How harrowing murder of girl, 3, found dead with pieces of paper in her stomach still remains unsolved over 8 decades on
THE harrowing murder of a three-year-old girl, who was found with pieces of paper in her stomach, remains unsolved over eight decades later.
Guinstina Macari, known as Christina, was seen with an unknown man in her hometown in Wales before she was discovered dead by suffocation.
Of the pieces of paper that she had mysteriously ingested, some were as large as one-and-a-quarter square inches.
Old newspaper clippings have now revealed a full picture of the puzzling turn of events leading up to Christina’s death on a warm day in May 1941.
The little girl, born on November 22 in 1937, lived with her parents and two brothers.
She was an outgoing and smiley child, who often chatted to customers in the family’s fish and chip shop on Dillwyn Street.
Independent for her young years, she was also known for confidently hopping on and off buses in the area.
The family’s neighbourhood, Mount Pleasant, was a working-class suburb of Swansea – which was at the time being strategically targeted by the Nazis as part of the ongoing World War II due to its ports.
The year of Christina’s death, a savage blitz on the city saw 230 bombed to death and 397 injured.
Nevertheless, May 17 was a normal Saturday for the Macaris – who were of Italian descent and had moved over from Northern Ireland after Christina was born.
She awoke to a breakfast of fried eggs, bread and tea at home, before venturing out on a day of fun with fellow children from the local area.
She left the house at 9am, wearing a blue dress, green jumper, white pinafore, black shoes and green ankle socks.
A few hours later, at about midday, she returned home to pay her mum a quick visit, who was in bed unwell, before heading back outside for more playtime.
This is the last time Christina’s mum would ever see her alive.
At about 1pm, Eileen Brennan, a teenage employee at the family’s shop, had a brief, light-hearted conversation with Christina, along with Eileen’s teenage brother, while on her way to work.
In a crucial eye witness account, they recalled her running off towards a mysterious man on Mount Pleasant Hill, who they had assumed was a family member, before the pair walked up the hill together.
The teenage sister proceeded to do some shopping before eventually arriving at the restaurant at about 2.10pm.
It was then that she told Christina’s dad, Eugenio Macari, about the unknown man – unknowingly raising the alarm.
The pair then embarked upon a desperate search for Christina, before reporting her disappearance to police at 2.45pm.
Police scoured the area but found no signs of the little girl.
The next day, William Richards, 13, went on an expedition with his friend to a flower plantation in the nearby district of Fforestfach, where his aunt lived.
Upon reaching their destination, the boy’s friend headed towards a stream near the plantation while the teenager explored the rhododendron bushes’ undergrowth.
While navigating through the bushes, he discovered Christina, motionless and lying face-down, dead.
He refrained from touching her and once he located his friend, they informed a local farmer who subsequently alerted the police.
Upon examining the scene, officers found the ground in the plantation to be hard and dry, with no signs of struggle. A post-mortem examination revealed that the young girl had died due to suffocation.
The doctors conducting the tests surmised that she had been killed on the evening of May 17 and had died elsewhere before being placed where she was later discovered. They also noted potential indications of sexual abuse prior to her death, it was reported.
In addition to the paper, her stomach was also “considerably full” of chocolate and ice cream.
Among the items discovered in her stomach were fragments of plain paper. A significant quantity of paper pieces were found, with the largest fragment measuring one-and-a-quarter square inches.
During the initial murder investigation, several eyewitnesses stepped forward. They reported seeing a man with a young girl in the vicinity at the crucial time.
The man was described as being aged around 30, though he could have been as old as 50. A witness claimed to have seen a man holding a child near Mynydd Newydd Road in Fforestfach, possibly between 3pm and 3.30pm.
A homeless man was apprehended by the police after being singled out in an identity parade by a witness, but he was later released due to evidence suggesting he “could not have been concerned with the murder”, according to reports from that period.
Subsequent to his release, the chief constable of Swansea police sought help from Scotland Yard. Detectives from London were assigned to the case at 12.41pm on May 22 and set off for Swansea that same afternoon, arriving at 11.15pm.
Upon their arrival, the Scotland Yard team immediately called for an appeal through local newspapers, cinemas, and churches, sharing the general description of the man spotted with the child. This plea resulted in more witnesses coming forward.
Among them was a 60-year-old woman from Walter Road who had been shopping near the fish and chip shop owned by Christina’s father. She informed the police that she had observed a little girl and boy playing close to the eatery, engaging with a man who looked to be about 35-years-old.
The woman claimed she was about to approach the pair when the little girl dashed into a nearby restaurant. She noted that the man seemed to distance himself, lingering at the junction of Dillwyn Street and Oxford Street.
She continued her shopping trip, and upon returning along Dillwyn Street and turning into St Helen’s Road around 1pm, she heard a familiar voice. It was the voice of the little girl she had seen earlier on Dillwyn Street.
She then spotted the same girl with the same man heading towards the YMCA building. Just before they crossed the road, she noticed the man bending down to talk to the girl.
