Daughter discovers murder-suicide

What makes a person so crazed that they would want to harm a family member?

This is the question that may have been asked by May Kathleen Lees when she came home from work on the evening of 6th December, 1944.

As May stepped into the Enfield home she shared with her mother and elderly aunt, after 6pm on that fateful day, she had no idea of the scene that would greet her.

When she entered the laundry or washroom, she discovered her mother, Clara Evelyn Lees (nee Shepherd), 63, hanging from a rafter.

This was not the end of the tragedy, however.

After cutting her mother down and calling the authorities, she went to check on her aunt, Frances Mary Lees, 81, who had been bed-ridden for the past six months, only to find her close to death in a pool of blood.

Her head had severe lacerations and bruising about the face and head and a blood-stained axe, with grey hairs adhered to it, lay at the foot of the bed.

Frances was in such a bad state, she could not give an account of how she received her injuries and from whom.

She was rushed to the Western Suburbs Hospital in a critical state and fed glucose and water through the veins, helping her survive another seven days before passing away.

Police believe Clara attacked her sister-in-law, Frances, while she was lying in bed, then hung herself in the laundry.

Clara had suffered from a heart condition and was not getting much sleep while looking after Frances and it was believed this may have pushed her to perform such a tragic act.

Courtesy Findagrave

Both Frances and Clara were buried in Rookwood Cemetery.

References

• ' Woman Hanged, Another Dying', The Daily Telegraph, Thursday 7 December, 1944, Page 1.

• 'Tragic Occurrence', Queanbeyan Age, Friday 8 December, 1944, Page 3

• 'Found Hanging', Examiner, Thursday, 7 December, 1944, Page 5

• 'Woman Hanged, Another Battered', The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 7 December 1944, Page 3

• 'Mother found hanged', Singleton Argus, Friday 8 December, 1944, Page 1

• 'Old Woman's fight for her life', Border Morning Mail, Wednesday 13 December, 1944, Page 6

• 'Clara Evelyn Lees' and 'Frances Mary Lees', Sydney, Australia, Cemetery Headstone Transcriptions, 1837-2003, accessed 18th January, 2026, Ancestry.com.au