TE KUITI TRAGEDY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2850, 15 August 1916, Page 6

TE KUITI TRAGEDY

ADJOURNED INQUEST

VERDICT OF MURDER

By Telegraph—Press Association,

Te Kuiti, August 14. r The adjourned inquest .on the body of Kenneth Livingstone, the victim of .the shooting tragedy at Mangapehi, was held to-day by Mr. Jaincs Uoddie, Coroner. Charles Frederick Macfarlane, who was in company with Livingstone, gave evidence that, seeing the whare on fire from a distance, he hurried to the scene, and entered the whare. and found that several rfrticles wero missing. Hie two went looking for tracks. Suddenly he saw the Native, Tui, who had previously been employed by witness grass-seeding. The Native was carrying a double-barrelled gun. A shot was fired and Livingstone fell. Witness saw the gun pointed at •him, and turned, luckily, as a shot was fired, grazing witness over the heart. Witness ran towards the whare, where he had a rifle.- The Native chased him and fired two more shots; injuring witness bad]j- in the left and right arm. Witness was unable to pick up a, rifle, and ran in the direction of two men who were fencing.' The three returned to the scene of the shooting. Livingstone's body had been dragged about five yards into the bush. The first shot hit Livingstone in the chest, and it was found there was another shot through the head. Dr. J. H. Will, who iiad held a postmortem examination of tho body, stated that 6ne shot had penetrated the heart and left hing and fractured a ri.); another shot had gone through the howl. Either shot would prove fatal. ,10nlaR Hughes and AVilliam Clarke Wilson, fencers, corroborated Macfarlano's evidence. Koea Onieka, a Native living at Ti-' roa, said that he lent Tui the gun. Ifc was returned the same evening by a Maori boy, to whom i& was given by Tui. A verdict was returned that deceased met his death by a gunshot wound fired by Tui Kainuka, and was wilfully murdered. .. ' the murder charge. Tui Kainuka was charged before Messrs. Tammadge and Matthew, Justices of tho (Peace, with breaking and entering, theft, arson, attempted murder of Macfarlaue, and tho murder of Livingstone. Evidence was given, bv * Macfarlane similar to that at the inquest. Ho formally identified accused as the man who fired the shots." x Tho medical evidence and that of other witnesses was similar to that given at the inquest. Accused, in reply to the usual query whether he Wished to ask -the' witnesses any questions, made soma rambling incoherent Temarks. Constable Kennedy said that what accused was arrested he made a. rambling statement to the effect that ho was the Holy Ghost, and he was tho owner of all the land in the district. Accused was committed- for trial on all the charges.