MURDER CONFESSED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21757, 23 March 1934, Page 12

MURDER CONFESSED

RETRACTION AT TRIAL "EXCUSE FOR GAOL COMFORTS" A confession of murder, alleged to have been made to the police by an Indian half-caste, was retracted when his trial commenced in Perth last week. Accused said he was ill before he made the confession, and concocted it to obtain the rest and quiet of prison. Mohamet Bux, a young Indian halfcaste, recently called on the police at Carnarvon, and confessed that he had murdered an Afghan named Abdullah at. Lawler's in 1919, to avenge his sister. The murder of Abdullah had been on the list of unsolved crimes. He was shot through the head on the night of April 29, 1919, in his camp. In the Criminal Court, before Justice Dwyer and a jury, Bux retracted .his confession. It was shown in. evidence that he had been in. the habit of wandering in the bush. Bux declared that he often suffered from loss of memory and pains in the head. He was very ill before making the confession at "Carnarvon, and he did so for the sole purpose of getting rest and quiet in the Carnarvon prison. He knew nothing about the murder, and was wandering the bush at the time it was committed. Bux gave a number of hesitating and confused replies to the Crown Prosecutor when asked what had induced him to make untrue statements, and finally said it might have been some spiritual power.