Hearing In Cairns Of Murder Charge

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30642, 7 January 1965, Page 1

Hearing In Cairns Of Murder Charge

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) CAIRNS, January 6. A Queensland detective told the Cairns Magistrate’s Court today he had taken possession of articles from a man in Christchurch, New Zealand, for evidence in a murder charge.

The evidence was in connexion with a human skeleton found in a shallow grave on the bank of the Gilbert river in the lonely Queensland Gulf country. Detective-Sergeant Mervyn Chalmers, of the Brisbane C. 1.8:, was giving evidence against Keith Robert Bruce, aged 24, a truck driver. Bruce was charged with the murder of Jan Zverka at Gilbert river, near Normanton, on or about May 11. Detective-Sergeant Chalmers said he made inquiries in three Australian states and in New Zealand. He went to Wellington, where he saw local police officers on October 31.

Bruce then said: “I would like to say that when 1 shot Jan I did so in a fit of temper, Jan was a good-hearted man and asked me if I would like to go crocodile shooting.” The case is proceeding.

In Wellington he and Detective McSporran, of the Queensland police, saw a detective who handed them a pair of riding boots, two khaki shifts, a white shirt and two pairs of socks. On the same day they went to Christchurch and took possession of a declaration from the Department of Immigration, signed K. Bruce. He and other officers saw Bruce in Christchurch on November 2 and took possession of a camera and a thrown leather overnight bag. Detective-Sergeant Chalmers said he told Bruce he wanted to ask him questions about a skeleton found in the Gilbert river on August 1.