KEAL'S MURDER CASE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 217, 31 May 1915, Page 3

KEAL'S MURDER CASE.

; CASE BEFORE THE SUPREME j COURT. LETTER' FROM BATHURST GAOL. | VISIO2TS- AND BREAMS. AUCKLAND, May 28. * A- young> man yarned Korpian Edwin Heals was arranged at the Supreme Court’ this morning Before the Chief Justice-and ! a-jury of 1% on charges of having on- or about February Bth last murdered KiV sister-in-law (Edith Emma Heals) and : Ker-infant child at'West Opuatia, hear Gnewliero'. • <*.• ; Upon Being, called upon to, plead, the prisoner; toho fook His stand in the dock without" any outward" appearance >of nervousness; answered in a -firm, voice "Not- guilty.' 7 ’ The general demean-our-of'the' accused- wag- one rather of detached' interest than of nerve ten-sion-and suspense as the Crown Proseeutor '-proceeded tO ' outline the circumstances surrounding the* murder. The Hon, d A; Tole conducted the ease for the Crown, the accused being defended: by Mr.' JVC. Martin and Mr. J. Bv Johnstone. -

In opening the • case; Mr. Tole intimated*tOdh’e jury'that there would be no attempt s made deny the acts, but thht ‘they would be caled'upon to direct their closest attention respecting he menal'condition of the prisoner at the time of the crimes and'to decide whether that eondition was'such as to make -him responsible" for^his’-'acta.

Egbert William -Seals, a retired architect, and father, of the prisoner, was the first witness called. He explained that some time ago Ke had spoken about an intention of dividing the One where-"fSTm-'among • his';, sons,; Leslie, Oeorge, and He; ultimately sold -the; farin,- as ‘ ‘ Gleneairn, ’’' to Leslie; but intended to 'make it *up to the prisoner for his share by giving'hm a dary farm at Papakura. He did"not appear to take much' interest in darying, however, so witness -was comtemplatihg- soare ether plan;-.

Cross-examined by Mr. Martin, the Witness said 7 th’ere: was absolutely no ill-feeling,' so fair- as he- knew,, between the prisoner and "Mrs. Koala-- Witness remarked that his son Hdrniah seemed to have a craze respecting- religions matters, and was always talking about going, to Egypt as- a missionary.

though' he possessed' no qualification | for -missionary work. The- next thing | the'.pridoner did ' was-to start taking jf IcMons^n-singing- and 1 musi'e-, although he had no idea of music whatever. Af-Ifcer-two, or three lessons lie gave it up Shortly after this a friend who ws .« staying at witness’s house' at Otalmh u complained that one night the prison* 3r had entered her room and tried to smother her with a pillow. She jump ; ;d out 1 of'a window and went for the police., Later on the prisoner sto? ie a horse and'gig at-Penrosej and, on conviction, was-released’ on probation . D r . Beattie, superintendent of the 7 Avondale Mental Hospital, saw him about this time, and afterwards witnes s sen t him to the Great Barrier Island ’ but his conduct continued'to be nnsatis:' factory.

For a theft of someth rearms the prisoner was sentenced to -18 months' im-a. prisonment, being released in 1910, and subsequently he went across to Sydney;' where he committed a offence and serviced a term of imprisonment.. Upon re - turning to Auckland in May, 1914, In/ lived with witness at Papakura lastly during which time his conduct was sat.®'isfactory until the time of the tragedy* A Remarkable Letter. I

