Ryan To Hang On Tuesday
(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright) MELBOURNE, January 25. There was a difference between a murder against authority and a murder against society, the Victorian Premier, Sir Henry Bolte, said today.
“It is not the person—it is the authority of the people he represents, and if authority does take the odds at least in this state it may feel it has some protection.” Sir Henry Bolte was speaking soon after attending this morning’s executive council meeting which decided that Ronald Ryan would hang at 8 a.m. next Tuesday. Ryan is under sentence of death for the murder of a Pentridge warder, George Henry Hodson, during an escape from gaol in December, 1965. Sir Henry Bolte said today he did not favour a distinction in law between the murder of public authorities and individual members of society. But, he said, there had to be safeguards to protect persons murdered in the execution of their duty while acting under the authority of the State and for the people. “In my mind, in the degree of murder a murder against authority is a different murder than one against society,” he said.
This was why the murder of a policeman was no dif-
ferent to the murder of a warder, customs officers and other persons murdered in the execution of their duty.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31278, 26 January 1967, Page 11
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221Ryan To Hang On Tuesday Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31278, 26 January 1967, Page 11
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