115
S
137.
e forensic evidence compellingly points to suicide
I had no fingerprint evidence to assist me. The fingerprints on the gun and the door, which were the only prints lifted from the scene, proved to be unrecognizable. A further test was done on the cartridges by Mr. Ferguson during the inquest and apart from Cimino's prints, none could be discerned.
138. Be that as it may, the forensic evidence shows quite conclusively that MacLennan did sign on the Beat Equipment Register, against which police revolver 4894 was issued to him. From firing tests conducted by Cimino and Prescott independently, three of the five bullets found by the Pathologists and Ballistics officers both at the scene, and later in post-mortem, were positively identified to have been fired from the same weapon. The remaining two were too distorted for any comparison to be made. All the five cartridges found in the police revolver were positively identified as having been fired from the same weapon. There was no doubt that the wounds found on MacLennan's body, with its characteristic black rim around each wound, were contact wounds. Equally, the entry and exit holes found on the garment had the characteristics of contact impact, pointing again, by virtue of chemical tests conducted by Prescott, to be contact discharges.
139. Even assuming that an assailant held a gun against MacLennan's body and inflicted the five contact wounds, the existence of two bullet marks on opposite sides of the bedroom wall would necessitate the assailant shooting MacLennan in a slightly bent position in the direction of the wall with the light switch, and then making MacLennan change position in addition to making him crouch low and shooting him 16 inches above the ground into his abdomen, in the direction of the chest of drawers (which shot occurred first matters not). What matters is that not only would this necessitate active participation by MacLennan, it would amount to a morbid charade, stretching imagination to an absurd degree.
140. If it were a murder made to look like a suicide, it would seem strange the murderer would wish to attract attention by firing five shots in the region of the heart. If he did not care whether the murder looked like suicide or not, one would question why he did not fire all six shots from the revolver to ensure MacLennan's death.
141.
From the evidence of the distinguished pathologists and ballistics experts, whose evidence must be the best that any Tribunal can obtain, I am completely sure that it is both medically and ballistically possible for a person to shoot himself five times in the manner described. In this instance, when discharge time for a .38 calibre revolver would take no more than two or three seconds, there was ample time for MacLennan to fire further shots, even though the first one might be the fatal one. In addition, the energy produced by that weapon was not such that it would jerk the weapon in MacLennan's hand to any appreciable extent. Nor would the impact sway his body very much.
142.
On the basis of Mr. Derek Davis' highly competent and lucid opinion, I am completely certain that the suicide note was in MacLennan's hand, and that it was not written under duress or under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The wording of the note can only be regarded, upon any construction, as the message of a suicide.
(g) Why did MacLennan kill himself in darkness?
143.
It remains for me to consider one other fact, which is, that MacLennan shot himself in the dark, with his shoes off. In my view it was probable that when MacLennan returned from the Police Station and locked the main door, he went into the living room and took off his jacket (see one of the photographs). He then sat down by his desk and wrote the suicide note. Although the curtains were drawn, there would be probably enough light trickling in from the kitchen windows which were translucent. he stood up. He saw that he had not written down the time, so he wrote down the time. He then went into his bedroom with his revolver. He might not have committed suicide there immediately. He probably took off his shoes and sat down on his bed agonizing over his decision, before he decided to do the deed. In this frame of mind, the throught of switching on the bedroom lights would be far from his mind. Admittedly the above was nothing more than a re-construction of events, but it is acceptable to me as showing what probably happened.
(h) Could it be an accident?
144.
The only answer must be "No".
N. WHAT CONCLUSIONS I DRAW AS TO ACTIONS OF THE PRINCIPAL OFFICERS INVOLVED (a) Trotman, Kong, Pelly, the Principal Officers
145.
In the course of events dealt with in this Chapter, three officers played a particular prominent part. There was Trotman, who was both Commanding Officer of Ho Man Tin Division and Investigating Officer at the scene, and then Kong, the next Investigating Officer, and finally Pelly, the last Investigating Officer. The other officers played somewhat subsidiary roles. The actions of these other officers do not, in my view, call for comments. Quinn, who headed the Arrest Party would have been the officer who played the most important role if MacLennan were alive. However, his task