i. At this stage the following remark - 1 able letter, written by the prisoner tc > his parents while serving a sentence in Bathurst gaol in February of la3‘ : fc. year, was produced: "Dear mother am 1 father, I have come to the conclusio n that it is time to say *1 will arise, d go to my father and will say unto hit i, Father, I have sinned against heav<: m and in thy sight, and am .no more worthy to be called t T oy son. Make e aybungalow for me at Glencairn/ Wf ill)’ I have been havi-ng some .dreams la te* ly, and no mistal.ee. The night bef ore last I thought I saw an angel sit'tingon my window-f dll, and of course, being a little afra id of burglars, I ujp oufe of bed andssad, ‘What do you want;, old chap?’ ‘Oli, yes/ he says, “ think I do thr ngs like yon used to doj> but seeing y< ju have altered course a few points and seem inclined, • to steer deal c of all dangerous obsta*cles in the fi iture, and keeping a good look-out, I j' ust came along to see if); you would c? vre to go back to New Zealand by firs t-class saloon aeroplane, at whether yot i would care to go back steerage t >y the Wimmera. ’ ‘ Weft thanks/ I said, ‘I am not particular, so long as I get there, but just- byway of a change I wouldn’t mind going by 1 Irst-class aeroplane/ Wholly another n ight I thought I saw nothing but fowl 3; roosting on my hammock;- p, fine flock : of crossbred kiwis, anttdthe rooster was a purebred moa. /There were eg gg everywhere, and I was-say-ing: to -.ij myself,/There’s eggs for bi&akfast in the morning, anyway/ T did really think ®f saying ‘ May the- Irord make me truly thankful for what'i am about to receive/ that morning; bit I can + ell you I was disappointed when I aw, oke. A few nights before that I thour ght I saw nothing about cows, then I hr- ,gan thinking about thoso- blessed cow s. The first thing that flashed across my mind was, ‘Did I set the alarm do ck for four a.m.?’ I really- thought I w; is at Papakura, and I was thiuking o J j the respe'ctable hours wo used to * :eep at Bathurst. Then 7 saw a trap * driving along the Mangere road with old Lucky in the shafts and Umberumba im the lead. Well, I thought there

was a bright side to. dairying, after all, so I woke up and said ‘I wish I was at Papakura. How long does it lake to get to the factory in.,the aeroplane? I guess the milk gets a bit sky/hlue when you bump up against a rain cloud. I guess there are no objections to sonJihg that pther half of the return ticket.’ So now, my amiable and loving ma and pa, I must make my final ‘Bow-wow’ from Nop South. —With love to all, your loving son, Norman E. Keals. ’ ’

The reading of the letter seemed to afford the prisoner some amusement,' a broad smile coming into his face as the various passages were read by Mr. Martin. . c ' • • • ■

< Uts-examined," witness stated that the received by an elderly lady at Otahdbu had not been definitely tracked stoi -the accused.

■ j Leslie? William, husband ufisthe mnr--4: Bscfcwoman, said thht at ,no--time uad : 36phia ; Hunter, who. .employed assiaflyhelp by -Mrs. .LeslifeaKSals; statefoSQfch&t- she went tou. bed- jabdut • nine o clobk on the Monday - aliening and Eiacrd- nothing during the-•night;?,. She .r jse> about six o ’clock in the morning, had bn passing Mrs. Kealsi'toom, heard heavy breathing. She knocked,; but ’gating; no answer* went.'away, returning "in a few minutes. ; - Sh® -knocked cgstin, and upon receiving;- no answer, Entered the room, and discovered Mrs. ET-eals lying with blood on her face, while on -the coverlet beside her was a |pdeOe- of Wood- roughly fashioned into a "bltfb. She -rushed out and acquainted iju-young man employed:-ton the farm of fWt she had discovered, and then the newa-by the nearest itaiephone to the authorities.?, A/ 1 number- of -witnesses followed 'in ijuick succession to connect the murder with the prisoner, , whose counsel assisted in facilitating censentng to leadingvquestions on- behalf of the Crown, and'in doing nothing i.’ 1 the way of eresarexammation. "When the court adjourned for luncfc*eon, some eight 08-nine witnesses had' given their evidence*. After opening the--case for the d&fence, Mr. Martin- called ■ several do«r tors who expressed' the opinion that the prisoner was? a.mental- defective and had alway&jbeen so.

The hearing will' be continued! tomorrow.