A Stranger in Hong Kong - Josip Kumarich

Josip Kumarich had come to join his brothers in New Zealand, from the village of Scrucraj, on the Adriatic island of Hvar, in the Dalmatian region of what was then Yugoslavia.

There had been little opportunity for formal education in Yugoslavia and he spoke little English. However, he grew to love New Zealand, worked hard and sent money home to his parents in the old country.

Photo by Kath Kingswood

In 1968, Josip's elderly mother fell ill and it was decided at a family council that the youngest son, Josip, should be the one to go back. A return ticket and a re-entry visa were obtained for him and Josip flew to Yugoslavia. This visit seemed to have the desired effect and his mother slowly regained her health and, with his visa about to run out, Josip made plans to leave.

Although Josip was looking forward to returning to the good life in New Zealand, he was sad to leave his parents and the people of the village. With just 48 hours remaining on his re-entry visa, he said his goodbyes and boarded his plane.

His brothers Tony and Ivan were waiting to meet him at Auckland International Airport. They were looking forward to seeing him again and were puzzled when he did not appear. They were even more concerned when his luggage arrived without him. They made enquiries and were shocked to be told Josip had died in Hong Kong.

The body was flown back and on 5 November 1969 Josip Kumarich was finally able to return to his "lucky country”. With the embalmed body was a death certificate that stated: “The cause of death was pulmonary oedema through excessive intake of alcohol.”

The Kumarich family were so shocked by this that they engaged criminal lawyer Kevin Ryan, who organised a medical practitioner to write a letter seeking information and, with the family’s permission, arranged for Josip’s body to be exhumed and an autopsy performed by Dr Bill Dervan, a very experienced senior Crown pathologist.

Kevin Ryan travelled to Hong Kong in December 1969 to attend an inquest into Josip’s death and seek answers for Josip’s family. Here, he encountered a circus of a justice system. Stories and court testimonies changed constantly: Josip had drunk petrol disguised as whiskey/he was diabetic and ill, he was unharmed in the police cells/he had bruising on his arms and legs, he was alive when he arrived at the hospital/he was dead before arrival, and so on and so on. In addition, several threats were made to Ryan for his trouble.

From his own investigations, Ryan found that Josip’s stop overs in Beirut and Bombay were without incident. However, when he got to Calcutta he was put off the plane and his seat was given to the daughter of a New Zealand cabinet minister who had died, so she could travel home for her father’s funeral.

When at last Josip boarded the next plane to Bangkok, he had 12 hours left on his visa and as he headed to Hong Kong he became extremely anxious that the plane to New Zealand would leave without him.

By the time he arrived in Hong Kong he was in a very distressed state and somehow blundered into a restricted area within the airport. He was taken to the police station, questioned, released and escorted back to the airport, but Ryan believed he was arrested again after intelligence check revealed his uncle was a staff officer with the rank of colonel in the Yugoslav army. Also after speaking to a leading Auckland pathologist, Ryan suspected that Josip had been drugged with a “truth drug”.

The conclusion that Ryan came to, in his own words, is as follows:

“Dr Dervan, the Crown pathologist, examined Josip's body in New Zealand, and discovered bruising to both forearms, to the back of the left hand, to the left knee, the inner left knee, the right knee, the right shin and the left shin. The official photographs reveal a penetrating wound on the rear of Josip's scalp and a cut to his lower lip. They also show that Josip's hair was wet. A police photograph of his cell reveals a puddle of water in front of the wash basin.

 

I believe that, while in a drugged state, Josip was interrogated and beaten by the Hong Kong police. Each time he lost consciousness, they gripped him by the hair and thrust his head into the basin of cold water to revive him.

 

Tired, hungry, frightened and disoriented, Josip felt as if he was in the middle of a nightmare. I believe it was the use of drugs and the shock and exhaustion caused by the police treatment which contributed to Josip Kumarich's death”[1]

 

Although Kevin Ryan was ultimately unable to provide justice for Josip, he did attempt to and at least find some answers for the Kumarich family.

Josip’s headstone reads:

In Loving Memory Of

JOSIP KUMARICH

Dearly Loved Son of

Nikola and Kate

Dearly Loved Brother of

Mate, Ivan and Ante

Born 21 Mar. 1948, Sucuraj, Yugosalvia

Brutally murdered in Hong Kong

31 Oct. 1969, Aged 21

pocivala u miru

Darling JOSIP, You will never be forgotten

by you Mother, Father and Brothers

R.I.P

The reverse simply reads:

KUMARICH

 

 [1] Reprinted with permission from Justice: Without Fear of Favour by Kevin Ryan, 1997, Hodder Moa Beckett Publishers Limited, New Zealand. Copyright 1997 Kevin Ryan.

 

Compiled by Geri Eccles – Discover Waikumete Cemetery