SHOOTING IN PARK

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19042, 16 June 1936, Page 5

SHOOTING IN PARK

DISCLOSURE OF FACTS

DETECTIVE INSTRUCTED

June 15. ;

The Eoyal Commission bf, -inquiry into the shooting of Police Superintendent J. O. Brophy in Eoyal Park on the night of May 22 was continued to-day.

Detective-Inspector A. T. McKerral, chief of the Criminal Investigation Department, gave evidence regarding the conflicting stories of the wounding of Superintendent Brophy and the measures adopted to clear the matter up, as the "newspapers on the Monday following the shooting published information in which there were discrepancies and departures from the fact."

The shooting was originally believed to have been accidental, but later Detective-Sergeant Carey told the witness that he had seen Superintendent Brophy at the hospital and ascertained that it was not accidental. Sir Thomas Blarney, the Chief Commissioner of Police, then instructed the witness to correct the accident story and give the newspapers the true facts. WAY WITH INFORMED "If an informer rang you in order to make an appointment to tell you about a prospective bank hold-up, would vou meet him right on the steps of that bank?" asked the assistantcommissioner, Mr. L. Stretton. The witness: Probably no.

Mr. Stretton: Would you, as Superintendent Brophy purports to have done, meet the informer right in the centre of an area where motor bandits were operating?

The witness: The circumstances are different. You have usually to keep an appointment at the spot named by the informer, otherwise he will not come.

Detective-Inspector McKerral added that he saw nothing wrong in what Superintendent Brophy did. It was quite good detective work. The doctor attending Superintendent Brophy believed that the whole thing was accidental, despite the fact that the wounds were widely distributed. CERTAIN- ACTION PLANNED

Detective-Sergeant PL Carey detailed the efforts he made to find out the facts of the shooting. He said Superintendent Brophy was doubtful whether he <could identify his assailants, but he hoped to pick up an informer who might help. Detective-Sergeant Carey added that as a result of his investigations he had now planned the taking of certain action in a certain direction, but it was not desirable to divulge what was going on.

Mr. Stretton: Do you agree with Superintendent Brophy that the name of the informer in this case is sacred?

The witness: I do. The witness added that Detective O'Keefe was at that moment obtaining information that might be of value.