A TAIHAPE TRAGEDY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2679, 5 January 1924, Page 3

A TAIHAPE TRAGEDY.

FARMER KILLS HIS EMPLOYEE. ACCUSED CONFESSES HIS GUILT. Taihape, January 3. At five this morning the Taihape police received a telephone message stating that a. man had been murdered at Anthony Moghan’s farm, which adjoins the borough boundary. On arrival a few minutes afterwards the police found the dead body of Gordon John Gemmell lying under a lilac tree, the head and face of deceased being in a considerably battered condition. Gemmell had been working for Moghan, and it is alleged iliat the two had quarrelled and that Gemmell had been paid off. The bed in Gemmell’s room was saturated with blood. There was also blood on the walls of the room, and a large pool between the front room and the kitchen.

The appearances are that the body had been dragged from the house over the verandah to the place where it was found. The body was shirtless and medical opinion is that death had occurred eight hours before it, was found.

Moghan met the police on their arrival and said: “I give myself in charge; I killed him.” He was then taken in charge and removed to the police station. The alleged murder was witnessed bv a man named Robert Riley, and first information was received by the police from Mr Windle, a solicitor. The deceased was 29 years of age. Moglian is 56 years old. Later. On Thursday afternoon Anthony Moghan, a farmer, was formally accused of the murder of Gordon John Gemmell, before Mr J. P. Aldridge, J.P. Sergeant Matthews appeared for the police, and on his request Moghan was remanded 6*r eight days, which are to lie spent in Wanganui gaol. INQUEST ON VICTIM. The inquest was-opened by Mr Aldridge, as Coroner, to establish Gemmell’s identity, after which the inquiry was adjourned sine die. The post mortem examination, which is proceeding, is expected to disclose injuries not visible externally. . It is said that Moghan struck Gemmell with his fists only, but the doctor says it was impossible for such injuries to be so inflicted. The doctor’s examination revealed a fractured skull, both jaws and an arm broken, besides an otherwise battered face, and many cuts and abrasions. Gemmell’s injuries indicate that he, was. attacked with insanely brutal ferocity. Moghan is a strong and well-set-up man, while deceased was physically small and spare. It.is believed that Gemmell was married and had a wife living in Auckland, but no further information of a personal character is available. The scene of this gruesome tragedy is a five-roomed house on the Taihape-Moawhango road. A scattered plantation and orchard surround it. It was a bachelor’s _ dwelling, for Moghan, though married, was legally separated from his wife. The dwelling has a dilapidated appearance with its broken windows roughly boarded up and standing a mile from any other habita- * tion. There is some doubt whether Gemmell was ferociously ’ attacked and done to death in his bedroom as there was considerable quantities of blood and some hair in other parts of that wretched hovel. Water about the floor, and the victim's shirtless body, are believed to indicate that efforts were made to bring the dying man from his apparent stupor. After Moghan’s failure to do this, the body seems to have been dragged from place to place, then on to the verandah, and finally to where it was found, with the dead man’s hoots alongside. The motive for the crime is yet unknown and the means whereby such terrible injuries were inflicted are. obscured in mystery, for no weapon bearing signs of having been put to such au inhuman purpose lias yet been discovered. Bob Riley, who was present at Moghan’s and gave information leading to the police being telephoned, was arrested on a charge of drunkenness and is now an inmate of the lockup. _ •

Taihape, January 4. VY kal led up to the murder of Gemmell is still a mystery except lo Moghan, who is accused of the crime. ’

It .is known that. Uemmeli and Meghan, with two other men, iieily (now in the lockup on achar ge of drunkenness) and Jackson, were at Moghan’s house together earlier in the day, making the .New Year- joyful. iieily and Jackson did not stay bul left Cemuieli and his employer at the house. There had then been no quarrel and no indication that before the next day one of the men would have been brutally done to death. iieily returned early in the morning—very early, about 4 o’clock—and found on the verandah the dead body of Ills companion in the previous day’s carousal. Moghan was close at hand, apparently dazed and stupid. He said a few words to , .city, but iieily did not wait to hear. He was thoroughly frightened and he rushed? to 4ell .-what he had seen to the police who reached the house an hoar later, --j.nc inquest into the w m be continued on January 11th, but U is possible that another adjournment may be needed to enable ‘the police to complete their investigation and prepare the case, The Supreme Court hearing will take place at Wanganui*