PUKEKOHE MAN FOUND SHOT

Taranaki Daily News, 27 January 1934, Page 9

PUKEKOHE MAN FOUND SHOT

GUN TIED TO GATE. WHARE BURNED TO GROUND. 4# .■ ■ ■ Pukekohe, Jan. 25. Walking through his front gate shortly after 5 o-clock this morning, Mr. A. Middleton, Pukekohe Hill, made a startling discovery. The body of a man was lying on the footpath, while attached to the gate by a thin rope was a single barrelled shotgun. Later . the dead man’s whare was found to have been burned to the ground. Mr. Middleton did not go near the body, but immediately rang for the police. Sergeant J, ,T. Cowan and Constable W. Mawhinney, accompanied byDr. A. T. Begg, arrived shortly afterwards. The body was found to be that of Ernest Werner, aged 45, who lived on Pukekohe Hill, and who was a native of Switzerland. He had apparently been dead for about half an hour. There was a shotgun wound in the region of the heart, and death had apparently been instantaneous.

The body was clothed in denim working trousers, and a cardigan jacket. The gun had been fastened to the gate by a light rope by means of a timber hitch, the rope then being fastened round the trigger. It was found that a pull on the barrel would discharge the gun. The muzzle had apparently been placed on the man’s ’ chest over the heart. A used 16-gauge cartridge was found in the gun, which was the property of Werner, having been registered by him in 1925. Shortly after the finding-of the body, it was discovered that Werner’s whare, situated about half a mile away, had been burned and'was still smouldering. The poliqe searched the remains of the whare.

The coroner arrived before the removal of the body.