THREAT TO KILL

Southland Times, Issue 22497, 6 December 1934, Page 6

THREAT TO KILL

WORDS IN TELEGRAM HOTEL WORKER CHARGED QUARREL WITH WOMAN (Per United Press Association.) Wellington, December 5. “Come at once to Wellington or I will kill Kitty.” These were the words of a telegram handed in by James Rodney Reardon, aged 65, a hotel worker, and they formed the basis of a charge in the Police Court to-day of sending a telegram containing a threat to kill. He pleaded guilty and was committed for sentence. The police said the accused and Kathleen Hennessy were living together in Willis street. After both had been drinking the accused sent the telegram to her sister in Blenheim. His subsequent explanation was that he had done it on the spur of the moment The clerk at the Telegraph Office gave evidence of challenging the text of the message and suggesting an alternative and referred it to the senior supervisor. The accused, who appeared to be excited by liquor, had said: “I’ll kill the b .” Detective-Sergeant Hall told of going in company with Detective Bourke to the accused’s place the day the telegram was handed in. Sounds of quarrelling came from the accused’s room and the door was locked. The detectives were admitted to the room and they found broken crockery on the floor and saw that the window had been broken. The accused and Kathleen Hennessy were in the room. Asked for an explanation, Reardon said: “She’s driving me crazy. I’ll kill her if she doesn’t stop drinking.” The accused had had liquor and was excited, but not drunk. The woman also had had liquor. “I sent a telegram to Kitty’s sister in Blenheim and I meant it,” the accused had stated. Reardon had admitted at the detective office sending the telegram because “he was sick of the whole business” of the woman’s drinking. Reardon’s explanation in Court was that he did it on the impulse of the moment without any harm or intention to harm.