CORONER'S FINDING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18760, 17 July 1935, Page 8

CORONER'S FINDING

TAMAKI TRAGEDY SHOCK FROM OPERATION BODY CAST INTO SEA OUTSPOKEN VERDICT SOLICITOR CENSURED. (IVr Press Association.) AUCKLAND, last -night. \ verdict that 'loath was due to shock following an illegal operation n-ns returned by Mr W. B. McKean, S.M., coroner, at the close of a. lengthy inquirv into the death of Mary Elizabelli Itnymond, aged 23, a half-caste Maori whose body was found under the Panmnrc wharf on .Tune 2. The coroner expressed the view that "l was unfortunate if tlio matter of the girl's dfatli could not be carried any further. He described the se;.;-y>s-tion of suicide as utterly absurd.

Before I lie coroner gave his ver«bci. the last witness, 11. L. M. Birisspn, n solicitor, was called. The coroner: Did Bennett ask you .0 c.i/iain possession of two < The witness: He explain;:,! to ma that, there were certain letters in existence, and indicated that they were in Mr Hall Skelton's possession. They had come into his possession through Mr Hughes. 1 advised Bennett to give the police a full statement, and the letters were essential to completing the statement. I called at Mr Sk.pl ton's oflice in company with Bennetl and Hughes on Monday, dune 10. We had a general discussion of the case. I told Mr Skelton that Bennett was making a full statement, and that his papers were necessary, particularly two letters from Mary Raymond to Bennett, one letter having been scored out in pencil. Mr Skelton informed me that he had all the papers, but they would not be available until the amount of. his .costs, and some money borrowed by Bennett from him, had been repaid. The amount of the loan was fixed at £3, and the costs at £8 Bs. I told' Mr Skelton I would arrange with Bennett, senr., in Wellington for the payment of the costs. 1 rang Bennett, senr., and was authorised to make payment.

"GRAVE IMPROPRIETY" "At a Inter interview," said the witness, "Mr Skelton produced an 'envelope full of papers. I. asked him to give me his assurance that in Hie envelope were the two letters designated by mc. He said they had been destroyed. I asked who had destroyed thorn. He said it was a, member of ;his office staff. I asked' on whose instructions. He said '.Bennett's.' I then informed him that in these circumstances it was useless for me to take the remainder of the papers, and accordingly I refused to pay over any money whatsoever. " The coroner: On the occasion of your first visit you asked particularly about these two letters?

The witness: 1. designated two letters and asked Jiim if all the papers wen' there, including iliese letters, otherwise I would not have gone back, and Mr Skclton said he ihad them. 'l'he coroner: That was oh the Monday?—On ttie Monday, sir. The coroner: And it was not until !).::() o'clock on the morning of Tuesday that you knew the letters had been destroyed'.'—That was my first intimation. In giving his verdict the coroner said: — "Two letters with, regard to which I have just heard evidence have been referred to quire often duing these proceedings. Alter hearing Bennett's evidence. 1 found that there was a conflict between himself and Mr Hall Skclton with regard to the destruction of those letters, for Mr Skclton had told me that those letters had been destroyed by him on Bennett's instructions. Now, Mr Skelton is a solicitor, and as such, of course, is entitled to expect that considerable weight will be given to anything that he says.

"Bennett, however, had told me of something that -Mr Skclton had not told me. a telephone communication to Bennett at Hamilton by Mr Skclton on the day on which the newspapers published the particulars of the finding of the body concerning which this inquiry has been held;, and Bennett said that Mr Skclton' then referred the finding of the body and advised him to destroy all letters in his correspondence relating to Mary Raymond; also to keep out of the way of the police. I do not think that Bennett at any time instructed Mr Skclton to destroy those letters, and the destruction of them, I am afraid, was a grave impropriety on the part of Mr Skclton. INFORMATION SUPPRESSED "The police complain in these, proceedings of obstruction throughout. It may bo that they have some grounds

