Remembered... Constable 1st Class Kenneth Desmond COUSSENS Bomb Attack Bega 29 July, 1957 The constable, his wife Elizabeth and baby son Bruce were murdered by the offender Kelly who had placed a bomb on the front verandah of the constables home at Bega. The offender had become incensed at being spoken to by the constable regarding traffic offences and on 29 July, 1957 he placed a metal dairy container packed with over 200 sticks of stolen gelignite at the constables home. About 2am the offender lit the fuse to the bomb and the dwelling was almost obliterated in the resultant explosion. Constable Coussens stepson, eight year-old Roger McCampbell, was the sole family survivor of the explosion. The offender Kelly was arrested after a major police investigation and was later sentenced to life imprisonment. The Canberra Times of 7 December, 1957 reported. CONTRACTOR SENTENCED TO GAOL FOR LIFE SYDNEY, Friday: An agricultural contractor found guilty of setting off a bomb which killed a police constable, his wife and child,was sentenced to life imprisonment by Mr. Justice McClemens in the Central Criminal Court today. The contractor is Myron Bertrand Kelly, 32, of Gipps Street, Bega. Kelly pleaded not guilty to the murder of Constable Kenneth Desmond Coussens, 31, of Girraween Crescent, Bega. Coussens, his wife Elizabeth, 34, and their baby, son, Bruce, 9 months, were killed when an explosion wrecked their home on July 29. The Crown alleged that Kelly confessed to placing a home-made bomb under the patio of Coussens home and lighting the fuse. The bomb was a milk can filled with gelignite. In a statement from the dock yesterday Kelly said he had no intention of harming the Coussens family.I have thought the matter over day and night and still cannot believe that the explosive I had did that damage and killed three people, he said. The constable was born in 1926 and joined the New South Wales Police Force on 18 October, 1948. At the time of his death he was stationed at Bega.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 07:16:38 +0000
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