POLICE ENQUIRY IN MELBOURNE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21811, 17 June 1936, Page 11

POLICE ENQUIRY IN MELBOURNE

♦ / i Shooting of High | Officer evidence before ROYALj COMMISSION ; (united raE33 associatioh-coptright.i ■ (Received June 16, 11.20 p.m.) j MELBOURNE, June 16. | The Royal Commission which is ‘ enquiring into the shooting of Sup- | erintendent John O’Connell Brophy j (chief of the Victorian Criminal In-1 vestigation Branch) continued its session to-day. Judge Macindoe is i the commissioner and Mr L. Stretton is assisting him. Detective O’Keefe, resuming his evidence, said that after seeing. Mrs Orr he realised that the shooting was not accidental. Witness made no attempt to question the driver of the car, Maher, nor Mrs Phillips. He was convinced from what Mrs Orr told him that a crime had been committed. Judge Macindoe asked Mr Wilbur Ham, K.C., where his cross-examin-ation was leading. Mr Ham, who is appearing for the “Herald” and the “Sun,” replied: “It is very necessary to find out whether the police officers had some motive for falsifying the reports handed to the press.” Judge Macindoe; Your suggestion to date is that Brophy may have been shot by an infuriated husband.

Mr Ham: That is what we are here for. B- ophy wfs in cir rum stances which could be regarded as indiscreet. Therefore, he had something to hide and gave a false account of the manner in which he received his injuries, although anybody of ordinary intelligence would suspect that his account was false. His colleagues shared that suspicion, and senior detectives lent themselves to the falsification of facts.

Frederick Millard, of West Coburgh, gave evidence that he was stopped on his way home in his car and was asked to drive Brophv to hospital. Brophy told h : m he “had been shot at Royal Park. Witness was under the impression that the shooting was accidental. Dr. Stanley O’Loughlin, of St. Vincent’s Hospital, said Brophy was his patient on the night of the shooting. Brophy told him he had been shot and witness gained the impression that it occurred while he was on duty. Next day Brophy asked witness to keep reporters away.

Doctor's Evidence

Dr. O’Loughlin added that Sir Thomas Blarney also asked him to keep reporters away from Brooby, as he wanted to prepare an official statement for release to the press. Dr. A. Carroll, medical superintendent of St. Vincent’s Hospital, said Brophy told him, within a quarter of an hour of his admission' that he (Brophy) had received a telephone message to investigate a case in Royal Park. He went there with a friend. • Two masked men fired at him.

Douglas Gillison, a reporter on the Melbourne “Argus,” when shown a slip of paper relating to Brophy’s case, declared that it certainly was not the one placed before reporters by Detective Sloan. He and other reporters asked whether detectives were engaged on the affair, to which Sir Thomas Blarney replied. What can we do? The men we-e masked, and a torch was flashed in Brophy’s face.” Sir Thomas Blarney also said he did not know where the first press statement about Brophy had originated. The enquiry was adjourned.