Albany Quarter Sessions Tuesday, June 15th 1880

This court report was published in The West Australian on Friday the 25th 1880. I transcribed it from a digitised edition of the paper held on the National Library's Trove website http://trove.nla.gov.au/ . The report is linked below and I have endeavoured to leave the article as written, apart from the introduction of paragraph breaks for clarity and the bolding of the names of the witnesses and prisoner.  

ALBANY QUARTER SESSIONS 

TUESDAY, JUNE 15TH 1880    

Before: 

G. E. C. Hare, Esq. Government Resident, (Chairman) 

W. C. Clifton. Esq. J.P 

W. G. Knight. Esq. A.P.  

JOHN GREEN: a shepherd, aged 19, was indicted for having at Fanny's Cove, in April last, unlawfully and maliciously shot, with intent to do grievous bodily harm, one Coolbana, an aboriginal native child, about 3 years old, under the circumstances detailed in the following evidence:     

George Truslove: police constable at Esperance Bay, deposed: I remember, on the 28th of April last, receiving information to the effect that a native boy, named Coolbana, had been shot by a shepherd named John Green. ( Boy exhibited in court, and his wounds shown to the jury). Acting upon that information, I proceeded to the spot where the outrage was alleged to have been committed (at Young River), where I saw and examined the child. He had about ten wounds in the back, three in the left groin, and one in the right. I supposed, from appearance, they were shot marks.

I enquired how the wounds were caused, from a little girl I named Dinah, supposed to be about seven years old. Dinah said she was stationed with her mother (who is both deaf and dumb), and the boy, at Carlingup River, helping John Green (the prisoner) to mind sheep, in Mr. W. Moir's service. She also said that one day while her mother and another native named Thompson were out with the sheep, Green had deliberately shot at the boy twice. To show the distance from which the gun was tired, she walked some 30 or 40 yards. She said that after Green fired, she saw blood running from the boy's body, back and front.

I searched for the prisoner, and found him on the 30th May, but before doing so, I saw a native called Thompson with the sheep, and I enquired of Thompson how many times prisoner had shot at the boy. Thompson said it was not John Green, but Herbert Green, who had shot him. I told him he was not telling the truth, whereupon he confessed that all he knew about the matter was simply what the prisoner had told him to say. He said the little boy's sister and mother had run away, and that the prisoner told him if anyone asked any questions about the child he was to say Herbert Green had shot him, adding that he was afraid the woman had gone to lay an information against him (the prisoner). Thompson said he had only seen the prisoner shoot at the boy once, and then with powder only. I enquired whether he (Thompson) had ever seen any wounds on the boy. He said he had once seen blood, both in front and behind, and that he had asked prisoner about it, who said the boy had scratched himself with some sticks. Thompson remarked to prisoner that the wounds looked more like shot marks than scratches. He said he had seen prisoner tie the child up by the hands and feet and leave him in the hut, and on several occasions had seen him throw the child into a pool of water, and he (Thompson) had pulled him out. The depth of the water was about four or five feet. 

The prisoner was afterwards arrested and informed of the charge against him. He asked whether the child was dead. I told him, no. He then enquired whether there was any shot found in the boy's body, but I made no answer. Prisoner denied the charge, when arrested, and afterwards said no one could say anything about it but the girl Dinah, and, if she said what was right, she could do him no harm. I then went with the prisoner to his hut, where he remarked he had only tied the child up for two hours to prevent his running away. He said this in order to correct Thompson's statement that he had tied him up for half a day. I brought from prisoner's hut the gun, powder, shot, and caps, now produced. Thompson stated that when the prisoner shot at the boy with powder only, the wad hit him (Thompson) in the face. When the prisoner heard this statement, he said that on one occasion after cleaning the gun, he put some powder in to dry it, and fired in the direction of the child, which he would not have done if he had thought it would be reported. 

I did not find any shot in the wounds; but I only made a superficial examination. The wounds are supposed to have been inflicted about the 10th April; I did not see the child till the end of the month. 

Dinah: said the prisoner had led the boy out about 30 or 40 yards from the hut, because he had stolen some sugar, and that he (Green) then shot at the child twice - once in the back and once in front. Dinah, a native girl, about 7 years old, (a very intelligent youngster, who spoke fair English), having been warned to speak the truth, said she was at Carlingup River some time ago. Oldwomany (her mother), and Coolbana (the wounded lad) also were there. Witness knew the prisoner. Saw him shoot at Coolbana. Gun shewn was Jack Green's gun. Prisoner shot at Coolbana for taking some sugar. He shot two times. Blood came 'from all over.' First time shot, Coolbana stopped; second time, Coolbana cried little bit. Witness, told Thompson that Green did shoot Coolbana. After the boy had been shot, old woman, witness, and the boy ran away. Saw prisoner beat the boy and saw him tie him up - he strapped his two hands together, and tied him to a stick. Prisoner was angry with Coolbana for taking some sugar. Witness saw Green put Coolbana into water twice, and on one occasion saw him pour hot water all over him out of a saucepan, whereupon the poor boy cried. Witness saw the prisoner shoot at Coolbana twice, first time he shot him in the groin, and next time in the back. The lad cried much. The sun was up high when the child was tied up, but the sun was down when he was untied. Green threw hot water out of a pannican, when the child took the sugar. Green was gone after a horse and the child was in the camp alone. The prisoner did not see the child take the sugar, but when he came back, he shot him. The gun was loaded before he came back; it was inside the hut. Green took the child by the body when he threw it into the water; the child was thrown in, not pushed in. 

