BATTERED TO DEATH

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12620, 3 December 1926, Page 8

BATTERED TO DEATH

“I’VE KILLED MY MATE” tragedy in bay of plenty ACCUSED DENIES CRIME Per Press Association OPOTIK4, December 2. A tragedy that has every appearance of a murder took place near Torero, about eighteen miles from Opotiki, yesterday afternoon, when a road-man-named Jerry Williams was found by the police battered to death. The dead man’s mate, John Sullivan, aged 60, was arrested and charged with murder. The two men had been working together for the past four months. Both were in town yesterday morning, and when taken to Torere in the afternoon both were intoxicated. DEAD BODY IN SCRUB On receipt of the news of the tragedy the police hurried to the scene and found Williams dead in some scrub. Williams’s head was terribly smashed, and part of the skull was missing. Blood-stained bottles were strewn around, and half a dozen heavy sticks were also blood-stained. Patches of blood on the road indicated that the' murdered man had tried to run away. He had been finally dragged into the scrub. , Sullivan h,;d a bottle of whisky in his hand wheq arrested, and was talking wildly. He said to Mr Drake, the postmaster at Torere, “I’ve killed;-my mate,”- but denied committing the crime when arrested. Sullivan was formally charged before two Justices of the Peace with murdering Williams. He was remanded for a week. • .. ' . ’ : Detective McLeod has 'arrived from Gisborne, and is now inspecting the scene of the murddr. He is • accompanied by the local police.