YOUNG MAORI’S SUICIDE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 546, 26 December 1928, Page 16

YOUNG MAORI’S SUICIDE

SHOOTS HERSELF WHILE DEPRESSED (Special to THE SUNJ ROTORUA, To-day. Suicide by shooting while . mentally depressed was the verdict returned at an inquest held at Otekura concerning the death of the Maori girl, Mary Hatata, who died on Saturday from a gunshot wound, Mr. R. B. Nesbitt, acting-coroner, conducted the inquiry with a jury of four. Dr. C. E. Hercus, of Dunedin, temporarily residing at Te Whaiti, said that he found a gunshot wound sufficient to be the cause of immediate death. Prom the position of the wound it could have been self-inflicted. Constable Macpherson, of Te Whaiti. stated that a double-barrel shotgun was beside the body. He considered the gun was discharged by deceased. He knew of no reason for her to take her life. A letter written by deceased and addressed to her husband was produced. Deceased’s foster-father, a mailman living at Otekura, said deceased was living with him. He last saw her alive about breakfast time on Saturday morning. She was then asleep. She was about 17 years of age and was married, but was not living with her husband, who was working at Waikaremoana. She had no children. She was in her usual health and spirits. The gun belonged to witness’s brother. It was kept in the potato shed, where deceased could get it. Sister Annie Henry, Presbyterian missionary, stated that she heard of the death of the girl and went to the scene. She followed the tracks down into a gully, where she found the body. A Maori girl said that Mary had been crying the night before.