Newly opened trial briefs sealed for decades offer insight into shootings and revenge attacks in Sydney and Melbourne's criminal underbelly in the 1940s.
George Barrett was charged with wounding with intent to commit murder, but was acquitted.Rightly or wrongly, there wasn't a lot of sympathy for George Edward Barrett after he was shot dead during a Fitzroy brawl in Melbourne one night in December 1947.
The trial briefs in the case against George Barrett and Charles Martin were sealed for 75 years under the Public Records Act. Barrett ran a business selling beer with a man called Keith Kitchener Hull and was also mates with well-known underworld figure Donald "The Duck" Day. Hull shot Day in the cheek, heart and stomach, leaving the underworld figure dead in a pool of blood.If he thought that was going to be the end of the matter, he was mistaken.Donald Day had been providing protection for sex worker and underworld figure Dulcie Markham, and was also said to be romantically involved with her.
Barrett had also moved back to Melbourne, and so had Keith Kitchener Hull, probably assuming he'd have an easier time of it if he moved away from the city where he'd put three bullets into a crime boss. After a few drinks, all three men hopped into Hull's truck and went for a drive in St Kilda, pulling over in Neptune Street.