Dorothy Ellen DAVIS (Dottie)

Jury retires after hearing new evidenceArticle from: Herald Sun
September 11, 2007 03:43pm

A NSW Supreme Court jury has again resumed its deliberations at the Sydney murder trial of Bruce Burrell.

Mr Burrell, 54, has pleaded not guilty to murdering wealthy Sydney widow Dorothy Davis, 74, on May 30 1995.

The jury began its deliberations last week, but they were interrupted today when new evidence emerged relating to former chloroform addict Martin Meagher.

Tea lady Patricia Abbey told the jury Mr Meagher had told her he saw an elderly lady on the day Mrs Davis disappeared - evidence Mr Meagher has previously denied.

Crown prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC said the jurors could give no credence to Ms Abbey's evidence.

"We submit a casual conversation in the tea room has been completely misunderstood, taken out of context, and given currency way beyond what was said," he said.

Philip Young SC for Mr Burrell said the tea lady's evidence was something the jury could add to matters the defence had already raised in relation to the Crown not being able to rule out various possibilities in the case.

Burrell jury 'can't reach decision'
Posted Wed Sep 12, 2007 1:00pm AEST

Jurors in the murder trial of Sydney man Bruce Burrell have told the judge they cannot reach a unanimous decision.

The week-long deliberations were disrupted yesterday because of fresh evidence in the case and the 10 men and two women on the jury are still undecided on their verdict.

Bruce Burrell is accused of murdering 74-year-old Dorothy Davis after she disappeared from her Lurline Bay home 12 years ago.

Justice David Kirby says he is reluctant to discharge the jury until all possibilities are explored.

He urged them to identify the sticking points and review the evidence.

Bruce Burrell gets 28 years

But Tonia Pai wept yesterday as a magistrate assured her she would not be punished for her brother's deeds.

The true significance of the weapon Pai was charged with keeping may never be known - and the mystery surrounding just how Mrs Whelan died never resolved.

Police have long sought the Browning Buck Mark .22 which they suspected Burrell used in the 1996 kidnapping and death.

But its whereabouts eluded police from the time it was reported stolen in 1996 until it surfaced in a northern beaches home earlier this year.

Ms Pai yesterday pleaded guilty to two firearms charges in Manly Local Court, admitting she had failed to keep the weapon safely and had done so without a licence.

The court heard Burrell had lived with her "on and off for many years" and Ms Pai had found the gun in his belongings shortly after he was jailed for murder in late 2008.

She told her father about the discovery, and he said he would tell Burrell's legal team. But he died within weeks - and the gun stayed where it was.

Pai even moved house with it in late 2009, stuffing it in the back of a bedroom wardrobe in her next home.

She moved again late last year, with the new tenants finding the gun months later and reporting it to police.

Pai's solicitor Ian Byrne told the court yesterday his client had made "full and frank admissions" to police as soon as they spoke to her about the discovery of the weapon.

He said she had merely hidden it from her children, and completely forgot it when she moved house.

He urged leniency by Magistrate David Amati, saying the mother-of-five had lost both her father and husband about the time she found the gun. "Despite what she has been handed by life she certainly tries to do her best," he said.

Mr Amati initially told the court he was "troubled" by her conduct, adding: "This is one of the most notorious murder cases in this state in some years ... she found a gun, why didn't she hand it in?"

However Mr Amati said it was clear she had no knowledge of its importance and sentenced her to an 18-month good behaviour bond.

Burrell is serving two life sentences for murder.

Convicted kidnapper and double murderer Bruce Burrell, the man responsible for one of the most infamous Sydney crimes of the 1990s, has died without revealing the location of his two victims.

The 63-year-old died from liver and lung cancer on Thursday.

Charges against Burrell, a friend and former employee of the family, were laid in 1999, dropped, then reinstated after an inquest in 2002.

The first trial ended with a hung jury and, after a second trial, he was convicted in mid 2006.

"Bruce Burrell was my friend. He was an employee first, then became a friend. He was welcomed into my home. He met my children, cuddled my children," Mr Whelan said on the day of Burrell's conviction.

"Then he betrayed me in the worst way imaginable: killing their mum," Bernie Whelan said on the day his one-time friend had been convicted."

Mr Whelan died late last year aged 77 without finding his wife's body.

At the time of Mr Whelan's death, his family told Fairfax Media that they would have preferred to see Burrell walk out of jail if it meant finding a body.

"The uncertainty will always be a bit of a burden," son Matthew said in March. "As dad and I spoke about many times ... if we could have a choice of keeping Bruce in jail or finding a body, we'd say finding a body. It was definitely something that weighed on him."

Burrell also never disclosed the whereabouts of Mrs Davis who "disappeared from the face of the earth" on May 30, 1995.