Infuriated Husband?

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 141, 17 June 1936, Page 7

Infuriated Husband?

Shooting of Inspector Brophy

SUGGESTION BY NEWSPAPER COUNSEL United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. ' Received Tuesday, 5.20 p.m. MELBOURNE, June 10. At the .police incpiiry into the shooting of Inspector Brophy, 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 car driver Maher nor Mrs Phillips. He was convinced from what Airs Orr told him that a crime had been committed. The Royal Commissioner, Judge Macindoe, asked Mr Ham, K.C., where his cross-examination was leading. Mr Ham, who was appearing for the' Herald and Sun, replied that it was very necessary to lind out whether the police officers had some motive for falsifying the reports handed to the Press. Judge Macindoc; Your suggestion to date is that Inspector Brophy may have been shot by an infuriated husband. Mr Ham: That’s what we arc hero for. Brophy was in circumstances 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. While anybody with ordinary intelligence would suspect his account to be false, his colleagues shared that suspicion and the senior detectives lent themselves to a. falsification of the facts. Broderick Millard, of West Coburgh, gave evidence that ho was stopped on his way home iu his car and was asked to drive Brophy to the hospital. Brophy told him he had been shot at Royal Park. Witness was under the impression that the shooting was accidental. Dr. Stanley O’Lougklin, 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 had gained the impressionthat it occurred while he was on duty. Next day Brophy asked witness to keep the Pressmen away. Dr. O’Lougklin added that Sir Thomas Blarney also asked him to keep the Press away from Brophy, as lie 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 lie (Brophy) received a telephone message to investigate a case at Royal Park. lie went thcro with a friend and two masked men lired at him.

Douglas Gillison, reporter on the Argus, when shown a slip of paper relating to Brophy’s ease, declared it certainly was not the one placed before the reporters by Detective SloanHo and the other reporters asked whether the detectives were engaged on the affair, to which Sir Thomas Blarney replied: “What can wc do’ The men were masked and a torch war flashed in Brophy’s face.” Sir Thomas Blarney also said he did not know where the first Press statement about Brophy had originated. The inquiry was adjourned.