Constable Bill
Whitcombe probably thought he had a watertight case. There were two
witnesses who had both sworn statements that the cook from the Alice
Springs aerodrome had made unwanted advances towards them and had
sexually assaulted one of them not once, but twice. The fellow even had
form, with a few counts of stealing, receiving stolen goods and railway
trespass on his record, although they were from many years before. A
conviction would
have seemed certain. However, it was not to be, and the case would
collapse in court when the key witness retracted his statement
admitting it had all been a lie.
The
material from which the story is derived and
quotations have been taken are Northern Territory Archives Service, Supreme Court of the Northern Territory,
E99, Criminal dockets - annual alphabetical series, 1942-1954,
File of *****, and F69,
Police Station - Alice Springs
(Commonwealth), correspondence files - annual single number series,
1945-1949, File 61/49, *****.
In relating this story the names of the three main characters have been
changed to preserve their anonymity. However, all other participants
were as named.
Peter James was
clearly able to recall the events of the evening of Monday March 28,
1949 in
the conversation he subsequently had with Constable
Whitcombe on April 4.
He had
gone to the Rendezvous Cafe in town at about 9:00pm with the new
groundsman from the aerodrome, Russell Brosnan. There they met a young
man called Lee Logan who had no money and was
in need of a job. Remembering that the Department of Civil Aviation
tennis courts needed cleaning he suggested Logan might do that to earn
some cash. He was interested, and the two of them then went to the
Pioneer Cafe, had a meal and "...waited until the pictures came out."
After the picture show was finished Pete spoke to Mr McCullock, the
Airport Inspector, and put the suggestion to him that he take Logan out
to the airport, provide him with somewhere to sleep and put him to work
in the morning. The inspector agreed.
Having had a bit to drink that night he asked another colleague, Ernie
Ives, to drive his car back out to the airport. So with Ives and the
inspector in the front seat Peter James, Lee Logan and Russell Brosnan
all sat in the back. When they got to the
airport at about 11:15pm they dropped the others at their quarters and
Pete took Lee back to his room. As there was only one bed, Peter let
the
new chap have it and slept on the floor himself with his overcoat for a
pillow and just a blanket over himself.
Pete got up the next morning and had a wash and went to work. When
Logan woke up at 8:00, he gave him breakfast and "...put him to
work on the tennis court." Afterwards they went to see another officer
who said there was a cleaner's job available if Logan wanted to be
"...free of his housing and food worries." It was all agreed and Peter
said he would run Lee back into town that evening.
But that was not what Lee Logan told the police on April 2. After Jim
had left him
and Peter James at the Rendezvous Lee and Peter had climbed into the
front seat of
Pete's
car together. According to
Logan
it was there that the trouble first started:
[James] began to kiss me
and put his hands on [my] private parts. I said to him, "Take your
hands off me". He continued to do what he was doing and I said "I'll go
and tell the police." Then he stopped for a while and said "If you want
this job you had better come out with me tonight." I said, "I
want the job badly."
Once they got to the aerodrome it wasn't long before the trouble
started
up again:
[James] put two bottles of
beer into the refrigerator from the car and then began to interfere
with my clothing. He opened up the buttons of my trousers and took my
trousers right down. I told him not to do this and was a little
frightened of him. He said, "I'll choke you if you don't let me". He
tried
to put his penis into my anus but I struggled away from him. His penis
at this time was stiff and erect. I know because I saw it and felt it
trying to be put into my anus.
Apparently easily distracted from his ambitions Peter James then
took Lee to find somewhere to sleep. This turned out to be James' room
where there was only one bed. Lee protested that he couldn't sleep
there
because of the bed shortage but recalled that Pete was insistent, even
refusing to let him go and sleep in the car. Fearing for his safety he
remained in the room while Peter James made a bed for them on the
floor and then completely removed Lee's clothes.
I told him that I wanted
to sleep with them on. He said "You will not".
Then he took his clothes off and got into bed with me. We were both
naked then. He
immediately began to try and kiss me and put his hands on my private
parts. I
objected to this. He then grabbed me by both shoulders and rolled me
onto my stomach. He then climbed onto my back and inserted his penis
into my anus and moved to and fro and completed the sex act.
Oddly, Peter James waited until the completion of this assault to grab
Logan around the throat and say, "Don't sing out or I will
choke you." Then they went to sleep together. But Logan's suffering was
not over.
