THE MONTE CARLO MURDER

Otago Witness, Issue 2804, 11 December 1907, Page 19

THE MONTE CARLO MURDER

MRS GOOLD SENTENCED TO DEATH. GOOLD TO BE IMPRISONED FOR LIFE. -MONTE CARLO, December 3. The trial of the Goolds for the mtfrder of. Mrs Levin has begun. Goold blamed himself exclusively, and in reply to the judge he described the details of the crime with an inhuman air of boredom. He explained that he cut up the body because it looked nasty in the box, and he thought it might be more uniform. The motive of the journey to Marseilles was their fancy for bouillabaisse (fish soup with garlic). December 4. . The medical evidence at the Goolds' trial was to the effect that Goold was a degenerate, and not thoroughly responsible for his actions. The evidence showed that more than one person participated in the murder. The trial of the Goolds has. been concluded. In the case of Goold extenuating circumstances were found, and he was sentenced to imprisonment for life with hard labour. His wife was sentenced to death. December 5. Goold was impassive when hearing his sentence of penal servitude, but his wife went into violent hysterics, and protested her innocence. She then collapsed. There is a general impression that her sentence will be commuted. .. ■ December 8. Mrs Goold told her lawyer that she would prefer death to imprisonment, and hopes to be executed in front of the Monte Carld Casino. Nevertheless the Goolds have appealed against their sentence. Goold, in a communication to the magistrate at the end of September, alleged that the murder of Mrs Levin was premeditated and arranged between Jnmself and his wife, who took a leading part in the murder. In" another confession he declared that he and his wife, being without resources, determined to rob someone. They did not iiUend to kill Mrs Levin, but merely to stun her. He tried, to fell her with a kitchen . pestle, but her unexpected resistance led him to stab her. On the wife ■being confronted with this confession she declared she had nothing to reply to hie confession, end then fainted. Goold confessed that he waited in the kitchen with a pestle while his wife and Mrs Levin were having a Jiqueur. On hie wife calling him he entered the room behind Mrs Levin and struck her on the head, knocking off her wig with the first blow. At the second blow she Tose and cried " Murder !" and " Thief !" and at the third blow she rushed towards the window, but Goold's wife put her hand over her mouth to stifle her cries. Goold stabbed Mrs Levin from behind with the big blade of a knife, and she reeled against a wall and received a second stab in the abdomen. . He did not use the small blade, and his wife must have struck the second blow. On being asked if she had anything to say regarding her husband's confession, Mrs Goold replied "Nothing." She fainted when she was told to sign the deposition. The murdered woman was about 37 years 'of age. . She was of great personal beauty. Mrae. Levin made the acquaintance of the Goolds at the Casino. The temper of fine-edged surgical instruments is gradually, destroyed by "exposure to bright light.