MURDERER HANGED

Taranaki Daily News, 31 October 1935, Page 7

MURDERER HANGED

DEATH SENTENCE EXECUTED. CANADIAN LOVER'S NOVEL PLEA. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. London, Oct. 29. • Raymond Henry Bousquet, aged 30 years, a Canadian boxer who fought under the name of Delfontaine, was executed at Wandsworth prison for the murder of Hilda Meek at Kennington on July 10. Mrs. Van der Elst, the wealthy widow of a former New Zealander who conducts a vigorous campaign against capital punishment, staged another demonstration against the death sentence. She arranged for a van with a loud speaker to broadcast hymns in the neighbourhood of the prison. Mrs. Van der Elst told the crowd that England had executed another insane man. A number of boxers waited outside the prison. Bousquet and Hilda Meek were in love with each other, and Bousquet was very jealous. On July 10 there was a quarrel at her mother’s house about a telephone call to the girl.' He pulled out a revolver and shot at her three times. The first two missed and the third struck her in the lung. She died in the street. Her mother, who followed her, was shot in the stomach by Bousquet but recovered. . At the police station Bousquet said: 1 shot the girl I really cared for. She has broken my heart and ruined my life. Some time ago she had her fortune told by a gipsy, who said she would be murdered in three years. 1 said, ‘My God, never,’ and to think I should be the one to murder her.” The • defence plea was that Bousquet was “punch drunk” from overfighting and was not responsible for his action, but it failed to convince the jury. Dr. Grierson, medical officer at Brixton Prison, said that he could find no evidence of insanity in Bousquet.