SEQUEL TO MURDEROUS ATTACK

NZ Truth, Issue 1216, 21 March 1929, Page 12

SEQUEL TO MURDEROUS ATTACK

Wife Who Was Brutally Assaulted By Husband Now In Gaol; Asks Judge For Freedom DIVORGE GRANTED"ON SECOND PETITION

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland ßepresentative) When Lawrence Mackenzie passes out of the gates of Mount Eden Prison to freedom early next year he will find that Fate > has been very .busy pulling the tangled strings of his life during his imprisonment. . ' . Once a well-known dairy farmer m the Waitakaruru district, husband of Honour Clarke Mackenzie and a proud father, he will face the world with the brand of the criminal upon him and with the atrocious story of his attack on his wife known to all his fellowmen. . . Y. He will returnjo a home that has been wrecked and which no longer holds those things once so dear to him.

■ , ; 1 AFTER one unsuccessful attempt to obtain a divorce from her prisoner-husband, Honour Mackenzie has at last been granted her freedom. ' When Mackenzie, m the small hours of one morning . m December, 1927, attacked his r wife, who was sleeping peacefully by his side, he-opened the floodgates of matrimonial unhappiness, and he was then sentenced to three months' Imprisonment for causing her actual bodily harm. Mrs. Mackenzie's story to. His Honor, Mr. Justice Kennedy,, m the Divorce Court, was an unhappy one indeed, and the Judge, m his summing up, went so far as ..to say that it was plain that the woman had lived m fear of her husband. "The threats made by respondent to cut his wife's ttiroat were made under such circumstances as to allow apprehension that they would »be carried out, and she lived ln fear of him," said his Honor when granting Mrs. Mackenzie a decree nisi and also custody of the children. When Mrs. Mackenzie described to the oourt her terrifying ordeal m the bedroom on the night of the assault on her, she spoke m a quiet, lifeless tone, and from her_ de- ' meanor m the box it was difficult .to imagine that she had passed through such a shocking experience as she described. "On December 29 I wen{ to bed Read The Paper about 8.30 p.m. and my husband came to. bed about midnight," she replied to Mr. R. A. Singer, who represented her. Her husband, she said, read the paper after he retired, and she dozed by his side. She was first disturbed from her sleep by a movement m the room, and she awakened to find that Mackenzie was- taking the globe from the gas. - . However, she did not . take further notice of his movements/and dropped off to' sleep again. When ' she awoke again — or rather when she became conscious — it was to realise that blood was streaming from her head and that she was m a dazed condition. } "I was wandering around the room m a dazed state and my head was injured," she added. The bedroom door was fastened by a button, on the n " side, and the windows .were closed. Realisation of the cause of her dazed condition came when she found that the gas m her room was: turned on and that a tube from the gas pipe on the wall had been placed under the bedclothes. "I tried to get out of the room, but I could not open . the door," she said. ■'••',.. When she appealed to her husband for a glass of «water he refused her request and took hold of her. "We are m here to die' together," he cried, continued his wife, and he then grabbed her by the throat. At last she managed to escape fr>>m him, and, opening the door, she rushed to a boarder's room for protection. Wife's Complaints "Then I collapsed," were the words with which she concluded her story of that night. . When pressed to tell of her early married life, Mrs. Mackenzie told a tale of persistent cruelty, and recounted occasions when her husband took to drink. "My husband had a very violent temper, and he was hard to get on with," she said. "Soon after the marriage he took to drink and frequently used to make journeys to Thames for liquor, and he either came home drunk or v would drink himself into that condition lv the house. . . . V ' He often threatened, she said, to out her throat and; to hit her on the head with a hammer. He had threatened to murder her on hum-, erous occasions, Mrs. Mackenzie declared. During, the 'past seven years there was not a month when he. was not drunk. A doctor had warned Mackenzie to give up. whisky, but he did riot follow the advice, was her next statement. Mrs. Mackenzie .spoke of occasions when her husband had wanted to bring a horse into the house and had wanted to "fight all hands." The farm at Waitakaruru was sold m 1927, and they spent a : few months iri Thames, and there, also, she declared, -Mackenzie was frequently drunk. In July of that year they again changed their place of residence and went to Auckland.' '*;... "My husband' made a bad deal ovei the farm, and we had £60 when we opened, a small 'shop m .Parnell," continued Mrs. Mackenzie. Apparently her husband's behavior

0 ; —, _ dia not improve, for his wife stated that she left him after they went to Auckland.' • ■ • ; "My husband was always threatening me, .and I left him and went to Whangarei m November, 1927," she told the court. But Mackenzie was* not satisfied to live without her, and he sent her a telegram asking her to come back as he was ill. "I came back to him, but he was not ill at all, and I only stayed two days," she explained. She returned' to him m Auckland again, later, after he.^had visited her m Whangarei and had. told her that he was going to the Islands. "Your husband was not an habitual drunkard or. was not habitually cruel , up to 1919* was.he?" asked Mr. J. F. W. Dickson, who appeared for the husband. "No, but from" then on he has been. He 'was always bad-tempered," was. Mrs. Mackenzie's '

reply. " Replying, to further cross - examination, she said that her husband used to go to

