AT THIRD TRIAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21989, 26 June 1933, Page 8

AT THIRD TRIAL

CONVICTION FOR MURDER REMARKABLE CASE. (Fbom Odb Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, June 15. The conviction of Eric Roland Craig at the Sydney Criminal Sessions on a charge of murder brought to an end a series of trials that is unprecedented in the history of the State. Never before has there been a conviction on a capital charge after two previous juries had disagreed. A man named Slater stood three trials in ’Sydney on a charge of murder in 1921, 'but on each occasion the jury disagreed, and Slater was given his freedom. In .another famous case a man named Peden was charged with wife murder and the jury at the first trial disagreed but returned a verdict of guilty at the second trial. Peden was given his freedom later as the result of the findings of a Royal Commission, appointed after representations had been made to the Government that there had been' a miscarriage of justice. Eric Craig was convicted of the murder of a young girl, Bessie O’Connor, who died the day she was found unconscious at National Park, about £5 miles from Sydney, whence, it is clear, she had been transported from, the city in a motor car. The brutality associated with the crime aroused intense public indignation and the hunt for the perpetrator went on for many weeks before Craig was arrested on a charge of having murdered a woman in a city park. This woman was found stripped of all her clothes, and,'with a wound in her -head sufficient to have caused death. For this crime Craig was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years’ hard labour. Craig confessed to the part he had played in the death of this woman, and it was soon after his arrest that he was charged with the murder of .Bessie O’Connor. All along Craig has denied that he ever met Bessie O’Connor and the Crown case depended largely upon evidence of identification by the proprietor of a roadside garage, who served petrol to' a man late on the night before the crime was discovered, and on the evidence of the proprietor of a teashop who said he sold biscuits to a man who resembled Craig —a man who had a young girl with him in a motor car that had come from the direction of the city. Counsel for Craig submitted that the evidence of identification was far too unreliable to warrant -a conviction on a capital charge, and at the first two trials the jury refused to record a conviction. As Craig had already been sentenced to ,20 years’ imprisonment it was thought that the Crown would not proceed with the third trial, but that unusual course was taken, with the unusual result already recorded.At the first two trials Craig maintained a bold front arid protested bis innocence. At the third trial it was clear that the strain of so many court appearances was telling on him. There was silence in the court when the jury returned, but a babel of excited voices after the verdict had been given. After silence had been restored Craig was asked the usual question, whether he had anything to say. He spoke deliberately, his face a little more flushed than usual. “ I am not guilty,” he said. “ I am absolutely. innocent and I still hope that I will be able’ to prove it yet.” Women wept in the court as the judge pronounced the sentence of death. Craig stood erect, and after the final words of the sentence, quickly left the dock. His young wife, who had been in the court throughout the trial, was present when the jury gave its verdict and cried, “ Oh, oh,” when the foreman said “ guilty.” She shrank back into her chair. Craig’s mother was ‘there too, her face heavily veiled. On the ground that he has fresh evidence to offer Craig has lodged an appeal;This will be heard before the Full Court, but it' is unlikely that a decision will be reached before the end of July. In the meantime the Cabinet will postpone consideration of the imposition of the extreme penalty.