SENTENCE OF DEATH.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 126, 10 March 1936, Page 5

SENTENCE OF DEATH.

YOUTH GUILTY OF MURDER. (United Press Association—Copyright.) (Received This Day, 9.5 a.m.) SYDNEY, March 9. In the Criminal Court yesterday Roy Malcolm Soutar, aged 17,. was convicted of murdering Christopher Bolger,. aged 25, near Wagga on December 30, and was sentenced to death. Soutar’s defence was that he lulled Bolger during a fit of rage, owing to an insulting statement the latter made about a girl he knew. Soutar was recommended to mercy on the ground of his youth. The evidence disclosed that Soutar, after shooting Bolger, tied weights to the latter’s feet and cast the body into an underground tank. Later that afternoon he brought friends to the house in a ear and from under the lid of the same tank he obtained butter and other foodstuffs, which lie served to his guests. The body of Christopher Bolger was found in a well on his station property at Wagga, with his hands tied above his head which was covered by a bag. What appeared to be a bullet wound was found in the skull. The parents of deceased, who live in Sydney, had endeavoured to communicate by telephone with him several times but received no response. Local residents were unable to account for Bolger’s failure to keep appointments, and the police were summoned. They discovered bloodstains on the verandah of the homestead on Bolger’s property. They finally dragged the well, and brought the body to the surface.