Identity area
Type of entity
Legal Status Text
Authorized form of name
Other form(s) of name
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
On 20 January 1926, A.E. Burt was appointed Royal Commissioner to inquire into the circumstances leading to the dismissal from the Police Force of Constable Lambert and particularly to ascertain:
1) Whether Patrick Mooney who on 27 June 1925 at the Court of Petty Sessions, Fremantle, for the alleged offence of being found on licensed premises on Sunday 3 May 1925, was fined 2 pounds and in default of payment was arrested on a warrant of commitment and imprisoned for six days, was identical with the actual offender, namely, the man who on 3 May 1925 was found on the said licensed premises (the Cleopatra Hotel, Fremantle) by Constable Lambert, and who stated to the constable that his name was Patrick Martin;
2) Whether the said Patrick Mooney arrived in Western Australia by the R.M.S. "Orsova" on 5 May 1925;
3) Whether, when on 25 June 1925, Constable Lambert served the said Patrick Mooney with a summons for the alleged offence, the said Patrick Mooney asserted he was not the man referred to in the summons by the name of Patrick Mooney alias Martin, and protested then and subsequently when arrested on a warrant of commitment that he was not the man wanted;
4) Whether when or before the Magistrate was satisfied that the said Patrick Mooney was the man found by Constable Lambert on the licensed premises on Sunday 3 May and who gave the name "Patrick Martin", Constable Lambert informed the Magistrate that the said Patrick Mooney when served with the summons protested that he was not the man referred to in the summons, and that it was a case of mistaken identity; and
5) Whether in the circumstances Constable Lambert took reasonable steps to satisfy himself and the Magistrate as to the identity of the said Patrick Mooney with the actual offender.
The report of the Royal Commission was completed on 15 February 1926.