Thames two or three times a week. "Dicl you say it was three or four times m six months when you gave evidence m the lower court?" asked Mr. Dickson. ( 'I don't remember," was the answer. Was he drunk every time ho went to Thames? — Yes f sir. Have any of the neighbors seen him drunk? — I don't know, but they -„ would if they had been with him on the service bus. Sometimes Tom Mackenzie took him to Thames. "When did you first get to know Nelson' Bennett?" was counsel's next question. ■ Mrs. Mackenzie replied that it would be m 1920 or 1921. Counsel : Was your husband a good father to the children? ' Mrs. Mackenzie: Yes; he was badtempered, but he was not bad to them. When 'counsel asked her how often her husband had threatened to cut her throat, she replied that it would be , "quite a few times." .Mr. Dickson then read from the * - iiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

"wife's statement made at Mackenzie' trial. . Counsel: You said then, "Once h> said he would cut "my throat. Tha was m a joking way." What have yoi to say to that? Mrs. Mackenzie: Well, he seemed t< be joking. He was suffering from fits, was hi not?— Well,- thought- he was, but thi doctor said that they didn't seem to bi fitS' , " , _■ _i If the doctor said that he based hii opinion that he was suffering from flti on what you had told him would tha be true?— Yes. . "Were. you accustomed to going t< dances and returning home at 4.30 ii the morning?" was Mr. Dickson's nex question. V ■ . . Immediately came the frank answer "Yes, I might have three times." i Continuing, under crosa-examina 1 tion, Mrs. Mackenzie said that she re I member ed her husband coming horn' during Christmas, 1926, with Normal [ Mackenzie and some others. The; 1 were all "pretty well drunk." Macken : zie was paralytic ___ —

then. "Do you remem- \ ber that you had 1 been too friendly

with Nelson _sen- i__ -, ' nett that night?" '•■„,, , ! asked counsel. Before Mrs. Mackenzie ' had time to answer the question, his Honor interrupted to request Mr. Dick- ' son to -address her from the counsel bench, for he had. approached the wit-ness-box m his eagerness to obtain the answer. .-'-"-■.■■ ■ __ „ ■«'. . , Mrs. Mackenzie was not bustled oy the question, and answered quietly that she had not been more than friendly, with Bennett. Mr. Dickson: Did he ever write letters to you? Mrs. Mackenzie: No.. . Did you ever write letters to^ mm .' — I did for my husband once. , .This line : of . cross-examination brought Mr. Singer to his feet m defence of Mrs. Mackenzie. "If he suggests undue friendliness he can't blacken this woman's character now. If he suggests that he- has his remedy, he said, addressing his Honor. . "You may go on as you are doing," was the judge's answer to the husband's counsel. : " Mr. Dickson made the, most of the opportunity, and, flourishing a. letter m front of Mrs. Mackenzie, he asked her if she knew Bennett's handwriting. "Do you remember ever receiving this ? If that letter were written to you you would remember It, wouldn't you?" he asked. .

Allegations Denied

Counsel's Objection

O . . . -i The letter, said counsel,- commenced with "My Darling Sweetheart." "I may have received it, but I don't > remember the wording,"*conceded Mrs. Mackenzie. v "Did you or did you not receive it?" demanded counsel. "I don't remember reading it," was the woman's answer. Counsel: Did. you ever get one like this before? Mrs. Mackenzie:' Not exactly like this. Mr. Dickson: Read it through. "No, sir, no, sir!" cried Mr. Singer, springing to his feet again m defence of the woman. Mr. Dickson told him that he did not wish Mrs. Mackenzie to read it . aloud to the court. "Well, did you get it?" queried Mr. Dickson when Mrs. Mackenzie had read the letter. "I don't . remember reading it before," she replied. " "But did you get It?" again demanded counsel, but the re-

ply was the same: "I don't remember." Mr. Dickson then asked her if she had left her husband on two occa-

sions and had once gone to Henderson and once to Whangarei. Mrs. Mackenzie admitted that she had gone to Henderson during October, 1927. - "You went there as a widow, didn't you?" counsel asked, but his question was met with a quiet: "No, sir." Mr. Dickson: You met Bennett there? Mrs. Mackenzie: No,, sir. Did you see him m Whangarei? — No, sir. , Did your little girl, Ruth, tell your husband that you were staying ,at a boarding-house with Bennett? — No. , Mrs. Mackenzie denied that' she had walked out arm-in-arm with Nelson Bennett. » Counsel spoke of a letter written by the wife to Mackenzie when she was m Whangarei. The letter had since been destroyed, he said. It was then quoted. "Dear Laurie," it was alleged to have stated, "I am sorry .that I did not tell. you when I was home, but another man is- the cause of the -. llllllllllllHllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllll

s trouble. ... I suppose Nelson Bennett has told you. ... He c knows everything. . . . I don't t suppose you want me home now." 1 Counsel read this from his notes, and asked Mrs. Mackenzie, if the letter she 0 wrote her husband from Whangarei had contained those words. c "I did not write that," replied Mrs. B Mackenzie. c Further cross-examined, she stated that Nelson Bennett had stayed two B or three nights at the farm when her J husband was m Whangarei, but her 1 brother was there at the time. • 0 At the time of her husband's a assault on her, she said, m reply t to Mc Singer, she had "promised to make it light for him." She had t • changed the bedclothes so that the blood stains would not be seem - ■, Norman" Bennett 'said he occupied a - farm a mile or so from the one Mace kenzie had been on. a YFrom 1919 until the Mackenzies sold y their farm he had been m their place - two or three time's a week he said, - and he had seen ~" ' ! I Mackenzie ' drunk.

