Caroline Whitting (c. 1834 – ?) was a nineteenth-century

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

murderer Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

, who was found guilty of killing three of her children through drowning in 1872 and sentenced to death. However, as with

Phoebe Veitch Phoebe Veitch (nee Harper) (c.1860–1891) was a New Zealand murderer. She drowned her daughter Phoebe in the Wanganui River in 1883 and was tried and subsequently convicted of murder. Whilst she was originally sentenced to death, her senten ...

in 1883, her sentence was commuted and she was instead sentenced to life imprisonment.

Drowning (October 1872)

Carl and Caroline Whitting were born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

, but there are no further details about the circumstances of her birth, emigration to New Zealand, or marriage. On 25 October 1872, Mrs. Caroline Whitting (38) left her

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Reg ...

farm with three of her children: Fred (an infant), John, and Carl. Mrs Whitting then took her three sons to the Waikiwi river, where she drowned them and may have tried to drown herself, but was later found in adjacent bush. A daughter escaped from her mother and told her older sister, who was 16, about what had happened, leading to a police search for the bodies of the children and investigation as to whether Mrs. Whitting herself was still alive. The bodies were located in the water and Mrs. Whitting was taken into police custody. A subsequent inquest turned up a judgement of 'wilful murder' on the same day. However, it seems to have been mitigated to life imprisonment Other than an acrimonious marital relationship and possible family violence between Carl and Caroline Whitting according to the testimony of their surviving children, few other records survive about the case, her conviction or her fate after her sentence to capital punishment was commuted to life imprisonment. Mrs Whitting was escorted into Dunedin Gaol on November 24, 1872 Comparing the case with those of

and

Minnie Dean As a first name, Minnie is a feminine given name. It can be a diminutive (hypocorism) of Minerva, Winifred, Wilhelmina, Hermione, Mary, Miriam, Maria, Marie, Naomi, Miranda, Clementine or Amelia. It may refer to: People with the given name * ...

, Bronwyn Daley has suggested that the courts were willing to recognize that circumstances could lead to maternal 'madness' and may have prompted commuted sentences, while Dean's death sentence was related to an element of deliberation absent in the Veitch, Whitting and other cases of parental child murder

Drowning (October 1872)

See also

References

Further reading