THE MURDERER SULLIVAN.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 589, 9 May 1876, Page 3

THE MURDERER SULLIVAN.

The following is the affidavit of Sullivan on which the application was made for a writ of habeas corpus , directing the Governor of the Melbourne Gaol to show by what authority Sullivan was detained in gaol : “ I, Joseph Thomas Sullivan, of High street, Wedderburn, in the colony of Victoria, but now detained in her Majesty’s gaol at Melbourne, formerly publican, but now out of business, make oath and say that I was born in Ireland on the 20th August, 1815, and arrived in the colony of Victoria, then Port Phillip, by the brig Scout, on the 10th January, 1815, and was domiciled and continued to reside there till the oth April, 184 G. In 1817 1 purchased freehold land at Geelong, and resided thereon until I sold the same in 1849, and in 1853 I purchased other laud at Footscray, near Melbourne, Sand resided at Sandhurst. I sold the said land in or about 1857, and in 1857 I bought my present freehold property at Wedderburn, and have ever since held, and now hold and am possessed of the same, consisting of about one acre of town allotments, and about twenty acres of country alio'meats. On the sth April, 1806, I went to New Zealand in the ship Albion on a visit only, and intending to return to Victoria shortly, but circumstances prevented my doing so. Sir James Fergusson, the then Governor of New Zealand, on the 20th August, 1873, granted me a free pardon for the crime of which I was convicted there. On the 4th of Apiil, 1874, I left New Zealand for London, England, by the ship Ilindoostan, and arrived there on the 10th July, 1874. I left London for Sydney, New South Wales, by the ship Parramatta, on the 4th September, 1874, and arrived there on the 22nd November, 1874, where I continued to be and resided until the Ist December, 1874, when I left there for Melbourne, Victoria, by the steamer Barrabool, and arrived at Melbourne on Friday, the 4th December, 1874, I left Melbourne for Wedderburn on Monday, the 7th of the same month, and within two hours after my arrival there was arrested by the police n the charge of being illegally at large in Victoria, and was remanded to Melbourne, and adjudicated on there on the 16th of the same

month. I was there convicted of being illegally at large in Victoria, and committed to her Majesty’s gaol at Melbourne, where I now am detained under and by virtue cf the warrant (copy annexed). My wife and two children have for many years past resided at, and now reside at, Wedderburn ; and my reason for returning to Victoria was to pee them, and to look after mj freehold property in the colony. But, for private reasons, I am not desirous of continuing to reside in Victoria. lam advised, and believe that my conviction by the magistrates was illegal, on the grounds that I was domiciled in and possessed of freehold property in Victoria before, at, and since the passing of the Act to prevent the influx of criminals, and still possess the same, and the colony of Victoria was from 1845, and still, and now is, my only domicile, lam further advised, and believe the warrant under which I am detained is informal and void, on the grounds that the justicaa have exceeded their jurisdiction in directing my removal to the colony of New Zealand, whereas they should have directed my removal, if at all, to the colony of New South Wales, as it was from that colonj I came direct into the colony of Victoria, in the manner before mentioned.” The warrant under which Sullivan was sent to gaol was signed by Mr Sturt and Mr Gatehouse, and was dated 15th December, 1874, and recited that Sullivan had been found guilty in New Zealand of a capital felony, and had received a sentence which had not expired for a greater period than three years before Sullivan’s arrival in Victoria, and it ordered that he should be kept in custody till the first fitting opportunity occurred to have him conveyed to New Zealand, and ordered that he should be conveyed to that colony.