from time to time. Bennett declared that he had seen ■ him drunk on an

■ • average pf from two to three times a month from 1919 to 1926. "If he had -money he would not live twelve months," he stated further when Mr. Dickson asked if he thought Mac-, kenziewas an habitual drunkard. Mr. Dickson: Is Nelson Bennett your brother? Bennett: Yes. Is he friendly with Mrs. Mackenzie? —Not that I know. How many times have you seen Mackenzie go to Thames — two or three times a week? — Yes. When asked how the work was done on the farm if Mackenzie was continuously drunk, Bennett replied that he did not think he took much interest m the farm. "By what I could see, Mackenzie knew that he couldn't make a do of his farm and he was letting it go back," he told Mr. Dickson. Mr. Dickson: Did Mrs. Mackenzie have parties at. the house every few months? Bennett: There were one or two. What did she do when this drinking •wras 'going on?— She had to sit back and look on. y Did she go to dances? — I think she did go -■ to one or two. "It was a slip on my part," said Bennett m reply to Mr. Singer's question regarding the number of times he had seen Mackenzie drunk.

,Q — '■ ' -. It , would be two or three times a month, not a week, he said. William Willetts said he remembered having seen Mackenzie take 'drink when he was living at the farm. The -Mackenzies's thirteen-year-old son James was * then called, and he i told the court that he had Been his father drunk about once a week. He i was usually m that condition when he returned from Thames. "Sometimes "men stayed In the house swearing and making a noise," said the boy, adding: "Father used filthy language to mother and. had said that he -would cut her throat and hit her on the head with a nail hammer. Once he said he would murder us all." Mr. Singer produced a letter; written ' by the boy when his mother was m Whangarei. > "Dear Mum," the letter read, "You better come home, beoause Dad is drunk and said that if you were not home by Saturday he is coming up to murder you. V . . He went into the bar arid drank till he was staggering and then he told us this. . . . I hope you catch the train down to-morrow. . . . He. is going to kill himself after he kills you. . '■". . Be.as qulck-as you can." The .first witness called by. Mr.. Dickson was Charles .Watson Harris, who said he was a justice of the peace. He lived about five miles away from the Mackenzies's farm, and had known "Was Never Drunk" Mackenzie for about ten years. Probably, he would see him several times m a fortnight. ■ V* He had met Mackenzie often at meetings and sales, but he had never seen him the worse for liquor. A neighbor of the Mackenzies for about eight years, Mrs. Catherine Harris, stated that she had visited their house but had never, seen Mackenzie drunk. She was of the opinion that he was a very kind father. James Mackenzie, the. respondent's brother, said he had stayed with him for eighteen months, and he was very i sober. His brother went to Tha,mes about once a year, or perhaps once ' m six months. "I remember him coming home drunk one night, and the next morning there was trouble about Nelson Bennett going into Mrs. Mackenzie's bedroom," he continued. . Mr. Singer: I think you were drunk yourself on one occasion? Mackenzie: I may have been,' but I wouldn't remember it, would I? Respondent, a .short, thick -set man, who spoke with a pronounced Scotch accent, told his Honor that he did not drink to excess. . "I admit that I have been drunk, but then someone mixed my wine and whisky at the wife's birthday party," he~explained. He had been -to Thames only eight times during eleven years. Mr. Dickson: Have you ever sworn at your wife? Respondent: No. Why did you leave the farm? — BeTrouble Occurred cause I was m ill -health and my wife wanted to go to town. His wife had written him the letter from Whangarei, he said, and she eventually returned to Auckland to break lip the home an 4 take the children away. When she came back to him they lived together for two nights, and on the ' second night "the trouble" occurred. To Mr. Singer, he said that only on three occasions was he so drunk that he did not know what he was doing. "What reason would your son have for. writing that letter 'to your wife?" asked counsel. "I didn't know he had written it," Mackenzie replied. Mackenzie emphatically denied that he had injured his wife with anything on the night of the complaint. "Then who did? 'What caused the blood to stream down her * nightdress?" demanded Mr. Singer. "I don't know," was Mackenzie's rePly. -•■'■.■ Counsel: Did you make a statement saying: "I realised that I had hurt. her, and I wanted to see what was wrong. . . . She was lying on the bed with blood on her face. .- ' . . I saw the hammer on the floor and I put it back on a shelf m the coal cupboard." ' Mackenzie denied that he had made that statement and he further denied that he had told Constable Collins that he must have caused the injury, because she could not have done it herself, y './■. His Honor reserved his decision for two days and then granted a decree nisi, to. be moved absolute m three months. „-.>.