Dark Stories: On This Day In True Crime History - Dark Stories True Crime Tours

1991: Sir Terence Lewis, Queensland Police Commissioner, Convicted of Corruption

Sir Terence Lewis, Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service from 1976 to 1987, was found guilty on 5 August 1991 of 15 counts of corruption and one of forgery, following the explosive Fitzgerald Inquiry into police misconduct. A District Court jury determined that Lewis had accepted bribes totalling $700,000 to protect brothels, SP bookmakers, illegal casinos, and gaming machine operators. He had been handpicked for the commissioner’s role in 1976 by Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, bypassing 122 more senior officers.

Judge Healy sentenced Lewis to the maximum term available: 14 years for corruption and 10 years for forgery, to be served concurrently. Lewis was stripped of his knighthood and two other awards. He continued to protest his innocence and pursued appeals until the last one failed in August 2005.

Terence Murray Lewis, Queensland Police Commissioner. © State of Queensland (Queensland Police Service); original photographer unknown. Retouched by Georgfotoart. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

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Australia Brisbane Corruption Organised Crime Police Political Crime QLD Trial

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1858: Matthew Burns Hanged at Avoca for Assault in a Botched Double Execution

Matthew Burns, convicted of assault, and George Young, convicted of the murder of Esther Scott, were hanged together at the gaol in Avoca on 5 August 1858. Both men were attended by Catholic clergy until the final moment, clinging to every possible delay before the bolt was drawn.

The execution of Burns descended into a horror. The rope yarn used to pinion his arms gave way, allowing him to grasp the rope at his neck and resist the drop. The executioner was forced to physically compel Burns to release his hold before he finally fell, and he strangled slowly for several minutes after Young had died. The cause was later attributed to the authorities having refused to supply proper rope and twine, forcing the executioner to use whatever materials the gaol had on hand.

Neither man confessed from the scaffold, but neither protested his innocence. Both appeared, in the words of those present, to tacitly admit their guilt.

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Australia Avoca Execution Murder Trial VIC

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1870: Patrick Smith Hanged at Melbourne Gaol for the Murder of His Wife

Patrick Smith, a fisherman working the Yarra and Saltwater rivers, had subjected his wife Mary to years of brutal abuse at their home in Errol Street, Hotham (North Melbourne). Neighbours had witnessed repeated beatings and shocking cruelties; Mary herself had told those around her that she believed her husband would one day murder her. On 9 July 1870, after a day of drinking and quarrelling, a neighbour heard heavy blows, then silence, then Smith calling out ‘Mary, Mary, do get up.’ She was never seen alive again.

Smith was tried for the murder of his wife and convicted. He was hanged at Melbourne Gaol on 4 August 1870.

Maribyrnong River at Brimbank Park in Victoria, Australia

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Australia Domestic Homicide Execution Melbourne Murder North Melbourne VIC

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1306: The Murder That Ended the Premysl Dynasty

On 4 August 1306, Bohemian King Wenceslas III was stabbed to death in Olomouc, cutting short the reign of a young ruler who had held the crowns of Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland. He was just 16 years old. His death extinguished the male line of the Premysl dynasty, a royal house that had shaped Central Europe since the ninth century.

With no male heir, the dynasty that had produced kings across three kingdoms collapsed in a single moment of violence. The Luxembourg clan seized Bohemia; the Piasts took Poland. The age of Premyslid rule was over.

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Assassination Czech Republic Europe Medieval History Olomouc Poland Political Crime Royalty

1991: Sir Terence Lewis, Queensland Police Commissioner, Convicted of Corruption

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1858: Matthew Burns Hanged at Avoca for Assault in a Botched Double Execution

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1870: Patrick Smith Hanged at Melbourne Gaol for the Murder of His Wife

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1306: The Murder That Ended the Premysl Dynasty

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