Second Edition Child Murder in Patea.

Patea Mail, 29 March 1882, Page 3

Second Edition Child Murder in Patea.

A coroner’s inquest was commenced this afternoon, at the. Albion Hotel, touching the supposed murder of an infant child found under the barn of Mrs Mary Jane O’Sullivan, widow of a Patea baker who was killed two years ago by falling .from a cart. She' is in custody on suspicion. !

Mr H. P. Christie, J.P., presided as Coroner, in the absence of Mr Wray, The body was found last evening by boys playing at ball ; and having knocked a ball under the raised floor, a boy crawled under and found a dirty parcel with afoot sticking out. One boy went in the house and told Mrs O’Sullivan. She came and took the bundle away, saying something to the boys. The parcel contained a large child, apparently full-grown, and having a tape tied tightly, round the neck, the tongue protruding from the Jmouth. Mrs O’Sullivan was taken into custody shortly after the body was found, on suspicion of being the mother of the infant, ( of having concealed a birth, and of causing the child’s death.

Mr Hamerton and Mr Barton appeared as counsel to watch the case on behalf of Mrs O’Sullivan, who was not present during the inquiry. : The room was cleared of the public, it being intimated that the evidence would be of a delicate nature.

Sergeant Donovan conducted the case on behalf of the Crown ; .Mr Inspector James being also present. The jury sworn were Messrs Barker (foreman), Beamish, Potto, Mahony, Bright, Currie, W. Brown, Nutsford, Bassett, Chisholm, Erskine, and J. M. Richards. . The Coroner said : Gentlemen of the jury, you have been called together to enquire as to the cause , of death of an infant child, the body of which has been found under peculiar circumstances. It will be for the police to produce evidence to show how the child was found ; and the medical evidence will tend to show in what way the child came by its death. I hope you will give the matter your careful and considerate attention, it being a matter of very grave,importance. f The' jury then viewed the body. Mrs Keys, wife of J. E. Keys, carter, was sworn, and said ; I have known Mrs O’Sullivan some years. I did hot notice during the last month, nor the, last year, that, she appeared in the family-way. 1 noticed that she was getting stouter lately. She sent her boy for me on Sunday week, after ten o’clock in the forenoon. I wpnt to her house, which is near mine, and she was sitting on the bed not dressed, except having on her boots and stockings. I saw a lady’s nightdress and towel on the floor, saturated with bleed. I also noticed a chamber vessel containing water and blood. Two or three stains of blood were on the floor. She did not look weak, but looked pale. I tidied the room and washed the floor for her.' I advised her to stay in bed. She : said she had jumped out of bed suddenly, and. a,flooding came on. I had not the slightest suspicion that it was anything else. She came to our fence last evening, and called to me. / She said, “ What is a poor unfortunate devil like me

to do ?” That was len minutes before the police arrived. She said the Ewing s children had been telling her children that they had picked up a foot. She said it was a piece of pork with a foot to it, and the children wanted to make out that it was a child’s foot. When the police came up, she looked pale. By the jury : I have not observed any difference in her appearance lately, except that she has looked paler. Ido not know whether the appearances in the bedroom were inconsistent with flooding only. I had no idea previously that she was in the family-way. By the police : Mrs O’Sullivan was up and about on the day after I saw her in the bed-room. She then appeared all right.

Dr Croft deposed : I have made a postmortem examination of the body of an infant child, which was handed to me dead by Sergeant Donovon last evening. The child appeared to have been dead a week at least. A cord of tape had been tied round the umbilical cord, which had separated. The body was inclining towards decay. A cord of tape was round the neck very tight, and tied with a knot. The lower lip and tongue were pressed backward and upward ; the upper lip had been pressed towards the nose; these parts being considerably swollen and livid in color. The scalp was turgid and livid, with very considerable swelling. I thought it probable the child died from strangulation, and I opened the body to see if it had breathed. I tried the hydrostatic test. I found the lungs filling the cavity of the thorax very completely. I placed the heart, lungs, wind-pipe, &c., in a bucket of water, and the mass floated readily. The lungs also floated readily when detached. I cut each lung into small pieces, and each piece floated readily. All the other internal organs were in a perfectly healthy state. Dr Croft added that the child was certainly born alive, in his opinion ; that it was a full-grown female child ; that it might be seven to ten days old ; and that Mrs O’Sullivan had certainly given birth to a child recently, from Jher appearances. The child shown to him had been strangled with a tight tape round its neck. He had no doubt about it. Dr Croft answered numerous questions put by counsel and by the jurors, but did hot vary his evidence. George Ewing, a boy aged 9 years, was next called to state how the body was found. [Court left sitting.]