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Vili Hakulinen

SRSA GRG 5/58 Vol 2 no 2/47

Vili Hakulinen (Wili Hakulinen)

Conviction - 5/9/1927

Offence - Robbery under arms

Sentence - Life Sentence, conviction quashed on appeal

 

Deported 16/10/1930

 

The Finnish-born Vili Hakulinen was arrested in 1926 on two charges of housebreaking, and was sentenced to nine months on one charge and was acquitted by a jury for the other. He was arrested again in August 1927 for robbery under arms of a house in Hackney. It was alleged he broke in to the house on Hackney Road on June 19, masking all but his eyes, and stole two pound of silver from Mrs Stella Murphy by making an assault on her while armed with a pistol. He was arrested after being identified from a line-up of five men by Mrs Murphy's son who was also present at the home on the night of June 19. He was ordered to life imprisonment with Mr Judge Angas Parsons recommending the sentence be reduced to seven years hard labour.

In 1930 Hakulinen lodged an appeal and his conviction was quashed, after a fellow prisoner at Yatala Labour Prison, George Christopher Percival Allen admitted that he was in fact the one who committed robbery under arms of Mrs. Murphy back in June 1927. After being granted freedom by the Criminal Court of Appeals, Hakulinen was immediately issued with a warrant for his deportation and arrested by an officer from the Customs Department. The order for deportation was taken out before he had been convicted and sentenced for the offence, but it was not put into effect at the time on account of the conviction. He unsuccessfully sought compensation for his wrongful imprisonment and was ultimately deported to Finland in October 1930.

 

 

Information from:

SRSA GRG5/58 Description and photographs of convicted persons - South Australian Police Department

Trove

 

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Uploaded on January 21, 2016
Taken in September 1927