Edward Thomas Te Whiu (27 February 1935 – 18 August 1955) was a notable New Zealand criminal and murderer. Of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

descent, he identified with the Nga Puhi

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

. He was born in

Waipapakauri Waipapakauri is a small settlement in the Far North District of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 1 (New Zealand), State Highway 1 at the isthmus of the Aupouri Peninsula. The larger settlement of Awanui lies to the southeast. Waipapaka ...

, Northland, New Zealand, in 1935. Te Whiu was hanged at Mount Eden Prison in August 1955, after he had killed Florence Smith, a 75-year-old widow, in Ngararatunua, near

Kamo The name Kamo may refer to the following: Places Japan (Note: ''kamo'' ( 鴨), is the common word for ''duck'' in Japanese, but the following names do not necessarily mean ''duck'' and are not necessarily written with that character.) *Kamo, Nii ...

, when an attempted burglary went wrong. Evidence was given that he had calmly cooked himself a meal in the next room to the corpse of his aged victim. The "completely non-adjusted a-social youth" went happily to his death. He took a cigarette an hour before the hanging, smiled and said, "won't it be wonderful to be in heaven where cigarettes can come flying through the air." One of his last requests was to have his religious comics thrown into his grave with him.

References

1935 births 1955 deaths New Zealand people convicted of murder People from the Northland Region People executed by New Zealand by hanging Ngāpuhi people People convicted of murder by New Zealand People executed for murder Executed New Zealand people 20th-century executions by New Zealand 1955 murders in New Zealand New Zealand Māori people {{NewZealand-crime-bio-stub