FATHER KILLS HIS DAUGHTER.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3496, 26 May 1920, Page 4

FATHER KILLS HIS DAUGHTER.

A SERIOUS OCCURRENCE.

DUNEDIN, May 25.

As :1 result of a tragedy at Rang-hahe;-e on the 15th inst, when a farmer named John ishßl'P, aged 72, is allcgcd to have family injured his Cuurghter in a fit of temper, Sharp was ch-.ul,ged eta-day [at Balilutha vbefoifie. Mr E. D. Mosley, 5.1\1., with murder ing b'ophia. McLean Sharp, aged 7. Constable Findlay said he went to Rongohe-re on the niorning of the 16th, and there saw the deceased lying on a.. sofa. She ‘Was uncoiisdious, and had several injuries on her head. One of her fingers was also badly broken. A doctor attended her, and arranged to remove her to Dunedin Hospital. He took her in his car, and returned an hour and a half later with the body of the girl, she having died on the way. Witness found. :1. Stick (produced) about ten yards outside the front door of accused’s house. A quantity of hair was attached to the stick, anti there \\‘a:-: :1 pool of blood near where

ft was I_\fillg*. David Ireland said he fouml the deceased lying on the ground inseusible. Her head and face were covered with blood. Witness removed her to‘hYs house, um] sent for a doctor. When the depositions of the last two xvitxlesses were read over‘ to the ztccused, he remarked, “li's the wrong stick.”

Sergeant Kill said that on the morning of the 16th, accused called at the police station at Lawrence, and told him that he had assaulted his little daughter Sophia, and. he thought "her injuries were of a. serious nature. Wit~ ness asked him why he had assaulted her. He replied that his oldest daugh—ter had assaulted him on the previous night by catching him} by his whiskers and throwing him on to the floor, and that the three youngest sisters assist~ ed Her to assault him. After getting’ free he said he picked up :1 piece of’ wood from a «box, and ran after the older girls, but he was unable to catch them. On his way back to the house. he met ‘Sophia, and struck her with the piece of wood. Witness‘ then arrested him, and later ascertained that the girl was dead. Witness told accused that she was dead. He replied that she was as well dead as to be half alive for the remainder of her life. Witness then charged him with -.'mur_der. He made a statement in which he said he struck the deceased with a. piece of wood on the head. Cross—examined, witness said aebused was examined by two doctors in Lawrence lock-up as to his state of :mind_ ‘ ' .

A(=nm.=od, who is vol'y dull of heat‘ing. reserved his defence, and Was} committed for trial at the sittings of Hm Suproxnc Court in Dunedin in Au-_::-11.-f. Rail was not asked for. X‘( tho aadjourned \:111(]1lOSf «on the \‘iv.‘.im of the vmurdcr, the coroner re‘lurnofl. :1 Verdict tllat de-.{t‘.fi was duefo :1 fractured skull with concussion and 1:u:o1-ation of the brain substance, czmsod by blows inflicfe(] by the girl ’s f-afher.