Kitty Hennessy lived in a tent at Prahran, outside Melbourne, with Alexander Ram, and her young son shared their bed. One night in August 1853, the boy witnessed a violent attack on his mother and was threatened with death if he revealed what had happened.
At trial, the boy gave his evidence through tears, telling the court his mother called his name once and then fell silent for good. The jury found Ram guilty of murder but recommended mercy, a plea the presiding judge said he could see no grounds for. Ram was hanged in Melbourne on 25 October 1853, as local newspapers noted was the seventh execution in twenty three days.
Ram never confessed to being conscious of what he was doing when he killed her, though his gaol chaplain believed him truly penitent before he went to the scaffold.
