Coroner’s Court Father Killed Son And Hanged Himself

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31112, 15 July 1966, Page 8

Coroner’s Court Father Killed Son And Hanged Himself

Evidence that a father killed his son with an axe and then committed suicide by hanging himself because he wanted to rejoin his wife, who had just died, was given in the Coroner’s Court during inquests into the deaths of Clarence Frederick Hill and Maurice Frederick Hill.

The Coroner (Mr A. T. Bell) found that Maurice Hill, aged 19, died at his home at 11 CranTey street on April 19 from injuries to the spinal cord inflicted by his father. The Coroner also found that Clarence Hill, aged 50, committed suicide on the same date by hanging himself. The Coroner made an order permitting the publication of evidence. Leonard Keech, a retired machine operator, said that Clarence Hill was fairly depressed after attending the funeral of his wife on April 18. Warwick Leslie Sherwood, a civil engineer, said he was Clarence Hill’s son-in-law. This year Mrs Hill had suffered a relapse after an operation last year, and had become bedridden. Hill had been deeply religious, and devoted to his wife. Detective Senior-Sergeant Michael Jones gave evidence of finding the bodies, and said that Clarence Hi*! had remarked on April 18 that “Mum has got a head start on me, but it will not be long before I catch her up.” CHILD’S DEATH Vicky Machelle Leach, aged four, was found to have died in the Burwood Hospital on May 19 from shock and toxemia from extensive burns suffered when her clothing caught alight from a heater. Mark Albert Yaxley, aged 77, said that about 10 a.m. on May 18 he heard a child screaming from the house at 10 Cranford street. He had heard children crying there before, so did not take any notice at first. But when the screaming continued he looked towards the back yard of 10 Cranford street and saw flames. He ran out and looked over the fence, where he saw the little girl on fire. By the time he reached her her clothing was burnt off. The child’s mother, Rae Lynnette Leach, said that she left Vicky at home with her elder daughter aged five while she went to town. When she returned about half an hour later she found a note saying that her daughter had been burnt. Mrs Leach said that she had left one bar going on a heater in the lounge. This heater was fitted into a fireplace. Her elder daughter had told her that Vickey reached up to get a glass off the mantelpiece above the heater, and her dress caught fire. Constable C. J. Murphy said that he considered the heater inadequately guarded. There were only three bars of wire over the front of the elements.

Joseph Francis Geoghegan, an engineer employed by the New Zealand Electricity Department, said that the heater had a home-built casing

around manufactured elements and reflector. The guard wires left large areas of access on each side of the heater and the unguarded area in front of the elements was twice as wide as the standard accepted by the manufacturers of safety heaters. POISONED Edna Paterson, a married woman, died at her home at 167 Stanmore road on April 30 from alcohol and barbiturate poisoning, the Coroner found. Thelma Dalgety, a widow, said that after helping Mrs Paterson into bed she left the house about 9.15 p.m. on April 29. Mrs Paterson was under the influence of alco[hol, as she had been on previous occasions. Andrew Graham Steele Paterson said he last saw his wife on the morning of April 29. He did not return home after work till 12.30 a.m. on April 30, and went to bed without seeing his wife. When he went to his wife's room about 8 a.m. he found her lying on the floor. His wife had been in the habit of taking sleeping pills daily, and over the last five or six years had been addicted to alcohol. CAR ACCIDENT Esme Joan Latham, aged 51, was found to have died in the Christchurch Hospital on May 8 from broncho-pneu-monia and lacerations and hemorrhages of the brain suffered when the car she was driving collided with one driven by Noel Robert Searell at the corner of Rutland street and Mays road on May 4. Searell, an accountant, said that at' 8.35 a.m. he was driving south in Rutland street at a speed about 25 miles an hour. He was about halfway across the intersection when he realised that a car on his left was not going to give way. After the collision, the other car rolled over and the woman driver was thrown out. STRUCK BY CAR Isabella Ruth Ferguson, aged 83, was found to have died on May 2 at the Christchurch Hospital, the cause of death being shock and hemorrhage from multiple fractures and internal injuries suffered when she was struck by a car driven by Adrienne Rose McElroy. Mrs McElroy said she was driving north in Papanui road at a speed between 23 and 27 miles an hour at 7.20 p.m. on May 2. As she approached Leinster road a woman suddenly appeared in front of the car. The woman, who was looking straight ahead, was thrown on to the bonnet, and fell off when the car stopped. Alan William Dumpleton, a caravan manufacturer, said that the woman ran across the road in front of the car, and the motorist had little chance of avoiding her. It v-as overcast, and visibility was limited.

CYCLIST KILLED David Welsh, aged 74, was found to have died on May 14 on the Leeston-Christ-church highway at Doyleston from cardio-respiratory failure from fractures of the spin suffered when the cycle he was riding was struck by a car driven by Gordon Cookson. Cookson, an accountant, said that at 6.5 p.m. he was travelling north at a speed of about 30 miles an hour when something hit the front of his car. He found that he had struck a cyclist. Eleanor Mclntyre, a widow, said that about 6 p.m. she was driving from Lakeside to her home at Doyleston. It was nearly dark and she nearly struck Welsh, who was on an unlighted cycle. He was travelling in the same direction as she was driving. Constable A. Wilson, of Leeston, said that Welsh’s cycle had no front or rear light. The point where the accident occurred was comparatively narrow, and the lighting was poor. SUICIDE Walter Albert Cropp, aged 38. was found to have committed suicide at Duvauchelle on May 6, the cause of death being carbon monoxide poisoning from car exhaust fumes.