by Linda Venn
Click here for a list of key characters in this story
An Analysis of Constable O’Brien’s evidence, given after lunch on Tuesday 29th December 1931
Roberts appears to have hammered O’Brien about his identification of Edmonds. If O’Brien was so confident Edmonds was the bandit, why had he suggested to Edmonds he would personally investigate anything Edmonds could tell him that would prove his innocence? Why had O’Brien not requested that men at the Main Roads camp accompany him back to the scene of the crime to pick up the dead bandit, as Stewart suggested they would find, but only to look for evidence. O’Brien had not asked Stewart then if he could identify the bandit. At Rollingstone on the Friday, while Killoran and Stewart were both there, O’Brien had not asked either to identify Edmonds as the offender. O’Brien also denied that either Killoran or Stewart had told him the bandit’s face was covered, not by a handkerchief, but by something that “came down to his chest”. (Townsville Daily Bulletin, Wednesday 30th December 1931, p. 11) O’Brien also denied hearing Killoran say “he had never seen Edmonds in his life”. (Townsville Daily Bulletin, Wednesday 30th December 1931, p. 11)
O’Brien had not given the search party a description of the offender, instead, he had told them it was Edmonds they were looking for. Roberts suggested that O’Brien arrested Edmonds on instructions from his superiors in Townsville, which O’Brien denied. When asked why he had not followed the bandit farther, O’Brien claimed that his first responsibility was to secure the payroll. He had only been an escort once before, about seven months previous. The desire to see the payroll safely delivered was the reason why O’Brien had not made any further investigations at the crime scene immediately after the hold-up. O’Brien was reprimanded for this by his superior officers. However, as O’Brien already knew who the culprit was, he did not consider it necessary to investigate further any details of his identification. He informed his superiors who the bandit was in a phone call from Main Roads Camp No. 1, within half an hour of the hold-up. (Daily Standard, Wednesday 30th December 1931, p. 15.)
Under pressure, O’Brien admitted that “if he had followed…[the]…defendant 100 yards or so, he may have been able to again recognise him, or he may have been able to shoot him”. (Townsville Daily Bulletin, Wednesday 30th December 1931, p. 11) O’Brien was not sure that the bandit had run directly to the gully, where the tracks were found. In the Brisbane Courier published on Wednesday 30th December 1931, O’Brien is reported as having called out during the hold-up, “That’s Charlie Edmonds, the __________.” (Author’s note: bastard?) Furthermore, O’Brien categorically denied telling a Main Roads Commission employee, a Mr. English, that the person responsible for the hold-up was a tall man, nor that he’d suggested to English they should go to the railway station to detain a tall man.
On the afternoon of the hold-up, O’Brien had asked searchers Murray and Ashley for assistance, but only to find the firearms or items of clothing. O’Brien had not given them a description of the bandit. Roberts queried whether O’Brien told Murray and Ashley that the bandit wore “a long khaki coat, like a motor driver’s coat, or that the bandit was wearing a mask and a slouch hat”, but this O’Brien denied. (Townsville Daily Bulletin, Wednesday 30th December 1931, p. 11) O’Brien claimed a Mr. Murray did not tell him he was with Edmonds on the Wednesday morning. O’Brien appears to have interviewed a second Mr. Murray at Tealby’s, who said he’d ridden with Edmonds from Tealby’s to Mutarnee on the Wednesday morning, passing by the scene of the crime at about 11:50am. While this timing might have allowed Edmonds to be the bandit and get away, it did cast doubt on whether he would revisit the scene so soon afterwards.
When at Edmonds’ hut, O’Brien claimed he did not inform Edmonds that he was under suspicion, nor that he (O’Brien) was convinced Edmonds was the bandit. At Edmonds’ hut, O’Brien “had a conversation with Edmonds about the coat, but did not tell him it was the coat he was wearing the day before, although he was positive he had”. (Townsville Daily Bulletin, Wednesday 30th December 1931, p. 11) O’Brien denied telling Edmonds he could not identify the bandit.
O’Brien denied being involved in setting up the“dress rehearsal” but did admit that it was during this dress-up that he had identified Edmonds to Detective Gooch, in Edmonds’ presence. Later in the cross-examination, O’Brien denied telling Gooch that Edmonds was the man. O’Brien confirmed that he’d told Edmonds “he would be long sorry if he got…[the]…defendant into trouble or any one else”, when Edmonds insisted O’Brien’s identification of him was mistaken. (Townsville Daily Bulletin, Wednesday 30th December 1931, p. 11) At the “dress rehearsal”, O’Brien did hear Sergeant O’Driscoll “tell Edmonds they did not want to put anything over him and that they were giving him every chance to clear himself, even though witness (O’Brien) had positively identified him for two days”. (Townsville Daily Bulletin, Wednesday 30th December 1931, p. 11) O’Brien also confirmed that Edmonds consistently denied any connection to the hold-up.
O’Brien acknowledged the inquiries made by other police around the district, “but he did not know why they did so, only because it was to give Edmonds a fair go”. (Townsville Daily Bulletin, Wednesday 30th December 1931, p. 11) O’Brien denied that members of the police party had expressed the opinion “that they could not prove it was Edmonds, unless…[the]…witness (O’Brien) identified him, and they never told (O’Brien) he was the sole person who could identify him”. (Townsville Daily Bulletin, Wednesday 30th December 1931, p. 11)
In answer to Sub-Inspector Blackmore’s apparently brief summing up, O’Brien confirmed that the police party went to Edmonds’ hut “in consequence of what he (O’Brien) had told Detective Gooch”. (Townsville Daily Bulletin, Wednesday 30th December 1931, p. 11)
The Police case seemed to rest on O’Brien’s identification of Charlie Edmonds.