POLICE INQUIRY
DETECTIVES’ EVIDENCE.
SHOOTING OF SUPERINTENDENT,
MELBOURNE, Monday.
At the inquiry into the circumstances •surrounding the shooting of Police Superintendent Brophy and the accuracy of police statements concerning the occurrence, Detective-Inspector A. T. McKerrall, chief of the Criminal Investigation Department, gave evidence regarding the conflicting stories of the wounding of Brophy and the measures adopted to clear the matter up as “newspapers on the Monday following the shooting published information in which there were discrepancies and departures from fact. ’ ’ The shooting was originally believed to have been accidental, but later Detective Carey told witness that he had seen Brophy at the hospital and ascertained that it was not accidental. Sir Thomas Blarney, Chief Commissioner, then instructed witness to correct the accident story and give the newspapers the true facts. Mr L. Stretton, who is 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 that bank? McKerral: Probably no.
Mr Stretton: Would you, as Brophy purports to have done, have met the informer right in the centre of the area where the motor bandits were operating?
McKerral: The circumstances are different. You have usually to keep an appointment at the spot named by the informer, otherwise he will not come. McKerral added that he saw nothing wrong in what Brophy did. It wms quite good detective work. The doctor attending Brophy believed the whole thing was accidental, despite the fact that the wounds were widely distributed.
Detective-Sergeant IT. Carey detailed the efforts he made to find out the facts of the shooting. He said that Brophy avas doubtful Avhether he could identify his assailants, but he hoped tc pick up an informer Avho might help. Carey added that as a result of his iiiA'estigations he hoav planned taking " certain action in a certain direction, but it Aims not desirable to divulge AA-hat Avas going on.” Mr Stretton: Do you agree Avith Brophy that the name of the informer in this case is sacred?
Carey: I do. Detective O’Keefe is at this moment obtaining information that might be of value.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WDT19360616.2.37
Bibliographic details
Wairarapa Daily Times, 16 June 1936, Page 5
Word Count
364POLICE INQUIRY Wairarapa Daily Times, 16 June 1936, Page 5
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