for their complaint, because I have in evidence (lie fact that statements were prepared by Mr. Skelton in his office for a number of witnesses who have been called at this iuquiry. Acting for Dr. Hewer, Mr. Skelton seems to have been able to get in touch with most of the people who could give information, and, after hearing what they had; to say. he seems to have prepared a' statement for signature by them, to be copied out by them and signed, and then to be handed by them to the' police. These statements were very far from being complete, and indicate an attempt to"suppress the information that those witnesses were quite willing to make available to the police. A solicitor is an officer of the court, and 1 think that to suggest to witnesses that they should make, statements that are not," accurate is another impropriety." Continuing, the coroner said the suggestion of suicide was utterly absurd. He added: "Bennett, in evidence, refers to one of these letters which, unfortunately, it has not been possible to produce. One of these letters was written after an appointment had apparently been made with Dr. Hewer. Jf I am to accept what Mary Raymond herself said. Bennett says there was in that letter a, tone of relief after having met. the witness Peggy Robb, who had said she could take her to a doctor who was known to her. "Of course, we know why Mary Raymond came to Auckland. It was for the purpose of undergoing an illega» operation, and the, thought.,of having that performed by a qualified doctor had apparently earned a feeling of relief. There is not. the slightest reason: for assuming that there was at any time anything more than a natural anxiety on the part of Mary Raymond on that day as to the operation that was to be performed, because I think an arrangement had, been made."

DOCTOR'S INTEREST Continuing, the coroner said: "Bennett has been cornmendably frank in the evidence be has given. Mary Hay-, mond had been in constant, eommunication witli him. She had written to him telling him she had made an appointment with a. doctor. She bad fold him she met the witness, Peggy Robb, and through the agency of Peggy Robb was to bo operated upon by this doctor on Wednesday, May 1. I say it is extremely unlikely that Raymond would in the letter to Bennett misrepresent what bad taken place, and 1 have not the slightest doubt that she had, as she said in her letter, seen someone she, called a doctor on the Tuesday and made an appointment for the Wednesday when this'operation was to be performed.

"I do not for one moment think that Miss Von Zglinicki was mistaken when she stated that, between 3.30 and 4.15 on the afternoon of May .1, she saw Mary Raymond in the company, of Hewer. She was ablo a- few days later, and before she knew that Mary. .Raymond had disappeared,' to point out Hewer and his chauffeur, or book-keeper, or whatever he is who was in his company tho same day. She had a particular reason for remembering Hewer, because, of his likeness to some relative in New South Wales, and to my mind it is extremely improbable that she had made a mistake in regard to the two men.

"Alary Raymond had an appointment with Hewer for that day, and she was in his company for that day. The extraordinary interest that Hewer has taken in tho subsequent events is inadequately explained by his own statement, which is that he was anxious to help people who were entirely unknown lo him."

CAUSE OP DEATH 'Die coroner .proceeded: "Now, if I do como to tho conclusion that Mary Raymond had an appointment for the performance - of an illegal operation on I May 1, and I know that,she disappeared 'on .May 1, 1 must, form some conclusion as to tho cause of her death. The'idea of suicide I put out of my mind. Tho post-mortem does not disclose any cause of death. I have, however, evidence which must guide me in trying to form an opinion as to what caused her death. "1. can como to only one conclusion, and that is that her death was caused by this operation; that somebodv in possession of the dead body, which could not be buried in the regular way, was forced for his own protection, or her own protection, to get rid of that body, and did so by wrapping' it partly in sacks and partly in canvas, attaching a weight to it, and casting it into the sea. Who did that lam not prepared, on the. evidence before mc, to say. ■ "I have, in those proceedings evidence that would not be admissible in criUv inal proceedings," continued the coroner. "That evidence, however, does enable mc to come to the conclusion to which I have come as to the cause of death. I find that the body that was found in the water on June 2 was the body of Alary Raymond. I find that she died on or about May 2, 1935, and that the cause of her death" was shock following upon an illegal operation that had been performed upon her. If the .matter cannot be. carried any further it is unfortunate."