POLICE ENQUIRY IN MELBOURNE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21806, 11 June 1936, Page 13

POLICE ENQUIRY IN MELBOURNE

Attack On Officer In Park SUPERINTENDENT TELLS HIS STORY | (UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) (Received June 10, 11.10 p.m.) MELBOURNE,. June 10. His encounter with two masked men at a rendezvous prearranged with a member of the underworld was described by Superintendent John O’Connell Brophy (chief of the Victorian criminal investigation branch), at the opening of the Royal Commission which is enquiring into the shooting of Brophy and the authenticity of police statements connected with it. Judge Macindoe is the Royal Commissioner. Mr L. Stretton. who is assisting the commissioner, said the whole incident was thick with confusion and mystery. Brophy, whose arm was in a sling, related that on the night of May 22 he received a telephone message from a member of the underworld. who offered to give information regarding “gunmen” operating around the city and Royal Park, near Parkville. Brophy agreed to meet at a spot arranged by the informer.

Judge Macindoe asked for the man’s name. Brophy undertook to supply the name privately, in order to protect the informer from the vengeance of his companions. Later that evening Brophy sought the use of a private car belonging to Mrs Orr, wife of the licensee of Tattersall’s Hotel, as it was undesirable to use police cars, the numbers of which were familiar to the underworld. A barman at Tattersall’s Hotel named Maher drove the car. Mrs Orr was a passenger.

The car was stopped at the spot in Royal Park arranged by the informer, when suddenly Mrs Orr exclaimed to Maher: “There’s a man alongside the car, Billy.” Brophy said that at that moment he noticed a man on each side of the car. one of whom was raasked. The other flashed a torch into the car and called out: “Hands up. Keep quiet.” He also exclaimed: “It’s Brophy.” Brophy added: “I dived for my pistol, which is a small calibre one, and the man shouted: ‘Don’t shoot!’ I did not hesitate. I fired. The man tired back, the bullet shattering my wrist. I tiled again. I am practically certain I wounded him. He continued firing, four bullets striking me. The other man disappeared.” Judge Macindoe: Were they both shooting? Brophy: Yes. One shot punctured a tyre. Pursuit of Assailants Brophy explained that the men sped away in a car, Maher pursued them until compelled to stop by the flat tyre. Brophy explained that the reason why he gave an incorrect account of :he shooting in the first place was that he did not want to compromise Mrs Orr and another woman, a friend of Mrs Orr. Nor did he want his own wife and daughter, who were practically invalids, to hear that he had been shot by bandits. Brophy said he was convinced that the informer was not associated with the shooting. Mr Stretton asked: “Did it not occur to you that it is unusual for a man of your rank to go out on ordinary duty.” Brophy: I do ordinary duty if necessary. It is done in other slates.

Mr Stretton: Dm it not occur to you that there was a certain amount of danger that night? Brophy: If I thought there was the slightest danger I would not have taken two women. I believe it was as a big su:prise to the criminals as to me.

Mr Stretton: Could you not have picked a trusted policeman to drive your car? Brophy: I would not trust my brother detectives in a case like this. Brophy added that it was no use calling the local police or the patrol to search for the attackers, as they would not have *known whom to search for. Mr Wilbur Ham, K.C., who is appearing for the “Melbourne Herald” and the newspaper’s reporters, said he was going to suggest that the original accident theory was a subterfuge to hide the fact that Brophy was out with women. Brophy interjected: “There is nothing sinister. I was not in a car with one, but two women.” He said he was not raspomiblc for the accident story told to the reporters, and he had no intention of deliberately deceiving the police chief, Sir Thomas Blarney. Mr Ham suggested that Brophy’ did everything to help his assailants, to which Brophy replied that if he had given full information, his assailants could have been in Hong Kong before he was aware of their movements. There had been several hold-ups in Royal Park, added Brophy, but some were not reported in the interests of women whose reputations were at stake. The story told at police headquarters that he accidentally shot himself with his own pistol was a stopgap excuse and a pure fabrication. It was realised that the real truth would have to come out, but not necessarily for the public.