POLICE REPORTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 142, 17 June 1936, Page 7

POLICE REPORTS

THE BROPHY CASE COUNSEL’S SUGGESTION INFURIATED HUSBAND MOTIVE FOR SHOOTING {By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright! deceived June 16, 9.10 p.m. MELBOURNE, June’l6. At the inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the shooting of Police Superintendent Brophy and the accuracy of police statements concerning the occurrence, 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 Mrs. Ontold him that a crime had been committed. The Royal Commissioner, Judge Maeludoc, asked Mr. Ham, K.U., wuere his cross-examination was leading. Mr. Ham, who is appearing for the Herald and the Sun, replied that 'it was very necessary to find out whether the police officers had some motive for falsifying reports handed to the press. Judge Maclndoe: Your suggestion to date is that Brophy may have been shot by an infuriated husband. Mr. Hani: That’s what we are here 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 ini’ telligence would suspect his account was false, his colleagues shared that suspicion and the senior detectives lent themselves to the falsification of the facts. Frederick Millard, of West Coburgh, gave evidence that he was stopped on the way home in his car and was asked to drive Brophy to hospital. Brophy told him he had been shot at Royal Park. Witness was under the impression that the shooting was accidental. Dr. Stanley O’Loughlin, St. Vincent’s Hospital, said Brophy was his patient. On the night of the shooting Brophy told him he had been shot and witness gained the impression that it had occurred while on duty. The n>xt day Brophy asked .witness to keep the pressmen away. Commissioner’s Bequest. Dr. O’Loughlin added that Sir Thomas Blarney, Chief Police Commissioner in Victoria, also asked him to keep the pressmen away from Brophy as he wanted to prepare an official statement for release to the press. Dr. A. Carroll, medical superintendent at St. Vincent’s Hospital, said that Brophy told him, within a quarter of an hour of his admission, that he (Brophy), had received a telephone message to investigate a case at Royal Park. He went there with a friend and two masked men fired at him. Douglas Gillison, reporter on the Argus, when shown a slip of paper relating case, declared it certainly -was not the one placed before the reporters by Detective Sloan. He and other reporters had asked whether detectives were engaged on the affair, to which Sir Thomas Blarney replied: “What can we do? The men were masked and a torch was flashed in Brophy’s face.” Sir Thomas said that he did not know where the first press statement about Brophy had originated. The inquiry was adjourned.