INQUEST STARTS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18756, 12 July 1935, Page 13

INQUEST STARTS

TAMAKI TRAGEDY SENSATIONAL OPENING EVIDENCE BY DOCTOR CLAIM OP PRIVILEGE (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, this day. .\n in(|Ui'sl i-onceriutig tlm death ol Man- Flk'ubefh Raymond, aged 21 years, whose partially decomposed body was [mind in the Taninki River, opened toi In v. The bods' was found lying across a stringer under the i'nnmuiv bridge. Atladled to one leg was a rope, and atlached to the other were two sacks and !t piece of canvas. The body was .naked except- for a piece, of a cotton singlet,. A brother, Pa rata Raymond, said that his sister left bet- home's!. TV Puke last .Inminiy. On June 7 he rarotully _examined a* lioi.lv in the morgue and identiked it- as his sister. The next witness, a young woman, said she saw Mary Raymond in Queen street, at. about 4 o’clock in the afternoon of May .1, standing in the doorway of a shop. She was joined by a man. The witness pointed to a man sitting in (ho i-oiiif, and said he was the man. She saw the same mail on dune .10 in company with another man, who also was sitting in the. court. In reply to Detective Sergeant Walsh, I he, witness said she had no doubt., t hat the, mail she saw with Mary Raymond was.the man in court, named lle.wer. George Frederick Hewer, whose, business he described as electro-therapy, said he was a qualified doctor, but not registered in. New Zealand, lie was known as “Dr. Hewer,” and his place of business was in City Chambers. The man whom the previous witness had pointed out was his assistant, David Fulton Thompson. The witness said! lie first knew that Mary Raymond was missing on May 1He was told that night by a Mrs. Wilson. Sergeant Walsh: That was the day Mary Raymond disappeared? The witness : Yes. Why did Mrs. Wilson go to you?—l don’t know. After several more questions, Sergeant Walsh said to the witness: “How long had that half-caste girl been receiving treatment from you before May 17 The witness: l claim privilege. You swear that, will incriminate you? — Yes. The witness said he was later visited bv Miss Raymond's brother-in-law, named Burton, and a man named Hughes, but he could not tell them anything. On May 3, a man, named Dudley Bennett called on him saying he had received a letter from Miss Raymond in which slie mentioned that site had made an appointment with him (Hewer) on May 2. Sergeant- Walsh : Are you definite that it was May 2? The witness: Quite definite. Did Bennett tell you what Miss Raymond wanted to see you for? The. witness: Yes, lie said it was for an illegal operation. The, witness said lie then piaffe reference to girls gofng under assumed names, and mentioned a Miss Francis, a patient of his, whose description was near to the description of Miss Raymond. In the course of long questioning, the witness was asked if he, with Thompson and Bennett, visited an hotel one morning. He said lie had, and that he there saw a letter in which there was a refer* enee to Mary Raymond’s appointment with him. Sergeant Walsh: YVliat amount of money was mentioned in connection with Mary Raymond? The witness: There was no mention of money. Asked if the letter was interfered with, the witness said lie. left the room for a few minutes, and when he returned, certain parts of the letter had been deleted. The coroner, Mr R. W. McKean. S.M., is this the letter that is missing? (Sergeant. Walsh: Yes. During the questioning, reference was made to a- girl whom Hewer admitted was a patient .of Ids. llewer’.s counsel objected, saying: “If Detective Walsh is going to start on a fishing expedition about Hewer’s profession I am going to advise nry client, to? claim privilege.” After .some, discussion tjie witness said lie h,ad told Mrs. Wilson that he was treating a half-caste Maori, girl, but that she bad gone home before. May 1. (Proceeding)