OPOTIKI MURDER

Southland Times, Issue 20772, 13 May 1929, Page 5

OPOTIKI MURDER

ROAD WORKER’S DEATH.

RIFLE BULLET THROUGH HEART.

STATEMENT BY POLICE OFFICER

(Per United Press Association.)

Gisborne, May 11

Inspector O'Halloran, who is at Opotiki, stated this morning that while the affair at Papamoa was shrouded in mystery there could be no suggestion that McAlessc had committed suicide but that it was perfectly clear he had been deliberately shot at close range.

He and the members of the staff were making every possible inquiry, particularly with a view to ascertaining if any persons other than those already accounted for had been anywhere in the locality at the time. So far the police have only been able to learn of one motor car passing along the road during the hour McAlesse was separated from his mates, and no report, has been received of other persons being in the vicinity.

Death was caused by a shot from a pea rifle that passed clean through the heart and came out near the back of the shoulder. The dead man had been severely battered about the face and had a cut on the upper lip extending right to the base of the nose. The pea rifle which belonged to McAlessc had been broken and placed in a sack which was found lying in the water-table on the opposite side of the road, 16 feet from the body. Only one shot had been fired, the examination not supporting the previous suggestion that a second bullet was responsible for the wound on the face. FORMAL INQUEST. ADJOURNED SINE DIE. Opotiki, May 11. A formal inquest was held this morning before Mr F. J. Short, District Coroner, and a Jury of six, into the death of Samuel McAleese found on Papamoa Hill on Thursday. Inspector O’Halloran conducted proceedings on behalf of the police. Patrick Fitzpatrick deposed that he had known deceased for 2} years. His relatives reside at Ballymina, County Antrim, Ireland. He had viewed the body at the morgue and was sure it was his- friend Samuel McAleese. Harold Herbert Atkinson, clerk in the Public Works Department, gave evidence that deceased was employed by the Department. He had known him for 14 months. He was a good worker and was of a bright disposition. The police asked that proceedings be adjourned sine die. This was done. The funeral was held this afternoon. I A Gisborne message on Friday stated: Inspector O’Halloran and Detective McLeod left Gisborne this morning for Opotiki to investigate the case of a young man, a road worker, whose name at present is not disclosed, who was found dead on the roadside under suspicious circumstances, with a bullet wound. The body was removed to Opotiki Hospital.