The northern territory police magazine $4 c tat

P.C. Const. 'IC Basil Courts of Tennant Creek.


On arrival there the roadhouse proprietor,

Chambers, came out and informed them that the man they were looking for had been picked up beside the road a short while previously by Walter Atkinson and Allan Hagan. They had taken his rifle from him. (It was a Beretta .22, fully automatic, with a three to seven power telescope and full adjustments for elevation and wind). Its owner, Ronald Ifield Armstrong alias Williamson was then having supper in the roadhouse, and was immediately interviewed by the Police. He was arrested by Constable Courts on a charge of illegal use of a motor vehicle — Ian Tuxworth's Falcon, which, with all the stolen equipment, was driven by other Police into Renner Springs, and then on to Tennant Creek by Constable Maley. The prisoner returned to Tennant in the Police Landrover. On iith March he appearad in the Police Court there on five charges of stealing, two of break enter and steal, and one of shooting with intent to resist lawful apprehension, and was remanded in custody until 17th March.

Armstrong made a full confession regarding all these offences, and named Allan James Carlson as his accomplice. Carlson was arrested on warrant by Sergeant Ivor Waywood, at Katherine, and later conveyed to Tennant Creek. He made certain admissions, but denied committing any of the offences. He was committed for trial on one charge of break, enter and steal. Armstrong was committed for trial on the shooting charge, and for sentence on all of the others, to which he pleaded guilty in the Police Court. Both were taken to Alice Springs and later appeared in the Supreme Court there. Carlson was acquitted. Armstrong received 6 months on each of the larceny charges, to be served concurrently with two years and i8 months for the break and enter charges. For shooting with intent to resist lawful apprehension he was sentenced to three years' hard labour cumulative upon the other sentences. So he has the best part of five years to think over the fact that on one day he had something like k2,400 worth of property in his possession, and the next day he had nothing but what he stood up in in the cells.

In this matter the public co-operated fully with the Police, especially after the Banka Banka incident, and the calm commonsense used by Walter Atkinson and Allan Hagan may well have prevented a great deal of unpleasantness. Armstrong boasted of his marksmanship he had a high-class firearm, and had shown that he was quite prepared to use it against the Police. Perhaps a full day's barefoot walking through the bush in the Wet season heat and mud was much more size-reducing than he had expected.

From a Police point of view the incident came to a

highly pleasing conclusion when, in the Supreme Court at Alice Springs, Mr. Justice Bridge publicly commended the Police who took part in the investigations and arrest, with particular reference to s/C Constable Courts and Constables Maley and Faux. The Judge's statement made during the Jury's absence included the following:—

" Whatever verdict is reached by the Jury in this trial I consider that the Police Constables* who gave Crown evidence in it deserve to be commended for the thoroughness and fairness of their investigating work and also for the fairness with which they related it in evidence. Their investigations were spread over a wide area and were complex in nature. They were conducted throughout in a sound team spirit, and, like their evidence, showed a scrupulous regard for the interests of



Constable Ian Faux with his bride, the filmier Lila Klinginberg, after their Darwin wedding. •

both the public and the accused: I feel no doubt that the character of both their investigations and their testimony contributed appreciably to the fair trial which I know the accused have had.

" I also wish to mention the courageous conduct of another Policeman, Constable Faux, in pursuing the prisoner Armstrong who was sentenced by this Court early this month for a number of offences, including one of breaking, entering and stealing, now alleged to involve the accused Carlson as an accomplice. One of many articles stolen by Armstrong was a telescopic rifle with which he fired a shot at Constable Faux, as his Police pursuer in a lonely area. Although the firing range was considerable, Armstrong's use of the weapon was accurate enough for the discharged bullet to pass between the Constable's legs. Only good fortune saved both the Constable and a native Tracker accompanying him from death or serious injury. Both the Constable and the Tracker were unarmed.

" I mention these matters because I feel that they should not pass unnoticed. The tasks of the Police are usually thankless, if not unpopular, and are often irksome even to themselves. Insofar as I believe each item of conduct I have mentioned to bring credit to the Northern Territory Police Force and to three individual Constables in particular, I should be obliged if the Crown Prosecutor would be good enough to convey my remarks to the appropriate Police authorities ".

(* Courts and Maley)
"A Force in Football"



The Police team more thin holds its own in the N.T. Rugby League Competition in Darwin. Here we see

Mick Palmer on the receiving end of a pass from Wayne Cubis, while Bob Crowell races around the extreme

right of the picture to keep the traffic moving properly.

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