MURDER AND MUTILATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6751, 7 July 1883, Page 2 (Supplement)

At the Stafford assizes Thomas Mayos and
Mary Elizabeth Mayos, his wife, were in-
dicted for the wilful murder of a daughter of
the former by a previous marriage. The man
is a gardener. 42 years of age, whilst the
woman’s age given as 30, though she
appeared nearly 60. —After the case had
proceeded a short time, counsel for the Crown,
at the suggestion of his lordship, withdrew
the charge of murder against the male prisoner,
and proceeded against him for being an acces-
sory after the fact. In December last the
prisoner left Shrewsbury and went to live at
Kynnersley, near Wellington, the man taking
a situation as groom. On January 10 the
child was noticed by a neighbour to have two
black eyes, a wound on the elbow, and
injuries, which she stated her mother had
caused with a stick. A few days later the
child was heard screaming in the house,
whilst the sounds of what appeared to be the
lashing of the strap with a buckle attached
to it was heard. On the 1st of February the
child was last seen alive. According to the
statement of her brother the mother was on
that day a long time upstairs with his sister.
Next day the female prisoner told some
neighbours that she had sent her child to
Shrewsbury, and witnesses testified to seeing
her carrying a large bundle on February 9th.
Mr.Jos. Bates, a Wellington gentleman, was
near Aplepool, when bis dog discovered
human head, which was pronounced to have
been boiled. —-Dr, Bond also gave it as his
decided opinion that injuries sufficient to
cause death must have been inflicted during
life. The gin!’s legs were subsequently found
in a pool, but up to the present time the body
has not been discovered. The theory of the
prosecution was that the woman, when she
first went upstairs, killed the child, and she
and her husband afterwards mutilated and
disposed of the body. When arrested the
prisoners made contradictory statements
The woman states that the death was acci-
dental, and that the mutilation was effected
to conceal the body. She was wishing the
child’s death not to be known, inasmuch
she was known to have cruelly treated her.
A painful scene took place when Wm. Mayos,
aged 13, a brother of the deceased, was giving
evidence against his stepmother. The lad
burst into tears, and could not proceed with
his evidence for a little time, the business of
the court being meanwhile suspended. The
prisoners also cried bitterly, the woman
wringing her hands. The lad, who was
under examination nearly an hour, stated
that his stepmother acted very cruelly to the
deceased, and himself, frequently lashing
them both, and starving his sister. The jury
found the woman “Guilty” of manslaughter,
and the man accessory after the fact. —The
judge sentenced the female prisoner to 20
years’ penal servitude, and the man to 18
months’ hard labour.