STREET STABBING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26043, 5 January 1946, Page 6

STREET STABBING

ACCUSED NOT FIT TO APPEAR IN COURT EPILEPTIC FIT IN CELL (P.A.) -AUCKLAND, Jan. 4. Arrested late yesterday afternoon on a charge of attempting to murder Helen Renata, a Maori labourer named George Mita Renata, aged 38, did not appear when his name was called in the Police Court this morning. Senior Detective Aplin stated that the accused was not fit.to appear in court this morning, for he had been admitted to hospital after receiving medical attention in the cells at the police station. He added that counsel for the accused had agred to a remand until January 14. The magistrate, Mr F. H. Levien, granted the remand. It is understood that the accused took an epileptic fit while in his cell this morning. A doctor was called, and shortly after 9 o'clock he was taken to hospital by ambulance. The condition of the woman, who is the wife of the accused, is still serious.

Mrs Renata, aged 20, was stabbed with a knife in broad daylight on one of the busiest pedestrian crossings in Auckland late on Thursday afternoon. She was halfway across the Quay street crossing near the ferry building when she was attacked. She fell to the ground almost at the feet of a traffic officer who was directing a stream of pedestrians across the road. She was taken to the Auckland Hospital in a serious condition, and an arrest was made at the scene of the incident.