The killing of Ronald Ryan

1967 Ronald Ryan (b. 1925) was executed at Pentridge Prison, Victoria, Australia and his body buried in an unmarked grave. The killing of Ryan, who was probably innocent, caused such outrage in the land that no Australian has been killed by Australian lawyers or politicians since -- not officially, anyway. Within twenty years, capital punishment was abolished federally and in all State and territory jurisdictions.

In 1967, Ronald Ryan, the last person to be executed in Australia, was killed by the State. It was a killing that helped the Premier of the State of Victoria, Henry Bolte, win an election, but it split the community deeply, such that no politician or judge ever again dared take anyone's life. Bolte brushed aside all protests, appeals and petitions, including one signed by seven of the jurors who sat on the Ryan case.

The judge, who had to impose a mandatory death penalty, was summoned by the Premier, who was soon to go before the electorate. Bolte asked the judge if there was any chance Ryan might have been innocent. The judge, who, despite the evidence, believed Ryan guilty, could have won a State reprieve by telling a white lie, but as a Roman Catholic, he felt he could not tell a mistruth to the premier. He thought it more ethical, rather, to allow a man to be hanged by the neck until dead. Years later, the troubled judge said on TV that he prayed to Ryan each night. I wrote a poem about it because I think this incident says a lot about people and belief.

'I could not tell a lie'
By Pip Wilson
(Based on an anecdote; avowedly a true story)

The judge sat through the weeks of trial
and sentenced Ryan to hang.
Premier Bolte sent for him
and asked him if this man,
this Ronald Ryan was truly guilty,
or was there "some way out,
with the election coming up and all" –
said the judge "No reasonable doubt".

So Ronald Ryan's neck was stretched;
the judge spoke to the press:
"I could not tell a lie", he said
"I'm of the faith" he stressed.

And further pressed on how he felt,
said the judge "Ryan had the right
to absolution, he's now in heaven.
I pray to him each night."

Categories: capital+punishment, death+penalty, australia, law, legal, crime, human+rights, civil+rights