The recent death of Australian icon, crododile hunter, Steve Irwin, is a repetition of that of an 18 year old New Zealand woman in 1939.

The records of a young New Zealand woman who was stabbed through the heart by a stingray barb have recently been discovered since the death of Australian icon, crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin.

An entry in the 1939 Medical Journal stated that the death of an 18 year old woman was "an unusual bathing fatality", and that she had collapsed while bathing in three feet of water in the Hauraki Gulf (Auckland).

An autopsy report found the cause of death was haemorrhage from a wound to the heart caused by a Stingray barb.

The article said the victim's body was found alone on the beach and police would no doubt have suspected a "murder of the sexual pervert character" as the wounds looked like those made by the sharpest of knives. Such was the reaction of our law enforcement authorities in that era.