MAN’S BODY BURNED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 133, 7 June 1934, Page 7

MAN’S BODY BURNED

VICTIM IDENTIFIED. A man wliose cTiarred body was found in a burning wooden culvert at Balwyu recently, says a Melbourne newspaper, has been identified as Kocco Petulla, aged 30, an Italian labourer, oi Richmond. The police say they believe that Petulla was choked during a quarrel. Afterwards the body was placed on a trailer, drawn by a motorcycle, and taken to Balwyn, where it was burned. Lack of clues which would enable the body to be identified hampered the detectives, but the empty oil tin found near the body provided a valuable starting point for inquiries, while an investigation of a recent robbery at a fruit shop owned by two Italians provided a new line of investigation. Before the discovery of the body, the police received a report that an Italian had been robbed of £9l, which had been taken from the pocket of his coat hanging near his bed. Petulla was questioned by the police in connection with this robbery, but was later released. He returned, it is alleged by the police, to the fruit shop, where a quarrel occurred. It is alleged that Petulla was seized by the throat during this quarrel, and that so powerful was the hold that blood poured from his mouth. He fell dead, and was left lying in the room, where he had lived for some months. That evening, according to the police theory, the services of a man who owned a motorcycle and trailer were obtained, and Petulla’s body was taken away and placed under a culvert, wrapped in a rug and a piece of hessian. The men then drove away. Th© police think that the next night the men returned on a motor-cycle, carrying with them an olive oil tin containing two gallons of petrol. The body was saturated in the petrol and set on fire. The tin was left lying beside the body. No explanation has been given to the police of how the in-

juries to Petulla’s head were received. It has been suggested that Petulla’s head struck a bolt while the body was lying in the trailer. Two Italians wore charged with thf murder of Petulla.