POLICE SHOOTING.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13284, 16 June 1936, Page 5

POLICE SHOOTING.

MUCH CRITICISM LEVELLED. Electric Telegraph—Press Association MELBOURNE, June 15. At the police inquiry regarding the shooting of .Superintendent Brophy, Detective-Inspector A. T. McKerral, chief of the Criminal Investigation department, gave* evidence regarding the conflicting stories of the wounding of Brophy and the measures adopted tc> clear the matter up as “the newspapers on the Monday following the shooting published information in which there* were discrepancies and departures from fact.” The sh-ooting was originally believed tc have- been accidental, but later Detective* Carey told witness he had seen Brophy at the hospital and ascertained that it was not accidental. Sir Thomas Blarney, Chit*f Commissioner, then instructed witness to correct the accident story and give the newspapers the true facts. Mr Stretton, assisting the Royal Commissioner, asked 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 thatbank ?” Detective McTverral : Probably no. Mr Stretton: Would you, as Brophy purports to have clone, meet the informer right in tin* centre of the area where the motor bandits were operating ? Detective McKerral : The circumstances are different. You have usually to keep an appointment at the spot named by the- informer, otherwise he? will not come. Detective McKerral added that he saw nothing wrong in what Brophy did. It was quite good detective work. The elector attending Brophy believed the whole thing, to have been accidental despite the fact that the wounds were widely distributed. Detective-Sergeant H. Carey detailed the efforts he made to find out the facts about the Brophy shooting. Ho said Brophy was doubtful whether he could identify his assailants, but he hoped to pick up an informer who might help. Detective Carey added that as a result of his investigations he now planned taking “certain action in a certain, direction, but it is not desirable to divolge what is going on.”

Mr Stretton: Do you agree with Brophy that the name of the informer in this case is sacred. Detective Carey: I do. Detective O’Keefe is at this moment obtaining information that might be of value.