Child Murder in Patea.

Patea Mail, 30 March 1882, Page 3

Child Murder in Patea.

IEZ NT'I AGAINST the ACCUSED.

A tYoUr’i-'- and deplorable. crime has co e -w I' Ll m Patea, the discovery be" eg ;oa'’e ■’ >!ie simplest accident. A w'.’ocv i! -"d O- ' T'livan, relict of a baker w o was 1’ >d b falling from his cart ’wo vea -s ago, b;fj bc-en living in a small coir.oat Pa ea, with her three young c ■-V ?■’. S’e bad reels to receive from p o ( >e v. and was supposed to have suffice H i0.e.;”8 o" subsistence.- • Being rather yo.vig, and o'easaot in manner, she seems io h;:ve ! eco re a sa’rject of scandalous Tife crme new c’ avgcd against her will i ave to be ST.’ted by Jhe usual process of k-w. The body of an Infant, strangled with a (ape round its neck, was found rt’iier a bni'd’ng adjoining her residence, ■ ;jy boys fraying oh Tuesday afternoon, ilev fcMuluci after the discovery was too srsn’c’riis, and die was taken into custody. A coroner’s inquest was held yesterday afternoon, resulting in a verdict of wilful murder against the accused.

The following evidence was taken at the inquest, and a portion of the report appeared in yesterday’s issue :

Mr H, F. Christie, J.P., presided as Coroner, in the absence of Mr Wray. The body was found on Tuesday by boys playing at ball ; and having knocked a ball under the raised floor, a boy crawled under and found a dirty parcel with a foot 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 mouth. Mrs O’Sullivan was taken into custody shortly after the body was found, on suspicion of being the mother of the infarit, of having concealed a birth, and of causing the child’s death.

Mr Haraerton and Mr Barton appeared as counsel to . watclv 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 t 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, . •,< ; . *,} r ; Th.e. jury sworn were Messrs Barker,{’foreman), Beamish, Potto, ; Mahony,Bright, Currie, W. BroWn, Nutsfor'd, Bassett, Chisholm, Erskine, and J. M. Richards. The Coroner said.: Gentlemen of the jury, ‘you have been called together toenquire as to the cause of death of an infant child, the body of which, has been i 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. ; 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 not notice during the- last month, nor the last year, that she appeared in the family-way. I noticed that she was getting stouter lately. She sent her boy for me on Sunday week, after ten o’clock in the forenoon. I went to her house, which is near mine, and she was sitting on the bed not dressed* except having on her boots and stockings. J saw a lady’s nightdress and towel on the floor, saturated with blood. I also noticed a chamber i 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 rhom and washed the floor for her. I advised her to stay in bed. She: said she bad jumped out of bed suddenly, dnd 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 rne to do ?” That was ten minutes before the police arrived. She said the Ewing’s children had been telling her children that they had picked mp 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 r I have not observed any difference in her appearance lately, except that she has looked paler. I do 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 Donovan last evening. The child appeared to have been dead a week at least. A cord of tape bad been tied round tbe 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 hydro static 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, arid 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. Sergt. Donovan : From your examination of the body, can you say it was born alive ?

Dr Croft: That is a question that has puzzled all the talent of the world. My opinion decidedly is that the child was born alive, certainly. My chief reason jura's the -very complete success of the hydrostatic test, the lungs being of such a large size and haying so completely filled the cavity of the chest, together with their florid hue.

Have you recently examined Mrs O’Sullivan ?

Dr Croft: Yes, I have examined her by order of a magistrate. I came to the conclusion that she had recently given birth to a child. , I could extract milk from both breasts by a little pressure with finger and thumb ; ! and there were, other indications, which rendered it unnecessary for . me to examine further. I have no doubt she had recently given birth to a child. From the child’s appearance it could have'been dead ten days, wrapped up in a cool place. ; By the Foreman : She must have given birth to a child within eight or nine days. It must have lived several minutes for the: air to penetrate so completely 5 through the lungs ; probably longer. It was a ful grown feinale child; ' The .the" neck was twisted' three times round very tightly : certainly tight enough to cause suffocation., It was tight enough ■to suffocate a man, let alone an infant! Was that child strangled, or was it not ?•

Dr Croft: I should say so, certainly: The child was 20 inches long, and weighed' lbs. I consider that rather a heavy full grown child. Dr Croft answered numerous questions put by counsel and by the jurors, but did not vary his evidence. George Ewing, a boy aged 9 years, was next called to state how the body Was found. Mr Hamerton objected , that he did not understand the nature of an oath; that hehad not been taught the .consequence of telling a lie. The Coroner -thought the boy’s answers showed sufficient intelligence.

