SUNDAY’S STABBING INCIDENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 3775, 20 July 1926, Page 75

SUNDAY’S STABBING INCIDENT.

MYSTERY CLEARED UP. A sinister aspect has been removed from the circumstances surrounding the finding of Robert Johnstone at the corner of King and Frederick streets on Sunday evening by his explanation of the mishap, which resulted in the injuries to his stomach. It appears that a prize Persian cat was the unwitting cause of all the trouble. On arriving at his home in the evening he was told by his wife that the prize pet had not had its evening ration, Mrs Johnstone being reminded of the fact by the hurried exit of the cat through a window*. Johnstone left the house with the intention of feeding the animal, and went to the wash-house, where the cat’s meat and the heavy knife for cutting it were kept. Evidentiv the cat was not in any great hurry for the evening meal, for Johnstone had some difficulty in finding it, and he was compelled to scale the fence to retrieve his pet from his neighbour’s domain. The knife was evidently still in his hand, and when he fell from the fence he was impaled on the blade, which entered the abdomen. Mrs Johnstone knew nothing of the accident until after her husband had been admitted to the Hospital and can offer no suggestion as to how the wounded man made his way to King street. The Unite generally used in cat feeding operations was no where to be seen, but a standby instrument was in the washhouse. Mrs Johnstone’s testimony as far as it relates to her husband’s movements outside the house is surmise, but it is confirmed by the injured man’s personal statement, and in a lesser bv the doctor’s examination of the wound suffered by his patient. Johnstone’s first thought after the accident was to make his way to the Hospital and he must have over-rated his strength, as he collapsed just before reaching the Hospital. Johnstone resides at Clarendon street, not Cargill street, as previously stated, and is an engineer. 30 years of age. Though not dangerously ill, his condition, following on his operation, is unchanged.