A NEW THEORY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16372, 21 June 1927, Page 8

A NEW THEORY

MURDER. COMMITTED AT NIGHT. TRAGEDY AT BURWOOD, (Per Fr«M Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, last night. The only fuel, brought, to light to-day concerning the murder of Gwendoline Scai'fi was that the scene of the murder was in full view of two telegraph linesmen who were working on poles nearly the whole of Tuesday "morning. This, combined with the fact that the nearest. neighbor heard no screams, is fairly conclusive evidence that- the murder did not, take'place in the daylight, _ Owing to rigor mortis nut having set. in when the body was found, it was assumed that the'girl was done to death an hour or two before. Tile possibility is that the girl was left by her assailant not dead but dying, ami that deatli occurred .some time after the attack. The police, it. is understood, are working on this theory.

DISAPPEARANCE OF GIRL,

RESIDENTS OFTEN ALARMED. The murder at Kurwood has once more raised the question as to what happened to Irma Timms. In January of this year, on the day of the New Brighton gala, the little girl disappeared. She has not. been found. A sinister aspect is given to her disappearance by the adventure of another small girl. on. the same day. This girl lives willi aber parents in Lonsdale street, close to- the New Brighton Domain, which extends from New Brighton to North Beach. The, Timms' residence was situated in Keppel street, which runs into Lonsdale street at right angles. On the day of the gala the girl from Lonsdale street was accosted by a man who induced her to sit on the bar of his bicycle. He was heading for the sandhills at the Domain, when she became frightened and got away from him. She went home and told her parents and her father searched for the man without success.

Then came the news of the disappearance of Irma Timms. In the New Brighton Domain is a big area of broom and undergrowth, similar to that at Burwood, dense, and in places 10ft. high. It is a. perfect hiding place. The North Beach entrance to the' Domain is about three miles from the scene of the recent tragedy. In the Domain a man could live for some time if he could secure food and nobody would know of his presence. All through the present year burglaries have been occurring at interval at New Brighton and North Beach, and Mr. D. G. Sullivan, M.P., is engaged at present in an attempt to secure for North Beach a. resident policeman. At the present time Burwood is the centre of a >big area that is not served by police protection. Long before the present tragedy the residents have lived in a condition bordering on terror through various happenings. Certain people have been the prey of petty thieves and women have been molested. The district came under notice some years ago as the scene of the outrage on a womuti committed by a man named Griffiths. There arc women in the locality who will not venture outside at night. Nurses at the Bottle Lake Hospital do not use the road with any feeling of security.