MURDER CHARGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27296, 24 January 1950, Page 6

MURDER CHARGE

YOUNG WIDOW ACCUSED DEATH OF TWO SONS COMMITTED FOR TRIAL PA AUCKLAND, Jan. 23. The sequel to a tragedy in her mother’s home in Cook street on the morning of December 21 was the appearance of a widow, Barbara Mary Wingrove, aged 25, in the Police Court today, charged with the murder of her two sons, Peter, aged four, and Stephen, aged six. Mr H. C. Astley, S.M., was on the bench. Mr G. S. R. Meredith, with him Mr G. D. Speigiht, prosecuted, and Mr J. K. Terry appeared for the accused woman. Mrs Wingrove, short, slight and attired in a smart blue frock with a beret, sat next to the police matron, occasionally sobbing. Edward Carl Matthew®, single, a clerk, said Mrs Wingrove, who was his sister, and her three children, were at their mother’s home from December 13 When he left for work on December 21 his sister appeared quite well, and everything was orderly. Gail Matthews, aged eight, said that she lived with her grandmother, where her aunt, Mrs Barbara Wingrove, was staying. On December 21 the child went to ascertain “what time Santa Claus would be at Manchester Hall” so that the children could go. On returning home nobody answered her knocking, so she climbed through a window. She smelt gas. Mrs Wingrove was lying in the pantry, where the gas stove was. “I was frightened, and ran to the delicatessen, where grandmother worked,” said the child. Mrs Minnie Matthews, mother of Mrs Wingrove, said the latter lived with her three children at Westmere. The daughter’s Rusband was killed in an accident two years ago, since when she had been very nervy. On returning home with her granddaughter, Mrs Matthews found Mrs Wingrove sitting on the floor with her head down. There was a smell of gas. Mrs Matthews turned off all the taps, and pulled her daughter into the hall. She found Mrs Wingrove’s daughter, Stephanie, lying on a bed with blood on ner. Stephen was on the kitchen floor dead. There was blood around his neck. Mrs Matthews heard a groan, and found Peter under a bed. He was unconscious, and there was a lot of blood on him.

Mrs Matthews said her daughter had been worried about money on her husband's side, which had not come to her.

Mrs Matthews identified a knife, also the handwriting on the back of a calendar as that of her daughter. The note, in pencil, read: “My dear mummy,—l’m sorry, but life is unbearable. I think I’ve been going mad for a couple of months. I couldn’t live without my babies, so have taken them with me.” Then followed a request to Mrs Matthews to try to get £2OOO allegedly due and use it for herself and Gail. The note ended: “ I love you—we all do—and I don t know what we would have done without you.—Barbara and the babies.” A hospital doctor gave evidence that when admitted Mrs Wingrove had a wound in the lower abdomen. She was conscious, but suffering from shock. The wound could have been caused by a knife. There was nothing to suggest gas poisoning. Senior Detective Fell stated that, after being warned while in hospital, the accused admitted writing the pencilled note and having used the knite found in the kitchen. She said she “did Stephen first, but after that I lost my head and don’t know what I did. In the first place, I did not intend taking the children with me. I was going to send them to see Father Christmas, but changed my mind. When asked by the magistrate how she pleaded, the accused replied in each case, “Not guilty.” She was committed to the Supreme Court for trial.