ONGAROTO TRAGEDY

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14771, 10 October 1921, Page 5

ONGAROTO TRAGEDY

j THE LAST ALT EXECUTION OF TE KAHU. HANGED Tins MORNING. (By Telegraph.— Press Association.) AUCKLAND. Monday. At eight o'clock this morning Ilakaraia To Nairn, convicted of the murder of Richard Elliott at Oligarch) on Easter .Sunday, was hanged in the scaffold yard at Mount Eden gaol. Al a few minutes to the hour Mu: sheriff, Mr A. Stubbs, formally demanded the body, and the prisoner, his .arms pinioned to his sides by leather straps, wearing prison trousers and socks, but no jacket, and supported by warders, took his place in the little procession. In front of the condemned man walked Dean Van Dyck, reciting the funeral service in Maori. A scaffold ten feel high was* erected in the small square yard. The top was covered by a canvas awning, and the lower part surrounded by canvas. Te Kahu swayed backwards and forwards as bo made bis way slowly along, and on entering the yard glanced up curiously at the scaffold. He had to he assisted up the J.) steps to the platform, and showed signs of collapse as the hangman made ids final tionsStatement by Te Kahu. When everything was ready the prisoner was addressed by the sheriff as follows: “Hakaraia Te Kahu, have you anything to say?” Prisoner, who was breathing laboriously. made an obvious effort to hear up. * “Ac, (yes)” he replied. There was a pause of half a, minute before he continued in the native language; “I send my love to my parents.” Then, after a further pause; “I feed >1 ‘ VCI 'V much now 1 have to go. I have the greatest regard for all." The statement was interpreted by the official inlerpreter, Mr J. Rukutaia. The next moment the bolt was drawn and Te Kahu was launched into eternity. The whole operation lasted only a few minutes, and death was instantane ous. The execution took place in (he presenee of several court officials and three press representatives. An inquest was afterwards held by Mr McKean, .the verdict being that the sentence of the court had boon carried out. The body will be buried to-morrow at Governor's warrant at Waikumete cemetery. To Kahu, since his condemnation, had slept and ate well, and did not get nut of bed yesterday. This morning be was visited early by the chaplain, and refused lo touch food until he look communion. He then ale a good breakfast. The hangman was the same who executed Thorn. STORY OF THE CRIME. Early in the afternoon of Sunday,, March 27, Hakaraia Te Kahu and I Richard Elliot, aged 38, foreman of tlie plalclaying gang to which To Kahu belonged, left their wharcs at Ongaroto, a lonely bush settlement near the upper reaches of the Waikato River, on a shooting expedition. On their way out they called on Mrs Jupcs to borrow a dog, when Elliot complained of pleurisy, and Mrs .Jones promised to let him have some iodine If lie would call on ids return. That was Hie last she saw of him. During the afternoon a Mrs Cook, who managed the store and post olticc at Cox’s mill, was out. walking with her husband, when she heard two shots tired simultaneously, in the direction of the river. Just about dusk on the same evening, a Maori woman named Mrs Hamilton, said she saw a light in Elliot's whare. Elliot was, however, not seen by anyone again after he left the Jones’, 'J’e Kahu was known to be short of money when he was at Mokai on Easter Saturday, and on the Monday it was shown that he was in possession of a fairly considerable amount, including two £5 notes and one £lO note. The clerk to the Taupo Totara Timber Company, by whom belli Elliot and d’e Kahu were employed, kept a record of all money notes above the value of £1 paid out to employees, and the two identical £5 notes paid to Elliot on the Saturday afternoon were later found to have been put in circulation in Mokai on the Monday. On the d’ucsday Elliot’s absence became the subject of comment at Ongaroto, and d’e Kahu, when questioned, said that Elliot returned with him after dark on the Sunday ■Tight. He added that both were tired and wont straight to their wharcs, which were adjacent; that he (Te Kahu) went Lo bed without having anything to eat. Ho further asserted that between 5 and C o’clock next morning he went into Elliot’s wharc, Elliot then being in bed, and borrowed his overcoat in order lo ride to Mokai. Another member of Elliot’s gang, a young native named Te Hcko, stated, .however, that he called at Elliot’s whare on the Sunday night, after dark, and found it locked on the outside. He also called again between six and seven o’clock on the Monday morning (as Elliot told them they were to go to work on the Monday) and found the whare just as it was on the Sunday night. lie called out Elliot’s name, and got no answer. After, a week’s search, by parties, Elliot’s body was eventually recovered from the Waikato River, with a large gpping wound at the base of the neck between Ihc shoulders. Out of this a number of pellets dropped, similar lo those contained in cartridges in Te Kahn's whare. The hip pocket of Elliot's trousers was turned inside out. In the ti-trec, some distance from Hie river, a large pool of blood was discovered, from which a trial of blood led down to the river, at a spot where obviously Die body was pitched info the stream. Te Kahu, on being questioned by the police about the blood, denied all knowledge of it. Ho was asked by the police to say if an accident had happened, but be declared on more than one occasion that no accident had occurred, and that Elliot returned with him on the Sunday night. The wounds on Elliot’s neck could not have been self-inflicted even by accident; this was proved. It wis further shown that, they were caused by a, double-barrelled shot gun with a smooth and a choke barrel. To Kahu possessed such a gun. Not far from the scene of the tragedy a couple of cartridge cases were picked up. which had contained shot similar to those.; which fell from Elliot’s wound. These cases contained certain peculiar markings. Elliot’s gun was never found: neither was a brown leather wallet which be was known to have possessed. Te Kahu was staled by two witnesses lo have been in possession of a similar wallet at a “two-up” ring at Mokai on Easter Monday, although Te Kahu flenied that lie hart ever seen such a. wallet. When the police later searched Te Kahn's whare, they found on a ledge in the open chimney a pair of blood-stained riding trousers. Asker] to account for the blood on these, l e Kahn said it was pig's blood. The Government pathologist, however, after a series of tests, left no doubt in Hie. minds of Hie jury that (here was a

large quantity of human blood on the garment, as well as pig’s blood.