FATAL AFFRAY AT PICTON.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2224, 13 April 1881, Page 3

FATAL AFFRAY AT PICTON.

[PBBSS ASSOCIATION TELEOBAM.] BLENHEIM, April 12. An inquest on the body of Eopoama Pen Peni was resumed at 10.30 yesterday.

Mr Sinclair, Crown Prosecutor, attended on behalf of the Crown. Dr. Scott deposed as to the marks on the body, and stated that the cause of death was compression of the brain, caused by a blow near the right temple. John Grace, a half-caste lad, gave evidence as to threats made by the woman during the fight to kill her husband, and stated that the cause of the quarrel was a pipe. Witness repeatedly contradicted himself. The examination lasted till ono o’clock, when an adjournment was made for luncheon. Over six more witnesses are to be called. The whole affair, owing to the reluctance on the part of the Natives to give any material testimony, is one of exceeding difficulty, and consequently there is a doubt whether the inquestwillterminate to-day The full particulars relative to the tragedy are as follows :—The Waikawa Pah is distant three and a half miles from Picton, and contains a population of some sixty or more fairly well-oircumstamed Maoris. From information received from sources on the spot,

it would appear that “ house moving ” was taking place on Saturday afternoon, and the contractor for the job finding that assistance would be greatly accelerated on the part of the Maoris by supplying them with some liquor, sent for about ten gallons of beer to Picton, on which it would be seen Natives made haste to make merry. In the evening the community wore attracted to the residence of ono Bopoama Peni Peni, a quiet, though intemperate Maori. On arrival at his residence, he was seen struggling with his wife, Mary Bopoama, and his nephew Rawiri. They were beating him with their fiats, whilst from some cause no one saw Bopoama strike either one or the other. Some Maoris interfering, the fight was discontinued for some time, only to bo renewed shortly after, when a blow from Bawiri knocked his uncle down, his head very probably coming in contact with a tree stump in the orchard where the fight took place. Whether this was so or not, it is clear that Bopoama never spoke afterwards, and from that minute gradually sank until he died on Sunday afternoon. Of the origin of the fight the inquest, so far as it went on Monday, revealed nothing, but there can be little doubt that an intimacy has for some time past existed between Bawiri and his aunt, and that the state of bis domestic affairs was suspected by Bopoama. The popular voice therefore ascribes the quarrel to have originated out of the husband having discovered such facts ae to leave no false impression on bis mind of the relations existing between the two. On receipt of the information Sergeants Scanlan and Kioly immediately proceeded to the pah. On arrival they were told that Bawiri had left the pa and gone in the direction of Picton. The police fearing that Bawiri might endeavor to escape down the Sounds in one of the Maori boats, went to the beach and took out the oars and sails lying about and placed them in charge of Dan Love, a half-caste, whom they held responsible for anything that might happen. The police then set to work to search the pah and the adjoining scrub, but did not succeed in finding any trace of Bawiri. Towards midnight Sergeant Scanlan and the others returned to town, leaving Sergeant Kiely and a young fellow named Frank Godfrey to watch the pah, it being anticipated that Bawiri would come in in the early morning for provisions. The night being cold, and inactivity not suiting the energetic disposition of Sergeant Kiely, he proceeded to an old shed at about a mile from the pah, which had been searched on the previous evening. On reaching the shed Kiely and Godfrey groped their way inside, and were walking over the hay that was lying about it, when Godfrey uttered an ejaculation, and said that he felt something under his feet. A match was, therefore, struck, and Sergeant Kiely stooped down, and, lifting the hay aside, saw the object of their search buried beneath it at a depth of three feet, with a hay rope twisted round his head for the purpose of protection against injury from anyone walking on him and to enable him to breathe freely. He then and there arrested Rawiri on the charge of killing Bopoama, and brought him up to Picton, where he arrived at three o’clock on Monday morning. Greatest praise is given on all hands to Sergeants Kiely and Scanlan for the energy displayed by them in securing the person of the alleged murderer. Bawiri, the prisoner, is a young man, about twenty-four years of age. He has a not unintelligent countenance, and was generally considered to be about the best of the Waikawa Maoris. He conducts himself very quietly, but appears downcast at the unfortunate position in which he has been placed by his conduct. Mary Bopoama, the wife of the dead man, and the supposed paramour of the prisoner, is a pleasant-featured Native, of about forty years of age, and hears herself like a stoic under the circumstances. She has been arrested on a charge of aiding and abetting Bawiri in killing her husband.