Kalgoorlie Western Argus (WA : 1896 – 1916), Tuesday 13 January 1903, page 31
THE LAWLERS MURDER
INQUEST AND TRIAL.
Inquest into the deaths of Sophia, and and her child Emanuel Psechetsas. The victims of the terrible tragedy at Lawlers on December 20 was begun on Tuesday last, Detective Walsh having arrived from Kalgoorlie two days before to conduct the case for the police. It ended in a verdict of wilful murder against Stelios Psechetsas, who was present in custody, brother in law of the unhappy young woman.
The victim of the Lawlers Tragedy – Mrs. Psechetsas, and her husband. Western Mail 11 April 1903, page 28
The trial of Psechetsas was then proceeded with before Messrs McTeer and Barnes, JPs and at 10 p.m. the court rose. The next day the evidence was completed, and Stelios Psechetsas was committed to taking his trial at the March sessions of the Kalgoorlie Circuit Court for the wilful murder of his sister-in-law and her nine months old babe.
The medical and police evidence was the most important features of the Crown case. The medical testimony pointed to an attempt at rape and showed that not only was Mrs. Psecheteas’s throat cut, but there were several wounds on the head, made apparently by some blunt instrument, while the infant’s head was almost severed from the body.
Main street in Lawlers 1903
On the night of December 19, the only people in the house were Mrs. Psechetsas and her babe and young Psechetsas, the husband had gone to Leonora. Psechetsas and his wife usually slept in a room next to the shop, but this night, at Mrs. Psechetsas, wish, the brother-in-law took this room, while the woman and her child retired to a back room detached from the shop building. In the morning the dreadfully mangled bodies of mother and child were found in their room. Two blood-stained razors lay on the floor beside the child’s body; three empty razor cases were on a shelf, and in a kerosene tin containing some water was a tomahawk, also blood-stained. Psechetsas’ room was empty.
In the afternoon he was found hiding in the bed of a creek, with a blood-stained razor in his pocket. A search at the police station disclosed that his undergarments were stained with blood, and on one shirt sleeve was the impression in the blood of a human hand. Subsequently, he confessed verbally to the police that he had committed the murders, and this was put in as evidence. Mrs. Psechetsas was an accomplished and handsome woman of 22. She is said to have spoken French and Italian with fluency, and to have been a skilled pianist. Her father is a priest of the Greek Church.
The alleged murderer is a tall, rather good looking foreigner with a peculiarity of profuse black hair that stands straight up. Neither he nor the victims husband and father, a Greek of ordinary appearance, betrayed any emotion at the trial. Stelios Psechetsas is expected to pass through Kalgoorlie to-day on his way to Fremantle prison, where he will be incarcerated until the trial, which, as before mentioned, will take place at Kalgoorlie.
The evidence:-
On December 17 last, John Psichitas(sic), brother of the accused, left Lawlers, where he resided in a fruit shop with his wife, their infant child, and the accused, to go to Leonora for some fruit, and things which he was accustomed to doing. On such occasions, it was the custom of the younger Psichitas to sleep under the counter of the shop, the bedroom of Mrs. Psichitas being between the shop and the kitchen. To this bedroom there were two doors, both with primitive locks, communicating with the kitchen and the yard, and there was also a window looking on the kitchen. It would be shown that Mrs. Psichitas, her child, and the accused were in the house on December 19, when John Psuchitas was still away at Leonora. On the morning of December 20, a baker named Colin Gray entered the house to deposit a loaf of bread on the kitchen table. He found evidence that led to the discovery of a terrible tragedy. In their bedroom lay the mangled and bloodstained bodies of Mrs. Psichitas, and her child. Their throats were cut, and Mrs. Psichitas head was battered apparently with some blunt instrument. A further search disclosed two bloodstained razors in the room. Tho accused was nowhere to be found. From an examination of the woman’s body, there was strong presumptive evidence that she had been outraged. After the doctor examined her he found in excess of 20 cuts and blows to her head and throat.
After the discovery of the murder, parties were sent out in search of the accused, who was found the same afternoon lying in the bed of the Lawlers Creek, with a handkerchief over his face and a rope on his neck. On his being searched at the police station a bloodstained razor was found in his trousers pocket, and his drawers and vest were bloodstained in several places. Important evidence would be given by Constable Streckfuss regarding a conversation with the accused in his cell on Christmas morning. John Psichitas said he was a brother of the accused, and had, prior to December 20 carried on business as a fruiterer at Lawlers. The accused had been in the state for 12 months. The premises consisted of a shop and a kitchen, with, in between, a partitioned space, which was used as a bedroom. The accused was accustomed to sleeping in a bough shed behind the kitchen, but when the witness went away he, slept in the shop. This was a wish of his wife she was a very nervous woman. On December 17 he left for Leonora, leaving his wife and child at home. His wife was 22 years old, the child: was 9 months. He had been married for only 18 months.
On December 22 he returned from Leonora and identified the remains of his wife and child in the hospital. He recognised as his property a tomahawk, two razors, and; a stick, which was used for propping: the bedroom window. A table knife was used to open the door leading from the shop to the bedroom. The accused was always on good terms with, the deceased woman, and was very fond of the child. He was asked – Before you left for Leonora, did you have every trust in your brother? — I did, He was my brother. Do you think it possible for a third person to get in and murder your wife without your brother’s knowledge? — I don’t think so, because he did it. Did you see him?
Lawlers Cemetery – No headstone – Buried together
PSICHITSAS , Emanuel . 22 December 1902 . Aged 9 months
PSICHITSAS , Sophia. Born Greece . 22 December 1902 . Aged 22 years.
What became of John Psichitsas ???
SEQUEL TO THE LAWLERS TRAGEDY.
Western Mail 23 May 1903, page 43
Among the passengers for Singapore by the steamer Minilya, a few days ago, was John Psichitas, whose wife and child were murdered by his younger brother at Lawlers some months ago. The bereaved man was greatly affected by the loss of his wife, and, since the execution of his brother, has been in a state of melancholy. On more than one occasion he expressed the wish that he might escape quietly from the scenes which had such dreadful memories for him, and die unnoticed. Indeed, the unfortunate man’s demeanor was such that no small amount of anxiety was felt on his behalf by those to whom he was most confiding. Latterly, however, he seems to have conceived the idea of getting away to the uttermost part of the civilised world, where, unknown, he might have a better chance of forgetting the dread past. For this purpose his choice of a place of habitation fell upon Central Siberia, and, as stated, he is now on his way to Singapore and Port Arthur, and thence on to the dreary steppes of the Russo-Asiatic territory.
Moya Sharp
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