DEATH OF MARRIED COUPLE MAY HAVE BEEN SUICIDE PACT

Wanganui Chronicle, 9 November 1949, Page 5

DEATH OF MARRIED COUPLE MAY HAVE BEEN SUICIDE PACT

AUCKLAND, Yesterday (PA).— “Whether there had been a suicide pact or not, it is quite evident that in the case of the child, it was murder. It seems to be a tragedy the truth of which will never be known.” This was the statement of the Coroner, Mr H. Burrows, at an inquest at Punekohe today into the death at Ramarama on the night of October 13 of Hugh Campbell Kirk, aged 29, a Puolic Workers’ employee, Joyce Winifred Kirk, aged 22, and Mary Joyce Kirk, aged 18 months. They were found dead on October 14 in the bedroom of their home. The Coroner found that they had died from the effects of poison gas generated from powder strewn about the bedroom. The evidence suggested that the powder had been deliberately distributed by the husband. “Kirk and his wife lived happily together as far as I know, and had no domestic or financial troubles,” said Alan Reid, a farm hand, brother of e Kirk. John Chisholm Kirk, brother of the dead man, said that Kirk was interested in beekeeping and was skilled in the use of poisonous powder with which he killed foul-brooding bees.