BUCKLEY’S TRIAL
PRISONER GOES INTO WITNESS • BOX.
(Australian Press Association.)
MELBOURNE, Noveber 27
Evidence was to-day given by Richard Buckley, aged 67, bootmaker, in the case to which he is charged with the murder of Thomas Berriman, a bank manager, who was shot dead on October Bth, 1923. Angus Murray, a notorious criminal,’ was hanged in 1924 (for his part, in the crime. The police arrested Buckley on September 30th last under sensational circumstances. The Crown alleges that he actually fixed the revolver and stole a bag containing £lßsl, since then he had eluded arrest. Giving evidence of his own defence to-day, Buckley denied being associated with Angus Murray in the Berriman ci'ime. He said that he was ill in bed at the time of the murder. He was suffering from a growth on the neck, which causd him to grow a beard. He had been wrongly convicted of assault and robbing many years ago, when three whippings had been ordered. He had received only one instalment of the whippings and then he was released upon the discovery being made that it was a case of mistaken identity.' . Since then said ‘.the witness, the-iron'had entered his soul. This drove him into concealment in order to avoid being cruicified second time.
The Crown Prosecutor showed Buckley a photograph of himself when he was clean shaven and asked him if lie could identify himself. Buckley admitted that it was a fairly good picture. The Crown Prosecutor: “Why did you not tell the police where you were when the mui'der occurred ? , Buckley: “Why should 1?” There is a time and a place for that. Anyhow I do not trust any detective. The Crown Prosecutor: “Why did you keep three loaded revolvers In your house?” Buckley: “For the protection of my grandaughter. The Crown Prosecutor: ‘ ‘You surely do not think that the police would injure her?” Buckley: “They might have started firing at random, and hit her.”
Some of Buckley ? s relatives gave evidence that Buckley was a sick man at the time of the Berriman murder.
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Hokitika Guardian, 28 November 1930, Page 6
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343BUCKLEY’S TRIAL Hokitika Guardian, 28 November 1930, Page 6
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