Jerilderie Herald and Urana Advertiser (NSW : 1898 – 1958) View title info Thu 8 Jan 1948
Page 3 – Alleged Assault by Constable
Alleged Assault by Constable
CASE AT WALGETT
Before Mr. Pocock, S.M., in the Walgett Court of Petty Sessions, Eddries Khan, skin and wool buyer, of Collarenebri, proceeded against Constable H. Dunn, of Walgett, alleging unlawful assault.
Mr. Cassidy (Moodie, Cole and Co., Moree) appeared for the informant, and Mr. MacFarlane, of Coonamble, for the defendant.
Khan’s allegations were that he went to the telephone booth at Walgett Post Office to pray. According to his religion he had to pray three times each day. The constable called him out, kicked him in the back, and said: “Get out of the town, you black ______.” The constable afterwards followed him in the police utility and overtook him just after he had driven across the Walgett bridge, travelling towards Collarenebri. Constable Dunn, he said, pulled him out of his lorry, hit him on the chest, and ordered him not to come back any more, or he would put a £500 fine on him for carrying blackfellows. Khan said he visited Walgett to get injections from the local doctor.
The defence was a complete denial of the allegations. Dunn accused Khan of supplying the Aborigines with liquor and ordered him out of the town. The constable said he afterwards was proceeding towards Lightning Ridge when he saw Khan’s lorry pulled up on the road. He ordered Khan to get along, but did not strike him.
Constable Young, a witness, corroborated the evidence given by the defendant.
Constable Reed gave similar corroborative evidence, refuting any suggestion of Constable Dunn being drunk.
The Magistrate said the question of the sobriety of the constable had been satisfactorily established. He therefore dismissed the information.
The informant was ordered to pay £4/4/- professional costs, in default nine days’ hard labour.
— Abridged from the Walgett Spectator
(Constable Dunn was at one time stationed at Jerilderie, while Mr. MacFarlane, who appeared for him, was Jerilderie’s first Clerk of Petty Sessions, and is now practising as a solicitor at Coonamble.)
