Constable Pollard, of Mercer, came out by a car. The woman’s injuries were attended to and she was taken in a neighbour’s car to the Thames Hospital. Assisted by Constables Kimberly and Bartlett, of the Papakura police, Constable Pollard conducted a search of the locality for Henry. Soon after it was light, Henry’s body was found hanging from a tree 200 yards from the scene of the tragedy. He had hanged himself with a leg rope taken from a nearby cowshed and had been dead for some time.