Shark arm case

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The term shark arm case ( english The Shark Arm Case ) refers to a murder case from 1935 in Sydney , Australia . The case was discovered when a shark spat out a human arm with cuts in the bone that indicated a murder case. The identity of the victim, James Smith, could be determined from the tattoos on the arm. The murder took place in the demi-world ; he could not be cleared up with absolute certainty.

The shark

Coogee Beach; the building with the domed roof was the aquarium.

In mid-April 1935, 3 km from Coogee , a district of Sydney on the Pacific Ocean , a 3.5 m long tiger shark was caught and brought to the Coogee Aquarium Bath. He fell ill within a week and finally vomited a human arm in front of the crowd on April 25th. Based on the tattoos depicting two boxers, James Smith was identified by his brother, who had already missed him. Fingerprints confirmed it was former boxer and petty criminal James Smith, who had disappeared since April 7th. Investigations revealed that the arm had been severed with a knife and a murder case was initiated. Three days later, the aquarium owners killed the shark and ransacked it to assist the police in their search for further clues.

Reginald Holmes and Patrick Brady

Initial investigations led the police to Reginald William Lloyd Holmes, a well-known fraudster and smuggler who also ran a successful boat building company. Holmes had hired Smith on several insurance frauds; including 1934 when an overinsured pleasure cruiser sank near Terrigal . Shortly thereafter, they started a rip-off with Patrick Brady, a forger. Holmes passed the signatures of friends and customers on to Brady, who used it to forge checks with small amounts and cash them with Smith.

Smith was last seen playing cards with Brady at the Cecil Hotel in the Cronulla neighborhood on April 7th . He had told his wife that he went fishing. The port area was searched unsuccessfully for Smith's body, which caused problems for the prosecution when Brady was eventually on trial.

Brady was arrested on May 16 on high suspicion. A taxi driver testified that he took Brady from Cronulla to Holmes in North Sydney the day Smith disappeared. Brady looked disheveled and scared. According to the owner, a chest and mattress had been replaced and the walls scrubbed clean in Brady's rented house.

Holmes initially denied any acquaintance with Brady. Four days later, on May 20th, he attempted suicide in his boat shed. He shot himself in the head with a .32 caliber pistol; however, the bullet only brushed his forehead and only drove him unconscious. Awakened from falling into the water, he crawled into one of his boats and chased the police in Sydney Harbor for several hours until he was finally caught and taken to the hospital.

A month later, Holmes testified to Detective Sergeant Frank Matthews that Brady killed Smith, dismembered his body, and put the pieces in a chest in Port Hacking. He also claimed that Brady came to his home with his arm and threatened to murder him. The next day, June 11th, Holmes, who had since been released, withdrew £ 500 from his account. He left his house late in the evening and told his wife that he needed to meet someone. He was very careful when he stepped out into the street and allowed his wife to escort him to the car. Early the next day he was found dead in his car at Daves Point. He was shot three times at close range.

Possible course

In the book The Shark Arm Murders , Alex Castles speculates that Holmes had given up a murder assignment on himself in order to spare his family the public shame of conviction. The preliminary negotiations against Brady, which were due to begin on June 12, were broken off because there were insufficient circumstantial evidence without Holmes' testimony.

Castles continued to suspect that Smith was killed by Brady on behalf of Eddie Weyman. Weyman was caught in a bank robbery after Smith leaked information about the plan to the police.

Aftermath

Weyman was murdered in a gang war in 1945. Brady died of natural causes as an old man in 1965 and protested his innocence to the end.

literature

  • Vince Kelly: The shark arm case . Horwitz, Sydney 1963, OCLC 221075442 (English).
  • Lesley Zuber: The shark arm case . In: Classic Australian stories . Nelson, West Melbourne 1980, ISBN 0-17-005735-6 (English, Schoolbook series).
  • Alex Castles: The Shark Arm Murders . Wakefield Press, Kent Town, SA 1995, ISBN 1-86254-335-6 (English).
  • Vince Kelly: The Shark Arm Case . In: Alan Whiticker (Ed.): Twelve crimes that shocked the nation . New Holland, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2005, ISBN 1-74110-110-7 (English).

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