The woman observed that the girl was holding what looked like long sweets or toffees in her right hand. The man then took hold of her left hand. At that moment, the woman thought the girl was expressing a desire to go home to the man. After this, the duo vanished into the crowd.
A witness described to the police a man of approximately five feet seven inches in height, with dark hair that was longer at the back. According to her, he had a strikingly pale complexion and looked unclean, as though he was in need of a bath. The man also walked with a stooping posture and swung his arms, clad in an ill-fitting dark grey tweed coat.
In their statement, the police mentioned that alongside gathering information from eyewitnesses, they were pursuing individuals known for “indecent tendencies”. This particular avenue of investigation led them to prosecute a 47-year-old Nicholl Street resident for the murder of Christina.
The accused had a criminal history that included 18 convictions, notably two indecent assault convictions from 1912 and 1913. It was confirmed that at the time, he had been employed as a temporary postman at the Swansea Post Office.
When summoned to the station, officers questioned him about his whereabouts on May 17 a fortnight prior. In his statement said during an interview, the man recounted: “I went shopping in the morning. My wife is working for the doctor in St Helen’s Road. I came home about 12 noon and stayed indoors listening to the wireless. I think the programme was the Cup Final.”
He continued: “After the news at six o’clock I got dressed and went out with my wife. We went down the St Helen’s Road looking at the advertisements. We are looking for new rooms. My wife was washing a shirt in the afternoon.”
Among many leads the man in question was just one potential match for the description of their person of interest. The police detained him temporarily as they deliberated what to do next, but upon returning, he was nowhere to be found.
It was later that an officer spotted him entering Nicholl Street. Upon being questioned about his abrupt departure, the man insisted: “I am innocent.”
In an earnest declaration to the authorities, he affirmed his lack of acquaintance with Christina and claimed that in his four-year residence in Swansea, he had never once visited Fforestfach, where Christina’s remains were discovered.
The teenage girl who initially reported seeing Christina leave with a man later told police that the man she had seen was not the same individual, leading to his exclusion from the investigation.
However, on the evening of June 5, a 60-year-old woman from Walter Road returned to the police station. She claimed to have spotted the man she had previously seen with the child in Dillwyn Street on the day of the murder. From her house, which overlooked a lane, she recognised the man standing there and rushed out to confirm her suspicion.
The police presented her with photographs of several suspects, including the man they had recently ruled out, to see if she could identify any of them. She identified the man from Nicholl Street whom the police had previously dismissed from their investigation.
Another witness, a former policeman, came forward. He reported seeing a man aged between 38 and 40 board the same bus as him on May 17, accompanied by a girl who fit Christina’s description.
When a sergeant took a statement from the ex-policeman, they also showed him several photographs. Without hesitation, the ex-policeman identified the first suspect the same man the 60-year-old woman had pointed out.
On June 7, 1941, the police summoned the suspect to provide a second statement. He insisted he had no connection with Fforestfach and explained that his previous disappearance was due to his belief that he was permitted to leave.
The police report highlighted that a hairdresser residing in Mariner Street stated the man had visited him for a haircut around May 29, describing his hair as long and straight at the back, overlapping his coat collar. However, the suspect was released while investigations continued.
Inquiries were conducted at the post office where he was employed, revealing that the man had worked as a temporary postman during the Christmas rush periods of 1938, 1939, and 1940. However, it was noted that his only routes during those periods were Brynmill and Sketty, and he had never been near the Fforestfach area.
On June 10, samples of soil and leaf mould were collected from the plantation where Christina’s body was discovered, and the following day some of the man’s clothes were seized for examination.
Around the same period, results were returned on the paper samples found in Christina’s stomach, but they provided no assistance. Similar outcomes were obtained from the analysis of chocolate samples found in her stomach.
When the results from the analysis of the man’s clothes were returned, they were found to have no soil or leaf mould of any kind on them. However, the analysts did discover a small sample of cow or pig dung on his shoes, but it was not possible to determine if it came from any specific field and was not considered valuable to the case.
On the exterior of the man’s coat, investigators discovered a small cluster of blue and white cotton fibres. The blue cotton was found to be identical in colour and appearance to the cotton of Christina’s dress, and the white cotton was speculated to possibly have originated from her underwear.
Additionally, from a coat they had seized from the man, they found three hairs that were the same colour and microscopically indistinguishable from Christina’s hair.
The man was arranged to appear alongside 10 other men of similar description in an identification parade. Five witnesses identified him as the man they had seen with Christina on May 17, including the 60-year-old woman and the ex-policeman.
However, five more witnesses could not identify him as the man they saw with Christina that day. The two teenagers who had initially spotted Christina with a man did not attend the identification parade. They informed the police they had been sleeping in an air-raid shelter and would not be able to identify the man after such a long time had elapsed.
At the man’s trial, his defence was one of alibi and he was acquitted. After hearing some evidence for the defence, the judge asked the jury whether they had heard enough and the foreman, after consulting with his colleagues, stated that they did not wish to hear any more of the case and the trial was halted and they returned a not guilty verdict.
The murder of young Christina Macari has remained unsolved to this day.