HARSHNESS ALLEGED

Chronicle (Levin), 25 March 1948, Page 3

HARSHNESS ALLEGED

Press Association )

fflother Charged With Murdei OfDaaghter i " • ■ . / •

(Per.

. ; ; OHAKUNE,; March 24. - j. Margaret Mary ; Theresa 1 . Ldo was cliarged in tlie Ohakune Court before Messrs H. F. L. Deiainer and Ot. Sandford, Jystices • o£ the Peaee, today with the . niurder of jher ^-y ?ar;old> daugkter (lale Kingi' on Deceinber 3/1947. Thirteen ot' .the.se.yenteph^ witnes'ses in tho case were heard ahd the case was adjourned until tomorrow.. N. R. Baih (Wanganui) prosecute'd and Mr. C+. H. R. Sk'elton (Auckland) was counse'l for the defence. »« The family rose at daybreak on the day ' Gale went to hospital and twice during the mofnihg h'er mother smacked Gale with her hand, stated Robert Kangi, a young .son of Loo, Lateri. ia the day. he saw Gale lying on a bied. She'had injured her head by falling on the coiicrete outsibLe ihe back' dOoV. His mother did nqthing to stop the bieeding "and for the rest of. the day Gale did not speak, cry or moan; she. just' lay there. He did not see his mother hit h.er with anything but- her haad. On peeember 3 ghe was sta,ying at her sister's House -about a quarter. of a mile from Loo/s 'honie at Makaranui, stated Rose .Ann Eergersen. Between 7 and ; 7.30 " pah. 'Loo .ca.lled an'd askedto use the telephohe to 'call 'a dohtor, saying that her little girl had fallen in trying to take the .rocking horse outside and had cut her head. She stated that the accident occurr'ed at about 4 £.£1., and when asked why she had not come ..^oonef siie'.' replied that " she coufd not leave the girl'. . Withess received a mesSage from the hospital at about 7 a.m. next day- but whpn she .called out at Loo's h'ouse nobody • anewer ed. Bhe went inside and fonnd.Loo mopping up the hearth. When witness told -her she had bad news Loo answered that .she already knew. / Mrs. Loo- did not seem as fond of the' girl as she was of the boy Robert, said a -neighbour, Elizabeth O 'Connor. - Sometimes -Gale had bruises on her body and on one occasion she had a blaek eye. .Witness thought Loo was ba'dtempered but the children, wh,o were very well mannered, did . not seein afraid of her. • . . An exdmination at his .surge'ry showr ed the -child to~ be deepiy unconsciouS'. Her breathiag was sterterous. and her colour blu6, stated Lewis Edmund, Jordan, a dpctor praetising at * Ohakune. Her eondi'tion was grave". He found an i'nch long depTession on the top of the skull. Questioned Loo stated that the child had stumbled on the stairs while carrying : her rocking-horse. . She was vague as to what . Had happened, but said it oecurred' at 4 p.in. ;At the Raetihi Hospital he shaved the child 's head in preparation for an operation 5 and found a se'cond injury ;and; -a'brasipn, :,negligiblp , jfrbni . a •; fceSicad -|iew; point'/ Thev inj^ea/pbjiild-haye been caused by *a "blowv or • by cqmiiig into eontact with a rpund object. 4 'The' blow must have been a severe one and i*t would be difficult to believe that a light child would eause such an injury by falling down two steps," adde.d Dr. Jordan. He did not think the injury could have been caused by eontact with the bars of a chair. ' While the doctor was out of the sur--gery Loo repeated part of her explanation and asked if the doctor would believe it, stated Gladys Editk Garmonsway, receptionist to 'Dr. Jordan. She replied that she thought he would. Dr. Jordan 's- deseription of the child 's condition when it was admitted to the Raetihi Hohpital was eonfirmed by John'Harle- Mclntyre, doctor, of Greymouth and f ormerly of Raetihi. It was conceivable ' that the injury eould have been caused by falling. on to the sharp edge of the concrete steps. He elaimed that. he would have eXpected; the" skin to be broken by the sharp edge, but this did not always occur in such cireumstances. The. injury could not have been caused by the child falling against a chair;//- • ' - " ■ .• -/r - - ' It was' clear frbm the medical :ex'ain- . ination by the two doctors that the child had suffefed, s'evere fee'rebfaT'in- • juries) said Philli^ : Patrick? - Lynch, pathologist, of Wellington. Considering the location of the depressed area on the top of the skull he thought it extremely improbable that it could be caused by an aceidental f all even if, the child had pitc&ed forward violently/ The descriptions given by the two previous inedieal" witngsses were more eonsi'stent with direct viplence. Loo told her that the child was to. be adopt'ed-. but that the adoption had' not been legalised, stated Marguerite Muemann, formerly a nurse at the Rae-' tffii Hospital. Loo said that she - had asked the child to move a chair ahd in pulling it towards her the ehild' had fallen qver backwards with/ the chair on top of her., She might have mentioned rocking-horse but no reference was made a rQcking-horse. • '-4'It was so'-severe Ircbuld hot stand it, ' ' stated William Thomas Blackmore, formerly of Makaranui, in describing • the thrashing given to the girl by Loo. "I was going to go oyer and.give her some of , her owh. •„ medicine, but * 1 ehanged my xoind.,;> Her attitude to the children was a f i little pver the fehco/' She was inore' harsh-. with; the girl than with the boy. When she apppared . th'e children . ehanged. 'They were afraid of her. On an • occasion .when Gale stayed at his plaee his wife found when bathing the child that a section of the scalp had come away. Gonnecting this with something ke had heard in a bus he eomplained to the •welfare officer at Ohakune.