HIDDEN SCANDAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 227, 14 December 1927, Page 13

HIDDEN SCANDAL

SECRET BEHIND MAN'S DESPERATE ACT CHRISTCHURCH TRAGEDY Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, To-day. At the inquest on William Alexander Foster, aged 36, a school j teacher, and his wife, Olive Foster, ! aged 31, the coroner, Mr. H. A. Young, ! returned a verdict o£ murder aud j suicide. ! John James Hall, a neighbour, said that Foster on Friday evening appeared gloomy. They had not discussed the charge that was levelled against him. He was of a highly- ' strung temperament. | Detective-Sergeant Young said he had been investigating the charges of indecent assault against Foster, but at the time of the tragedy had not decided whether to go on with them. In a letter to witness Foster said: “I’ve saved you a bit of unsavoury work, old man. There will be no need of a warrant and you knew I was guilty, but you had only a very small corner of the case. The more you dug the more you would have found, so cease fire. This job is over. Pigeon-hole the pagers and thank God you didn’t have to see it through. Good luck.— (Signed) W. A. Foster.” In a letter to his mother Foster said he had promised Olive he would never go without taking her, too. CORONER SUMS UP

FOSTER NOT MAD The coroner said; “The male deceased, as a school-teacher, had more than ordinary responsibility with respect to children, and yet he evidently indecently assaulted schoolboys under his care. This shows that he was not normal. The act of killing his wife and then leaving five young children without parents shows, too, that he was not normal, so, too, does his suicide and manner of it. On the other hand the letters written by him and the note left for the milkman shows that he committed the acts after deliberation and with a realisation of their nature and consequences. Had he been unsuccessful in his efforts toward suicide a jury, on the evidence before me, would not have been justified, in my opinion, in judging him not guilty of murder on the ground of insanity. One of the letters shows that it was his intention to kill the children, but fortunately they were spared.”