ANONYMOUS LETTERS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 18991, 16 April 1936, Page 10

ANONYMOUS LETTERS

CAUSE FATAL QUARREL MURDER AND SUICIDE EVIDENCE AT INQUEST SYDNEY, April 6. At the inquest to-day on Elizabeth Pennell, 53, and Peter Pennell, 61, who were found shot dead in their home, at South Guyra, on the night of March 31, the 10-year-old daughter of the dead couple gave evidence of hearing a quarrel between her parents, followed by shooting. Dr. C. N. Douglas stated that when he reached the Pennells' house, he saw Mrs. Pennell lying halfway through the kitchen door. She was alive, lint unconscious. lie found a wound in the upper part of her left breast, and a bullet under the skin, near the left, shoulder blade. She died shortly afterwards. He examined the body of Pennell, whom he found to have been shot through the skull. Pennell's wound could have beei! selfinflicted. Elizabeth Dawson, wife of Reuben Dawson, said that she was in bed when she heard a shot and children screaming in the street. She met Daphne Pennell, who asked her for some matches, and said that her mother had been shot, and she wanted to see where she was. The girl asked her to go with her to the house. Witness found Mrs. Pennell, and placed a pillow under her head.

Daphne Pennell, 15, said that she was in bed when she heard an argument between her father and mother, over a trip to Sydney. Her brother was in bed in another room. Her mother wanted to go to her sister, whose daughter had died that day. They argued for probably an hour. Her mother got dressed and went on the front verandah. Her father called out: "Wait, till I come." He went outside, and said he would not let her go. Her mother said she would go. The next thing she heard was a shot. Her mother said: "He's shot me," and staggered inside. Her brother caught her father by the arm and tried to hold him back, but could not. Her brother went to Mr. Hadley's to ring the police and a doctor. Witness caught her father by the arm and tried to hold him and take the revolver away. He pulled away and said: "I've shot her; I'll shoot myself." She heard a shot near the gate. She then took her sister's (Mrs. Tierney) child out of ber and gave it to one of the Dawson girls.

Witness said that her father had received anonymous letters about her mother. They were absolutely false. Her mother had tried to find out who wrote them. The letters seemed to prey on her father's mind. Her father never drank or smoked. Her parents quarrelled frequently. Mr. Biddulph was granted permission to appear on behalf of the members of the family. He said that reports had got into circulation which caused them much worry and which they wished to contradict. Letterwriters had done much to cause the trouble between Pennell and his wife. These people might now realise what they had been responsible for.

The coroner found that Elizabeth Pennell died from a revolver shot wound, feloniously and maliciously inflicted on her by Peter Pennell, and that Peter Pennell died from haemorrhage, from a bullet wound in the head, wilfully inflicted by himself.