THE WAIKINO MURDER

Evening Star, Issue 23690, 25 September 1940, Page 10

THE WAIKINO MURDER

DEATH SENTENCE COMMUTED IMPRISONMENT FOR LIFE [Special to the ' Stab.’] WELLINGTON, September 25. The Executive Council met to-day, tlie Governor-General presiding, when the death sentence passed on Douglas Herbert Cartman (22), a mine trucker, of Waihi, was considered. Cartman was convicted eight weeks ago of murder at Waikino. The Executive Council decision is that the death sentence be commuted to imprisonment for life. It is understood) that reports indicate that the prisoner is of less than normal mentality, though ho could not be regarded as insane. [The prisoner was charged with the murder of Mrs Elizabeth Agnes Hamilton, aged 27, at Waikino, 140 miles from Auckland. At trial the Crown Prosecutor stated that on the night of the tragedy Mrs Hamilton went for a walk accompanied by a boy named Lloyd Moran, aged 15 years, the son of the proprietor of the hotel where she resided. When they had not returned at 1 a.m. a search was made. At daylight Mr Moran crossed the Awaroa bridge, about twelve chains from the hotel, leading to the Waitawheta road, and, looking down a steep hank, saw the body of his son. He returned to the hotel and summoned the Waihi police. The boy was dead, with a severe wound on the left side of the forehead, exposing the brain tissue. The surface of an old quarry nearby was disturbed as if there had been a struggle, and a shoe worn by Mrs Hamilton was found there. Near the disturbed ground were four large patches of heavy bloodstains connected by a light trail of blood. Mrs Hamilton’s body was found four miles further along the Waitawheta road, towards Waihi, in low scrub and fern. A bloodstained tyre lever was lying alongside the head, and on a portion of the road further back the police found a tyre mark that could have been made by a body held under the car. In the course of the extensive search for the car Cartman’s car was examined in addition to many others. His car had the right headlamp missing and the front apron badly buckled. What appeared to be- a fatty substance was adhering to the front bracket, and stains that looked like bloodstains were on the dickey seat. When interviewed later by the police Cartman said: “I will tell you the truth. I have been worrying about what I did. If I had not had so much drink it would not have happened.” He then made a further statement that iho ran over both Mrs Hamilton and the boy, his suggestion being that both were killed outright.”