: Mr Hamerton: He does hot know whether he will go to heaven or hell if ho tells a lie.

Coroner : It is rather an open question where we shall go. I think the boy can be sworn.

George Ewing then told his story very, clearly. He said-he and other boj's were playing, on Tuesday afternoon, and he found a little parcel under MrsD’SulH-; van’s barn.. The parcel was covered with a piece of towel and piece of blanket*, sewn up. It, was as far under, the barn as he co'uld reach from .outside. I: was, creeping after,a ball, and found the parcel.* I could see a baby’s legs in it—l am sure they, were legs. Willie O’Sullivan went and: told his mother. She came runningout and threw the rags over it again, 1 and •ran found the barn. She said' it was a little pig from the butcher’s. I did not ;believe her because I saw Baby’s feet and. five toes. I showed Sergeant -Donovan the towel (produced)* round the* baby. Willie P’Sullivan pulled the, parcel open before telling his mother. Thomas Ewing, brother bf last Witness, gave similar evidence. He said, in crossexamination, that his mother had told him.and George what to say in Court, and that they repeated the story to her of ten 1 before coming into Court.

By the Court: My mother told me to tell the Court exactly what I saw at Mrs O’Sullivan's last night. .

Constable Crozier said : I heard Sergeant Donovan ask Mrs"! O’Sullivan, in her garden last evening, where the baby was that had been found. She said no baby had been found ; that the dog had a piece of meat at the back of the barn. She took us to the back of the barn, and showed us the place where it was found. I then fetched the boy George Ewing, and he showed ua an old towel which he said the baby had been wrapped in. Sergeant Donovan said to her, “ You had better tell all about it.” I then fetched Mrs Keys to the place. The Sergeant directed rae to take Mrs O’Sullivan to the police station. The sergeant had the parcel in his hand, and Mrs O’Sullivan said, “ Unfortunate woman! If you had been a few minutes later you would not have seen me.” On taking her to the lock-up, she said, “ Mrs Keys knows nothing ; about it.” She also said, “Half an hour after the baby was born I sent for Mrs Keys.” She added that it lay on the floor motionless, and never sang out. She asked me when the Supreme Court would sit. She said, “ I tied a string round its neck,” referring to the baby ; and added, “I suppose I am in for two of three years.” She also said, when arrested, “I intended 1 Id do away with it to-night.” Sergeant Donovan said : When the constable and I approached Mrs O’Sullivan’s house last evening she was coming,from the direction of Mrs Keys’s house. I bade her “good evening,” and she seemed not able to reply. : I asked what it was the children got under her house. She said “Nothing,” and pretended not to understand what I m.cant. She said it was a piece of dog’s meat. I asked her to show it to me. She denied all knowledge of a dead child-being found, and I then took her into custody,' She afterwards said it was in a kit (or parcel) beside the fence between-her house and Mrs : Keys’s. She showed" me’ the place, and I found the kit. She saidj “I am not the first that fell into,misfortune : don’t go hard against me.” I sent her to the station in custody. I gave the parcel to Dr Croft, and saw .him open it and examine the child.. The Sergeant gave other evidence as to the child’s condition.

j The Cbroner then summed up the evidence.

The. jury conferred half an hour, and returned a verdict to the effect that the accused had caused the death of her infant child by strangulation. This amounted to a verdict of wilful murder ; and the Coroner has to-day made out his warrant of commitment for trial in the Supreme: Court at New Plymouth, on the capital charge. An investigation in the R.M. Court will not be necessary, the Coroner’s, warrant of committal being sufficient in this case,

The accused woman was removed by this day’s coach to Kew Plymouth gaol. The next sitting of the Supreme Court will be in May. '

The three children, aged from three to seven years, will have to be cared for in her absence. She was permitted to administer her late husband’s property, which. should now, be managed for the children’s support.