Thompson: a native, (otherwise called Jemba) about 15 years old, who spoke good English, said he knew the prisoner, and was at Carlingup with him on the day in question. The old woman was there too, also the little boy and girl. The witness saw the prisoner throw the boy into a pool of water on two occasions - on one of which the witness pulled him out. The Water was about up to witness's middle. Had also seen Green beat him with a stick 'for nothing,' and on another occasion had witnessed him tie the boy's bands and feet with straps, and leave him in the hut, in that position. Witness said he saw Green shoot at Coolbana with the gun produced. The paper hit witness in the face, and Coolbana laughed. Once saw he lumps on the little boy's arm, caused by his having been beaten with a stick. Green, when charged with having wounded the boy, said he had tied him to a sandalwood tree, and that the child had cut itself. Dinah told witness Green had shot the boy. The prisoner told witness, if anybody came, he was to say his 'brother' (Herbert Green) who, in reality, is not his brother, shot the boy. Green was afraid of policeman, because he had shot the lad & he was afraid the old woman would tell. Witness had told constable that the other Green had shot the child, because the prisoner had told him to say so. Saw Green load the gun with powder and shot the day before the child was fired at. 

Boxer: a native doctor, said he saw the child in question at Neerbanup, and examined the marks on his body. There were the marks of shot on the left groin and on the back. Saw blood running from the wounds all day, sometimes a great deal of blood. Took out from the groin one shot by sucking the wound with the mouth.

John Brown was the next witness called, he said: I know the prisoner, and in May last I stayed a day at Fanny's Cove, on the road from Eucla to Albany. When there, I heard about a little native boy having been shot, and I saw him twice. An old deaf and dumb woman was with him. I examined the boy and saw lots of shot marks on his back and groins. I picked out two shot with a penknife from just above the groin. The wounds on the left groin were discharging, but those on the back were healed or covered with a scab. The shot taken out were  'kangaroo shot.' I threw the shot away; they were adhering to a scab. 

This concluded the case for the Crown. 

On the first day of the trial, the prisoner had nothing to say, but, on the second day, he said: The boy had the gun when he went after the old woman, and when he returned the cap was off. The boy told me he had fired at parrots. There were natives all round the camp with guns. The girl said yesterday I only shot once, today she said I shot twice. 

On the first day the Chairman charged the jury to bring in a verdict for either the felony, a misdemeanour, or an acquittal according to the evidence. When they retired, there was a difference of opinion among them; three were for felony, three for misdemeanour, and six for an acquittal. But, after some time, the six joined those for misdemeanour, but no further progress could be made.

Sometime afterwards they returned into court, and the foreman said he had been requested by some of the jury to ask a question which he thought they had no right to ask, but which was whether the Court would inform them of the amount of punishment that might be inflicted for the felony and the misdemeanour, respectively. The Chairman said they had nothing to do with the penalties - all they had to do was simply to give a verdict upon the evidence taken before them. 

They then again retired, and shortly afterwards appeared in Court, a question having arisen as to whether two of their number were qualified to serve as jurors, they being Americans, and not naturalised. The Chairman thought as these persons had been placed on the jury list, and no objections having been raised at its revision, and they having that day taken the oath to try the case, he thought they were bound to abide by that oath. 

Thereupon, the jury again retired, and later on they were called into Court, and as they were not likely to agree, they were discharged, and the Court adjourned until next day, when another jury were empaneled and the evidence retaken. At its conclusion, they were charged to return a simple verdict of guilty or not guilty on the indictment. These gentlemen appeared not to have any difficulty in coming to a unanimous conclusion, for they very shortly delivered a verdict of guilty, with a recommendation to mercy on account of the prisoner's youth. 

The Chairman: then spoke of the grievous nature of the offence the prisoner had been guilty of, that it was the worst case that had ever been before the Court, and that the bench quite concurred in the verdict of the jury, adding that it was their intention to have passed a much heavier sentence than he was about to pass, but as the jury had recommended the prisoner to mercy on account of his youth, the sentence of the Court was ten years penal servitude. The prisoner left the dock with a smile on his face, and the Chairman remarked that he was happy to find the prisoner was not a Western Australian, whereupon there was some applause, which was instantly suppressed.

This case has been got up and conducted by police constable Truslove, of Esperance Bay, and very creditably has he done his duty, displaying a considerable amount of intelligence throughout the whole proceedings.

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I am currently developing a script for the stage based of the above events so would appreciate it if you could contact me via the comments section or twitter should you wish to link to or use this transcription for academic or creative purposes.  I hope to correct Trove's  online transcription of the original report ( which you can find here - http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page724777) in the near future.  

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