On 22 January 1902 Ah Lun, a Chinese gardener of Yamba, reported to the police the disappearance of his partner, Ah Won and a Cingalese employee on or about the 10th. A quantity of money and a sporting rifle were also missing from their house on a 7-acre market garden adjacent to present day Freeburn Street.

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The partners had recently employed the Cingalese man Charles Cornelius (aliases Cornelius Charles, Charles Cornelius Peara, Cornelius Peara and Charles Williams). Ah Lun had left £40 with Ah Won when he went to Grafton on 06 January and it  was now missing. It transgressed that Cornelius had purchased a suit of clothes with a £10 note at Tulloch’s store and had boarded a steamer for Sydney. He was eventually found in Auckland, New Zealand and escorted back to Maclean where he was charged with theft of a rifle and £40. When found, Cornelius using the name Peara was apparently well dressed and had £18 in his pocket.

When asked to explain the bloodstains found on the floorboards in Ah Won’s hut and on the fence leading to the bank of the river and on his boat, Peara claimed he had killed a pig and butchered it. The police concluded that Ah Won had been murdered in his hut and then dragged to his boat in which he was taken out into the river and thrown into the water. Despite an exhaustive search, no body was found.

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On 01 March Peara was formally charged with the alleged murder of Ah Won and remanded for trial at Maclean Police Court. Peara now claimed that the money was all his, having saved it from things he had sold. He had no explanation for the disappearance of Ah Won and the Magistrate concluded that Peara had a case to answer for and he was remanded to appear in Grafton Circuit Court on 22 April.

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The trial spread over 3 days with 35 witnesses appearing for the Crown and was well documented nationally. Although there was overwhelming circumstantial evidence, Judge Heydon summed it up by saying it was rule of law that direct evidence must be given of death before a conviction of murder could be obtained. The jury thus returned a verdict of not guilty.

Peara was then charged with stealing £40 from Ah Lun and reappeared in Grafton Circuit Court on 26 April. He pleaded not guilty and the trial lasted 2 days with 25 witnesses called. Peara claimed he had won the money he had spent and that found in his possession by gambling.

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The magistrate summed up the proceedings thus:

Ah Lun had gone to Grafton and entrusted £40 in cash to Ah Won, with whom he had been acquainted for 18 years and they always got on well together. There is no doubt the money was stolen, and investigation naturally turned on the two men who were left in the hut, but who had now disappeared. Ah Won had no police record and was hard working and industrious.

Peara, however, did not stay regularly in one place or have any fixed employment and admitted he was a gambler. He went to Yamba under circumstances that indicated poverty and was badly dressed. He had been acquitted on a murder charge due to a rule of law and could never again be put on trial for murder of Ah Won – Rule of Double Jeopardy. One of the notes he had passed in late January had an opium stain on it, which strongly implied it was part of the cash left by Ah Lun.

Peara was sentenced to seven years penal servitude. It was then disclosed that he was well known to Grafton police and had appeared in court on several occasions on such charges as assaulting 8-year-old girl Priscilla Gould, house theft and  threatening grievous bodily harm in two instances.

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From his 1895 Prison Record Sheet, he was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)  in 1868 and claimed he came to Australia from Ceylon on the Duke of Sutherland in 1882 but changed this to the Duranda in his 1907 Prison Record Sheet. He worked as a labourer and later as a bootblack.

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While waiting to sail on the Kallatina to Sydney with Constable Bradbury, Peara confessed to the police officer that he had indeed murdered and robbed Ah Won. On the evening of 10 January, he claimed that he had quarrelled with the Chinaman over payment of wages. Ah Won threatened him with a rifle (revealed in evidence to be broken and not in a condition to be fired) and a tomahawk. He wrenched the rifle from his assailant who then attempted to strike him with the tomahawk. In defence, he struck him in the head with the butt of the gun, and again as he lay on the ground. This happened in front of the hut (Peara claimed the police had made up the evidence of bloodstains in the hut and boat). He then dragged the unconscious man to the river and held him under until he drowned. After dark, he launched the boat, tied the Chinaman’s pigtail to the stern ring and rowed out to the bar where he cut the body free.

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There was some doubt as to the authenticity of Peara’s confession mainly because of the bloodstains found.

Following the confession, the Solicitor-General Henry Pollock began considering the question of taking further proceedings against Peara. It was suggested that he be placed on trial for robbery with violence. However, it was decided in May that no further action be taken against him . He could not, on his confession, be tried on any other charge as it was evidence of murder only.

Peara had early release from prison in 1907 but continued to offend and spend more time in gaol.

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John McNamara, Research Officer, Port of Yamba Historical Society