The Shark Arm Case

In April of 1935, two Australian fishermen donated a 10-foot tiger shark, caught off the coast of Sydney to the Coogee Beach Aquarium.

Coughing Up The Evidence

After showing signs of increasing distress, on April 25 it vomited up its stomach contents which included a well-preserved human arm.

Experts were left to wonder: had this been a case of a shark attack on an innocent swimmer, or was this part of a dismembered body of crime victim?

Unarmed Tattoo

The limb was well muscled and remarkably well preserved. The skin bore a tattoo of two boxers confronting each other. A rope was tied around the wrist, and…

The Doctor’s Report

There were clear signs that the arms had been hacked off its body by a knife, not a shark bite.

Identifying The Appendage

The only realistic hope was to find a way of retrieving the fingerprints. This involved removing the fragile layers of skin in pieces for the tip of each finger in turn, and reassembling the fragments to produce a complete print.

When complete, the prints were checked against criminal records and a match was found.

The Armless Victim

The prints, and the arm, belonged to a former boxer and small-time criminal named James Smith who had already been reported missing.

The Story

Smith had disappeared from home on April 8, telling his wife he was renting a cottage with a man named Patrick Brady (a known criminal) for the two men to do some fishing.

A wide sea search failed to find any other parts of Smith’s body.

The Suspect

Being the last to see Smith alive, Brady was arrested on 16 May and charged with the murder of Smith. A taxi driver testified that he had driven Brady on the day Smith had gone missing, and that "he was dishevelled, he had a hand in a pocket and wouldn't take it out... it was clear that [he] was frightened.

"THERE CAN BE NO INQUEST, MUCH LESS A

TRIAL FOR MURDER, WITHOUT A CORPUS

DELICTI AND ONE TATTOOED HUMAN ARM DISGORGED BY A SHARK

IS NOT A BODY!"

Before the Commonwealth's High Court Brady's counsel, Clive Evatt, argued,

A Possible Theory

It is speculated that Smith was killed by Brady on the orders of gangland figure Eddie Weyman, who was arrested during a bank robbery apparently due to information Smith had given to the police.

The Science of Crime Scene Investigation