MURDER OF A GRAZIER.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19180, 10 December 1927, Page 15

MURDER OF A GRAZIER.

CASE BEFORE COURT.

BROTHERS TO STAND TRIAL.

(BY cable—pbess association—copibight.) (AUSTRALIAN A.VD S.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION.)

(Received December 9th, 7.35 p.m.)

SYDNEY, December 9

The case for the Crown in the Higgs trial has concluded. It depended upon circumstantial evidence onlv.

Counsel, in presenting the case for the defence, argued that from the beginning to the end of the case there had been no suggestion of a motive for the crime. The Higgs brothers had never heard of Leslie, nor Leslie of them. It was difficult to surmise the theory that the Crown could put forward to connect these young men with the crime. He submitted that it was a much more reasonable theory that someone attempted to rob Leslie, who was known to possess a large sum of money. All the facts were compatible with a reasonable theory of innocence and the case should not be left to a J ur y-

The Judge ruled that it was a case fit for a jury's consideration, and that he would not be justified in taking the case away from them.

[Ronald Lachlan Leslie, a grazier and man of means, was found dead in his motor-car, which was standing in a lonely by-road near Sydney. There were three bullet wounds in the chest. Subsequently, three brothers, Hubert, Bruce, and William Higgs, were arrested in connexion with the crime.]