WOMAN BATTERED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19987, 12 July 1939, Page 16

WOMAN BATTERED

ALLEGED USE OF AXE SEVERE HEAD WOUNDS HI'SMA.N'I) AKIiESTEI) TE KOPUItIT SENSATION (Pur Press Association.) 4 DARGAVILLE, this day Alleged to have -been violently attacked with an axe at her home at Te Kopuru, seven miles from Dargaville, yesterday morning, a married woman received severe gashes on the head which necessitated her immediate removal to the Northern Wairoa Hospital at Te Kopuru. The victim was Beryl Hazel Winters, aged 41. Her condition is regarded as fairly serious. She has five separate injuries on the scitfp, four of which appear to have been inii.cted with a snarp .instrument. The police arrested her husband, Harold Winters, aged 52, on a charge of assault causing actual bodily harm The actual time of the alleged assault was about 10 o’clock, and Sergeant F. Culloty and Constable W. E. C. Bruce went to that locality and immediately arrested the husband. Mr. and Mrs. Winters occupied a house in Walker’s Terrace at Te Kopuru, and the alleged attack was made just outside their hcuse. Arrest of Husband Whether anyone witnessed the incident is not known, but it is understood that Mr. E. Warmington was the first to discover the affair and informed the police at Dargaville. He then notified neighbours, and they proceeded to the house and took care of the Winters until the arrival of the police, who arrested the husband at the gate leading to his house. The police recovered a bloodstained axe lying on the verandah, while they also recovered a heavy stick lying on the ground which, it is alleged, was also used in conjunction with the axe. There is a young family living a* home with their parents, but they did not witness the incident, as they were attending school. It is undeistood that the arrested man has not enjoyed good health of late.