UNUSUAL FEATURES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 June 1943, Page 3

UNUSUAL FEATURES

REVEALED AT INQUEST. SUICIDE OF YOUNG GIRL. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WHANGAREI, June 29. Unusual features were revealed at the inquest into the death of Charlotte Ruth Powell, aged 14, daughter of Henry Arthur Powell, farmer, Taipuha. The father gave evidence that the girl was brought up by her grandmother till August last, when on her grandmother's death she joined the family. She and her brother became very friendly and the father warned them against developing over-affection. They had begun holding hands, but he was satisfied there was nothing between. them except a little more than the usual family affection. He had told the girl he would put her in a convent if the conduct continued. The brother told the coroner that his sister was practically a stranger to him till August last. She grieved over the death of her grandmother and he had tried to comfort her. As a result she seemed to get very fond of him, but they were never more than fond brother and sister.

The housekeeper gave evidence of finding a letter from the girl in her father's pocket stating her intention to shoot and cremate herself. Witness sent it to Powell and his son, who were working on the farm. They found the girl lying unconscious on a small area of dry ground near a swamp. There was a bullet wound in her head and a pea rifle lay alongside, also a bottle containing kerosene. The girl’s clothes smelt of kerosene. The girl was taken to the Whangarei Hospital, where she lingered for over a fortnight. In the letter left for her father was a lock of the girl's hair to be sent to her mother, also a handkerchief. The coroner found that the girl died as the result of a bullet wound in the brain, self-inflicted when the deceased was in an abnormal state of mind.