MAORI WOMAN’S DEATH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 March 1939, Page 5

MAORI WOMAN’S DEATH

HUSBAND FOUND GUILTY OF MANSLAUGHTER. REMANDED FOR SENTENCE. 'By Telegraph—Press Association i GISBORNE, March 3. After four hours and a quarter consideration the jury in the Supreme Court tonight returned a verdict of manslaughter against Rewi Kerehi, alias Dave Grace, aged 42, who stood trial on a charge of murdering his wife, Matekino Grace, aged 32, in Tuparoa on December 10 last. Prisoner was remanded by Mr Justice Northcroft till Monday for sentence.

“I , must say I entirely agree with the propriety of your verdict,” said Mr Justice Northcroft. In his summing up he complimented counsel for the defence on his capable address to the jury. The defence, he added, suggested that the woman had been suffering from injuries received days previously which might have caused a haemorrhage. However, that was inconsistent with the fact that the woman returned in a normal and happy frame of mind after a day in Ruatoria. The evidence raised the strongest inference that the real cause of the haemorrhage arose from events on December 8. Drink might have an important bearing on the cause, the judge said, because if it xyere proved that accused was hopelessly drunk it absolved him from the murder charge, as it was considered that a drunken man was incapable of forming an intention. However, none of the witnesses were prepared to say accused was intoxicated. In his address to the jury, counsel for the defence, Mr A. A. Whitehead, said that it was an extraordinary case as the man charged with the murder of his wife had no apparent motive. There was no premeditation and no explanation of the crime. The most that the evidence had shown was that accused twice struck his wife and that there was a scuffle on the floor. The balance of the case was pure speculation. The defence contended that the woman died from natural causes or as the result of an accident. Another possibility was that accused never intended to kill his wife and never had any reason to- believe that an assault might result fatally, in which case the crime became one of manslaughter.