Edward Te Whiu

Edward Thomas Te Whiu (27 February 1935 – 18 August 1955) was a notable New Zealand criminal and murderer. Of Māori descent, he identified with the Nga Puhi iwi. He was born in Waipapakauri, Northland, New Zealand, in 1935.[1] 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, when an attempted burglary went wrong.[1]

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.[2]