We were asleep about two
hours when he woke me up and grabbed my shoulders and again turned me
over. I called out "Help". James grabbed my mouth and nose and said
"You are not singing out in
here". He then put his penis into my anus and moved to and fro and
completed the sex act.
Evidently sated, Peter James got up and went straight to work, leaving
Lee in
bed, warning him to keep quiet until all the men had gone. After he had
fed the staff Peter came back to get Lee, made him breakfast and then
took him to clean the tennis courts as agreed. It was only on the drive
back to town later that day that the previous night's events were
discussed. Logan told James that he was "...going to inform the
Police." To which Peter responded, "If you do you will get three
months". And so he said nothing until Constable Whitcombe questioned
him on April 2, when he made his statement.
But, why had the officer sought out Lee Logan in the first place?
Perhaps Russell Brosnan, a groundsman from the aerodrome, knew. He made a statement
the following day that accused Peter James of similar conduct. Again,
the trouble first started in town, even before Lee Logan had turned up.
In his account Brosnan stated that he had accompanied Peter James to
the Returned Soldiers' Club at about 7:45 that evening. While there he
asked for directions to the lavatory. As it was located outside the
building he
asked, "How am I going to
find it on a dark night like this?". Peter James offered to show him
and
took him outside adding ominously, "I usually go up the back."
While they were relieving themselves they chatted about how long
Russell would be working out at the 'drome and the likelihood that they
would become "...the best of mates". However, the conversation was
apparently not
as innocent
as it seemed. According to Russell, the whole time
Peter "...was loving me up as though I was a girl and putting his
arms around me."
After going back inside the club they stayed until leaving at about
10:00 to pick up Brosnan's coat from the Rendezvous. Arriving in his
room there they encountered Lee Logan, sitting on Brosnan's bed. At
that point Russell again felt the need to go to the lavatory, and again
allowed Peter James to accompany him, who again put his arm around his
new best mate's shoulder.
The three then went in Peter James' car to get supper. Later, on the
way back out to the 'drome in Pete's car, Russell sat in the back with
Peter and Lee who was now the object of Peter's lust, and the one he
had his arm around. As the first to be dropped off on arrival at the
airstrip, Russell knew nothing of what else might have happened that
night or where Lee Logan slept.
However the next afternoon he did start drinking with Peter James again
on the verandah of the aerodrome mess. After sharing three bottles of
beer and some supper there, Peter got another bottle and suggested they
go back to his room. Resisting the invitation Russell stayed put and
the two kept drinking on the verandah. It was then, Brosnan recalled,
that "Peter began to move up close to me and put his hands on my knees,
my chest and then around my buttocks." At that point Russell Brosnan very
sensibly made his excuses and hurried off to bed.
The Centralian Advocate of
Friday, April 8 (p.13) reported that Peter James "...appeared before
Mr. J. W. Nichols S.M. in the Alice Springs Police Court on Wednesday
afternoon on a serious charge. The proceedings were adjourned until
April 12. Bail in £50 with one surety of £50 was allowed."
Buggery was certainly a serious charge and could incur a stiff penalty.
But it wasn't going to stick. When the case was heard on April 11,
another statement from Lee Logan was brought before the court. Oddly it
had been made privately and was dated just two days after his original
statement to Constable Whitcombe, and a week before the trial. In it
Logan made a remarkable confession:
This
is to certify that any statement made by me about [Peter James] and
myself was completely without foundation. I also state that I was
tricked by Edgar Kamel into going to the police station in the first
place, and that I had no idea that I was supposed to make a statement
about any matter at all. I signed the statement because I was
frightened of Edgar Kamel. I also bear witness to the fact that Edgar
Kamel, on Sunday 3 April 1949, did constantly talk to [Russell Brosnan]
about the intention of getting him to sign another statement. In my
opinion Edgar Kamel is the instigator of the whole affair. I repeat
that there is no truth in any statement made by me.
Not surprisingly, Peter James was found not guilty of buggery and
discharged. And while the Advocate
printed the news of his acquittal on April 15 (p.14), he would have
certainly had to face community suspicion and, more than likely, some
small town gossip from then onwards.
Nothing is known of Edgar Kamel or why he had engineered this elaborate
plot against Peter James. Was it motivated by revenge, or an attempt at
blackmail? Was Peter actually homosexual and therefore perceived as an
easy mark, or was sexuality just chosen as a simple option on which to
fabricate evidence? We'll probably never know. But there was definitley
some trouble with the cook at the aerodrome in Alice Springs that year.
