POLICE ENQUIRY

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21808, 13 June 1936, Page 15

POLICE ENQUIRY

MORE EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMISSION MELBOURNE SHOOTING CASE (Received June 12, 10.31 p.m.) MELBOURNE, June 12. The Royal Commission enquiring into the shooting of Superintendent John O’Connell Brophy (chief of the Victorian Criminal Investigation Branch) continued sitting to-day. The commissioner is Judge Macindoe, assisted by Mr L. Stretton. Mrs Madeline Orr, widow of the licensee of Tattersall’s Hotel, near the detective headquarters, gave evidence that she had known the Brophy family for years and had often visited them. Witness corroborated the story of the shooting, and during cross-examination by Mr Stretton said that the car lights were switched off while it was parked at Royal Park. •Mr Stretton: Did it not seem a mysterious way for an old friend like Brophy to act?— No. Mr Stretton: What did you do?— Have a pleasant chat in the dark? Witness; We did not have time, ft was only a matter of minutes when the bandits appeared, Mr Stretton: You passed the police station after Brophy was injured. Why didn’t you give information? Witness: We were acting under Brophy’s instructions, which were to save us women. Brophy asked us to leave it to him. Mr Stanley Lewis, who is appearing for the “Melbourne Herald,” asked Mrs Orr whether she treated Maher more as a friend than an employee, to which she replied; He is merely an employee in my bar. Mr Lewis: You and Mrs Phillips were in the back seat of the car; but when it stopped Mrs Phillips changed places with Brophy. What was the reason? Witness; There was no particular reason. Witness added that Brophy’s last words were: You leave this to me. I think they have got me. I am riddled with bullets. Mrs Elsie Phillips, of Middle Park, gave similar evidence. She added that when the firing began Maher cried to her, “Bob down,” and pushed her head down. Detective Examined William Maher, who was barman at the Orr’s hotel, detailed the conversation when Brophy asked for the use of Mrs Orr’s car on the night of May 22. Maher said that Mrs Orr and Mrs Phillips, on the same evening, wanted to be driven to Clifton Hill, whereupon Maher told them that Brophy wanted the car. Mrs Orr exclaimed, “Oh, dash it!” Maher then related the happenings in Royal Park. Detective W. R. R, Boulton, who was subjected to a searching crossexamination as to why the police did not immediately make enquiries into the shooting, said that soon after the affair he saw Brophy in hospital and Brophy told him the wounds were accidental. Mr Lewis asked: Was It not perfectly clear to you that Brophy had not been accidentally shot?— No. Mr Lewis; You are a detective, and your powers of observation as a detective should have enabled you to decide whether it was accidental. ; Boulton; Brophy told me it was • an accident and I believed him. Mr Lewis: Was it a fact that ; Brophy, your superior officer, prer vented you making enquiries o Boulton: Enquiries have been I made. The hearing was adjourned.