DETECTIVES' EVIDENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 141, 16 June 1936, Page 9

DETECTIVES' EVIDENCE

POLICE INQUIRY SHOOTING OF SUPDT. BROPHY MELBOURNE, June 15. At the inquiry into the circumstance* surrounding the shooting of Police Superintendent Brophy and the accuracy of police statements • concerning the occurrence, Detective-Inspector A. T. McKerral, chief of the Criminal In« vestigation Department, gave evident* regarding the conflicting stories of the wounding of Brophy and the measures adopted to clear the matter up, as "newspapers on the Monday following the shooting published information in which there were discrepancies and departures from fact." The witness said that the shooting was originalsbelieved to have been accidental, but later Detective Carey told witness that he had seen Brophy at the hospital and ascertained that it was not accidental. Sir Thomas Blarney, Chief Commissioner, then instructed witness to correct the accident story and give the newspapers the true facts. Mr. L. Stretton, who is assisting the Royal Commissioner, asked the witness: "If an informer rang you in order to make an appointment to tell you about a prospective bank hold-up. would you meet him right on the steps of that bank?"

McKerral: Probably no.

Mr. Stretton: Would you, M Brophy purports to have done, have met informer right in the centre of fne area where the motor bands were operating? McKerral: The circumstances are different. You have usually to keep an appointment at the spot named by the informer, otherwise he will, noi come.

"GOOD DETECTIVE WORK." McKerral added that he saw nothing wrong in what Brophy did. It was quite good detective work. The doctor attending Brophy believed the whole thing was accidental, despite the fact that the wounds were widely distributed. Detective-Sergeant H. Carey detailed the efforts he made to find out the facts of the shooting. He said that Brophy was doubtful whether he could identify his assailants, but he hoped to pick up an informer who might help. Carey added that as a result of his investigations he now planned taking "certain action in a certain direction, but it was not desirable to divulge what was going on." Mr. Stretton: Do you agree with Brophy that the name of the informer in this case is sacred? ' . . ; Carey: I do. Detective O'Keefe is at this moment obtaining information that might be of value.