Bradley Appeal Opens In Sydney

Press, Volume C, Issue 29518, 20 May 1961, Page 11

Bradley Appeal Opens In Sydney

tN.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) SYDNEY, May 19. Stephen Leslie Bradley’s defence counsel (Mr F. W. Vizzard, Q.C.) told the Court of Criminal Appeal today that the Judge in Bradley’s trial in March had not adequately put to the jury Bradley’s defence.

He also claimed that the Judge (Mr Justice Clancy) failed to point out to the jury that a witness named Mrs Lord had failed to recognise a photograph of Bradley, shown to her by a detective.

Bradley is appealing against his conviction for the murder in July, 1960, of Graeme Thome, an eight-year-old Bondi schoolboy. Mr Vizzard said the rug in which the boy’s body was found had never been identified as one which had been in Bradley’s house. Bradley, who has insisted on his innocence, was not present at today's hearing.

His wife. Mrs Magda Bradley, said she would stay in her city hotel room with her young daughter and await the Court’s decision.

The hearing is expected to last at least one day and probably two. Fresh evidence is not expected to be called.

The appeal is being heard by the Chief Justice (Mr Justice Evatt), Mr Justice Herron, and Mr Justice Collins.

Mr Vizzard said Graeme Thorne disappeared after leaving his home at 8.30 a.rp. on July 7 to be picked up a short distance away by a Mrs Smith, who used to drive him to school. At 9.30 a.m. there was a phone call at the Thorne home from a man speaking English with a foreign accent, who said he had the boy and demanded a large sum of money.

At 9.47 a.m., Detective-Ser-geant Pauli took another phone call, but this conversation was broken off. Boy Seen Mr Vizzard said that a Mrs Sneddon had seen the boy going down Wellington street. A car was parked across a footpath along which the boy normally walked. Two witnesses, Mr and Mrs Denmeade, had identified a man whom they said they had seen by the car. Mrs Denmeade h”d picked a passport photograph of Bradley out of a number of photographs she was shown. Mr Vizzard said that the defence criticism of the Denmeades’ identification was that Mrs Denmeade picked a photograph of Bradlej' taken from his passport, a clear likeness. Her husband was shown the same photograph but was unable to pick it. Denmeade picked a photograph of a man with a woman and two children on a railway station. He said Denmeade gave evidence that the man he saw was dressed in a gaberdine overcoat and had a felt hat. Mrs Denmeade said the man was dressed in casual clothes.

Last June. the month before the boy disappeared, a man called at the Thorne home and said he was looking for a person named Bognor. Mrs Thorne directed him to an upstairs flat occupied by Mrs Lord. Passport Photograph Mr Vizzard said that on October 8, Mr and Mrs Thorne selected the passport photograph of Bradley.

The “Mirror” newspaper on October 11 published a very clear photograph of Bradley on its front page. Mrs Lord identified Bradley at a line-up on November 21.

Before then she had an opportunity of talking to the man and had been shown various photographs of Bradley.

It was not until October 25 that Mrs Lord selected a

photograph, which consisted of a group of four people sitting at a table at a home social event.

The defence criticism of this aspect was that Mrs Bradley’s photograph had been published many times before October 25. and it was clearly her photograph associated with the man Mrs Lord said wgs Bradley, said Mr Vizzard.

Mrs Lord had said she plgked him because he was like some television personality. But. he added, Mrs Lord had been shown the passport photograph and failed to identify it. Mr Vizzard referred to the evidence given by Mrs Thorne that when a stranger came to her flat and asked for a person named Bognor. Mrs Thorne expressed surprise to learn he knew her telephone number. He said the evidence of a Post Office official (Mr Westcott) was undisputed, and explained explicitly that anyone who had rung the Post Office and asked for the number of the Thornes' still unconnected telephone would have been given it. Telephone Number

“Mr Westcott makes it quite clear that anyone could have got the number and the address attached to that number.” Mr Vizzard said. One of the boys who had found Graeme Thorne’s body, Coghlan. had admitted there had been some talk, for some time, of a body being on the allotment.

“The boy's body was found in a rug and this rug will be of very great importance," said Mr Vizzard.

Referring to the cause of Graeme's death, which had been given by two government medical officers as a fractured skull and'or asphyxia, Mr Vizzard said, the doctors also had said that because of the finding of hemorrhages in the bronchial tube, that asphyxia had been caused by mechanical means.

Mr Vizzard agreed with Mr Justice Collins that, ultimately, his appeal was aimed at alleged deficiencies in the trial judge’s aumming-up. He said these, among other matters, concerned a scarf and rug.

Asked by the Judge what the other matters were. Mr Vizzard dealt with the Crown case at the trial. Mrs Bradley's Trip He said the Crown had suggested that Mrs Bradley’s journey to Surfers’ Paradise, on July 7. was caused by her refusal to be associated with Bradley, as she knew her husband was going to kidnap the boy. This had been denied by Mrs Bradley, be added. Mr Justice Herron said Mr Vizzard's complaint seemed to be at a point seeking to establish that Mr Justice Clancy had failed to make mention adequately of various questions of fact.

A judge, at a long trial, always was guided by the course of the trial and what happened there, he said If counsel had hammered home various aspects of the case at the trial, the trial judge was not obliged to go into a discourse of each of the matters dealt with.

Asked by Mr Justice Herron how long counsel had addressed at the trial. Mr Vizzard replied, "about six hours.”

Mr Justice Herron: I suppose these matters were hammered home by you at the trial with great emphasis’ I suppose you will agree that you stressed these matters’ Mr Vizzard: I stressed the matters which I thought were important.

The Chief Justice. Mr Justice Evatt, said that perhaps an overwhelming factor in the case was that Bradley's wife went on a trip to Surf-

ers' Paradise the day the boy was kidnapped. It was a strange interlude at a time when tragedy was overtaking the boy with tremendous speed, he said. All the protection the boy's parents had taken to get their son to school had come to naught about a time when Mrs Bradley was leaving, and Bradley was not helping her. Mr Justice Evatt said the story Bradley had given in a written statement about the discovery that the boy had died might be regarded as tremendously overpowering. The jury must have taken a hostile view to Bradley. Then, there was a dreadful threat over a telephone, destructive of anything human. The tragedy had rolled on to its conclusion while Bradley’s wife was going away. To Mr Justice Collins, Mr Vizzard said it was not until after a picture appeared in a newspaper that Mrs Lord identified Bradley. It was a strange case, he said. The jury, he said, could have said it did not believe the confession and the evidence about the rug beyond reasonable doubt.

But the jury could have been satisfied about the identification of the man who went to the Thorne home before the kidnapping. The Chief Justice. Mr Justice Evatt, smiled and said: “Perhaps you would have everybody up for contempt of court if they are not more careful.”

The hearing was adjourned till Monday.