Manslaughter of a native child
On 1 July 1842, Charles Bussell was tried at the Perth Quarter Sessions on the charge of ‘manslaughter of a native child’, a girl aged about 7 years. Bussell claimed the shooting was an accident incurred while he was trying to obtain information about a theft from his property. In spite of being convicted by a jury on a charge of manslaughter he was sentenced with a fine of one shilling. This was the first time a white settler was tried at Perth for homicide of an Indigenous person.
This trial report is from The Perth GazetteDownload from Trove
