The Shark Arm Case, a sensational crime that baffled Australia over 80 years ago
Originally built in 1887, the Coogee Aquarium was situated in the northern part of the beachside suburb of Coogee in Sydney, Australia. It was comprised of an indoor swimming pool, a hall that was sometimes used for roller skating and various carnival rides. It also had a proper aquarium with various live fish. However, by the early 1930s, the business had fallen on harder times and attendances had dropped off somewhat.
On April 17th 1935, the owner of the aquarium went fishing and hooked a small shark in the sea off Coogee. In the process of dragging the shark into the boat, it was swallowed whole by a much larger tiger shark. The bigger shark was still alive and was put in a pool at the aquarium in time for the Anzac Day public holiday (April 25th) when a large crowd was expected to attend.
Initially the shark had been quite active, but by Anzac Day it seemed to have become ill. It kept very still on the bottom of its pool. Around 4:30 pm, in front of a large crowd, the shark suddenly began to thrash around violently. Then it vomited into the water, which became cloudy. When the murk had cleared there was a human arm on the floor of the pool.Some rope was tied around the wrist. There was also a tattoo of two boxers on the arm.
At first it was thought that someone had been taken by the shark while swimming, but a medical examination revealed that the arm had been severed by a knife before it had been eaten by the shark. After reading about the case, a Mr. Edwin Smith came forward and stated that the arm belonged to his brother Jimmy, who was a former boxer, small time criminal and police informer. The arm was positively identified by Smith’s brother and Smith’s wife. Fingerprints were also taken and found to be Smith’s.
The last time Smith had been seen alive was on Sunday April 7th at a hotel in Cronulla, another beachside suburb in Sydney’s south. He was drinking with his friend Patrick Brady. Brady, a World War 1 veteran, was also known to police and had been convicted for forgery.
Both Smith and Brady were associated with another Sydney criminal, Reginald Holmes. Holmes ran a successful and legitimate boat building business, but he also engaged in various illegal activities on the side. He used his boats for drug smuggling. Together with Smith he had carried out a number of insurance frauds where boats were overinsured and then mysteriously sunk. Smith, Brady and Holmes had also passed forged cheques drawn on the accounts of some of Holmes’ customers. Smith and Holmes had recently had a disagreement and police established that Smith had been blackmailing Holmes.
The police also established that on the Sunday night, Brady and Smith had left the hotel together and had gone to a house in Tallombi St. Cronulla. The police believed that Smith was murdered by Brady in the house at Tallombi St. The day after Smith was last seen alive, Brady caught a taxi to Holmes residence at McMahon’s Point. The taxi driver identified Brady and the houses in Tallombi St and McMahon’s Point. He also said that Brady had been somewhat dishevelled and extremely nervous during the taxi trip. In addition, the driver noticed that he was carrying something under his coat.
At this stage the police did not have enough evidence to bring Brady or Holmes to trial, but they arrested Brady anyway. Holmes denied knowing Brady. A couple of days later Holmes had something approaching a nervous breakdown. He left his Sydney boatshed in a state of inebriation, got into a speedboat and went out onto Sydney Harbor. There he attempted to shoot himself in the head. Amazingly the bullet failed to penetrate his skull, but he was knocked unconscious by the blast and thrown into the water. He was saved from drowning by a piece of rope around his wrist. When he regained consciousness Holmes climbed back into the boat. When police attempted to apprehend him, he sped off, chased by two police boats. The chase went from around Circular Quay where it disrupted ferry traffic for a while, then up Sydney Harbor towards Sydney Heads. The chase lasted nearly four hours before Holmes was finally captured.
When police interviewed Holmes he said that Brady had arrived at his house on the Monday with the severed left arm. Brady told him that he had killed Smith, then dismembered the body. He had put the pieces in a trunk and disposed of the trunk in the water at Gunnamatta Bay near Cronulla. Dumping of bodies in the Pacific Ocean off Sydney by criminals was a popular method of disposing of murder victims in the 20s and 30s and was known as a “Sydney send off”. Brady demanded that Holmes pay him ₤500 to keep quiet. Holmes paid Brady the ₤500 and Brady left, leaving behind the arm. Holmes said that that evening he had driven to Maroubra Beach which is 3 miles south of Coogee Beach and had thrown the arm into the ocean. Holmes agreed to testify at the inquest into the death of Smith which was scheduled for June 12th.
On the morning of the inquest Holmes was found shot dead in a car in Hickson Road at Dawes point, near the south pylon of the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
With the death of Holmes, the case against Brady collapsed. Brady’s lawyer argued that there was no proof that Smith had been murdered. He stated that an arm “did not constitute a body” and that Smith could possibly be alive (albeit missing his left arm). At the trial the judge directed the jury to return a verdict of not guilty.
There are a number of theories regarding who ordered the death of Jimmy Smith. Holmes is only one of a number of suspects. Smith was a police informer and had informed on Eddie Weyman, another Sydney criminal. Information provided by Smith had been responsible for the capture of Weyman in the act of robbing a bank. Brady died in 1965 and always denied any involvement in the death of Smith or Holmes.
The historian Professor Alex Castles has a theory that Holmes ordered his own murder in order to save his family from embarrassment about what was likely to come out in the inquest and trial of Brady. The boat business was sold soon after Holmes death — amazingly to someone whose fingerprints were found in the car in which Holmes had been found dead. The boat business is still operating today. In 2003 the case was used as part of the plot of one episode of CSI Miami.
