MURDER CHARGE

Hokitika Guardian, 30 September 1932, Page 5

MURDER CHARGE

J EPSON FAMILY. HUSBAND S STORY. (Per Press Asso'ciation — Copyright.) NEW PLYMOUTH, September 29. The police evidence concerning the tragic happenings early on the morn ing of September 15th, when Lilian Violet Jepson, aged 37, and her son aged 18 months, we,re found battered to death in their beds, and a 12 years’ old son, Richard Cedric, was found so severely injured, tliatj he died in the hospital, was given at the inquest and the preliminary hearing on the murder charge to-day. Herbert Cedric Jepson, the husband and father, was charged with the murder of three. He was committed to the Supreme Court for trial, and the inquest was adjourned. According to the evidence of Constable Mitchell, Jepson walked into the Police Station at 6.30 a.m. and said. "He had just killed his wife and kids.” Jepson, said the constable, told him he had been unemployed for eighteen months. He was in debt all over the place. His wife and children were hungry. "So L finished it off, lie said. He allegedly told the constable that he had killed them with a tomahawk. He meant to do it before, and had been thinking about it. H,e could not have killed them had they not been in bed. He meant to kill himself also, but "lie had not the guts.” His wife was the best wile that a man ever had. He gave the constable the keys to the house, which he had locked. - He said he had been twice wounded at ‘..lie war. The constable told of ftnd.ng the women and the elder child terribly battered in bed. The infant was still breathing. An axe was found m the woodshed. The medical evidence was that the wounds might have been caused with .Iluu weapon.