POLICE INQUIRY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 208, 16 June 1936, Page 5

POLICE INQUIRY.

EVIDENCE BY DETECTIVES‘. INFORMANT’S NAME WITHHELD. (United Press Association—Copyright.) MELBOURNE, June 15. The Royal Commission which is in—quiring into the shooting of Superintendent John O’Connell Brophy (chief of. the Victorian criminal investigation branch) continued its session to-day. Judge Macindoe is the commissioner, and Mr ’L. Stretton is assisting him. Detective - Inspector A. T. McKerral, chief of the criminal investigation department, gave evidence regarding the conflicting stories of the wounding of Brophy, and the measures adopted to clear the matter up, as the “newspapers on the Monday following the shooting published information in which there were discrepancies and departures from fact. The shooting was originally believed to have been accidental, but later Detective Carey told witness that he had seen Brophy at‘the hospital and ascertained that it was not accidental. Sir Thomas Blamey, the Chief Commissioner, then instructed witness to correct the accident story and give the newspapers the true facts.

Mr Stretton askecb witness: “If an informer rang you in order to make an appointment to tell you about a prospective bank hold-up, would you meet him right on the steps of that bank?” , McKerral: Probably no.

Mr Stretton: Would you, as Brophy purports to have done, meet the informer right in the centre of an area where motor bandits were operating? McKerrall; Circumstances are diflerent. You have usually to-keep an appointment at the spot named by the informer. Otherwise he will not come. MoKerral added that he saw nothing wrong in what Brophy did. It was quite good detective work. The doctor attending ]3rophy believed the whole thing was accidental, although' the wounds were widely distributed.

Detective-Sergeant H. Carey detailed the efforts he made to find out the facts of the Brophy shooting, He said Brophy was doubtful whether he could identify his assailants, but he hoped to pickup an informer who might help. Carey added that after his investigations he now planned taking “a certain action in a certain direction, but it is not desirable to divulge what is going on.” Mr Sutretton: Do you agree with Brophy that the name of the informer in this case is sacred? Carey: I do. Detective O’Keefe is at this moment obtaining information that might «'be of value. 7_