CHARGE OF MURDER

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 65, 10 December 1917, Page 6

CHARGE OF MURDER

A THREE-YEAR-OLD VICTIM

ARREST OF THE MOTHER

AN ADDINGTON SENSATION

By Teleeraph-Prcss Association, Chrlstohuroh, December 8. The body of a throo-year-old boy, who bad been killed by his head being smashed, was found at Addington this morning. Tho child's name- was Donald Lewis Carriok, and he had been boarded out from a receiving home. Later. The three-year-old child Donald L. Carrick, who was found murdered this morning, was the central figure in a sensational incident in February, 1915, when a resident of River Road, Dallington, found the child (then an infant threo weeks old) in the hollow of a willow tree. Subsequently the child's mother, a single woman named Winifred Carrick, received two years' imprisonment for abandoning tho child.

The infant was committed to a Government receiving: home, whenco it was licensed out to Richard Thomas Burns, labourer, ot Clifton Street. Addington. Mr. Burns found the child's body this morning about 6 o'clock in the garden, the head being smashed in, evidently by a spade. It is not clear how the child got into the garden, or whether, in fact, tJ'e crime was committed actually at the spot T-hejo the body v.as found.

When Mr. Bums found thn body the child had evidently been dead for some time, though the body was not r.pporently cold. IT the crimo was committed in the -yard, it seems certain tbero could have been little or no outcry on tliß part, of the hapless little victim, and it seems very probable also inat it must have been committed prior to 5 a.m. Next door there were people sleeping in n tont in t.heir vard, and they heard nothing to disturb them up to about 5 a.m., when thoy rose.

Evidence at the Imuiest. An inquest on tlie child opened this afternoon. Dr. Scott stated that tho cause of death was laceration of the brain, due to a fracture of the skull. In the postmortem examination ho found wounds and bruises on the tips of tho middle finper and forcfincer of the left hand as if the child had put up its hand in order to protect itself. There was a lar.ie bruise on -the forehead. All tre oreans were healthy. A sere* wrench and a srwdo were found near the body. The Coroner: The fracture could have heen done by a spado Witness: "Yes. It is consistent with n wound caused by -i blow with a spade." Br. Scott added that tho iiend had h?H forced in the soft pround which hnd been duff up. When the bodv was raised the head had formed a distinct cup in the ground. It gave the impression that child wan struck first and then forced into the ground. The inquest was adjourned. CHILD'S MOTHER ARRESTED. December S. Last night Detective Gibson arrested Winifred 'Carrick, mothor of the child Donald Lewis Carrick (who was found murdered at Addington yesterday morning) on a charge of murder. THE CHILD'S UNHAPPY LOT ABANDONED WHEN THREE WEEKS OLD. An important aspect of the tragedy, says the Christchurch "Sun," is tho fact that the unfortunate, child onco before figured in a sensational incident that aroused the pjty and the interest of tho community. On the evening of February 4, 1915, a resident of River Road, Dallington. discovered a child some three weeks old in the hollow trunk of a willow tree. Subsequently the mother of the child, a young single woman named Winifred Carrick, was arrested at Palmerston North, and pleaded guilty to having abandoned the child. She said that she had placed it in the willow tree about 2.30. in the after.noon, explaining that she thought and intended that it should bo found, and that some children were about when she placed it there. The mother appeared before •the Supreme Court on Monday, August 2, 1915. on the charge of abandoning her illegitimate child, and was sentenced' to a neriod of two years' imprisonment. When sentenced, the prisoner collapsed in a heap on the floor of the dock. The child was committed to the Government Receiving Home. The mother, since her liberation, has been following tho occupation of a domestic servant in Christchurch. From the Receiving Home the child was licensed out.