Annie Turnbull - the worst woman in Sydney

Annie's luck ran out in January 1895 when Mary Bryant, a single woman aged 20, died from septicaemia (blood poisoning) following an abortion allegedly performed by Annie.  Although the inquest returned a verdict of manslaughter the NSW Attorney General changed the charge to murder.  Annie stood trial in April of that year at the Maitland Circuit Court. She gave written statements and verbal evidence during the trial, something that is not usually found in later court cases. 

Annie denied taking part in any abortion Mary may have had and even claimed in her own testimony she was "not a competent midwife or nurse" (p.65).  Annie portrayed herself as having been dragged into Mary's illness due to local knowledge that she sometimes acted as a midwife and nurse.  She was described in the court papers variously as a dressmaker, nurse and midwife.  After 35 minutes the jury returned a not guilty verdict as most of the evidence was based on hearsay and the dying statement of Mary herself.  This was a common problem for police trying to prosecute abortion related deaths - the lack of evidence saved Annie from many more trials in future years. 

The year 1899 was not good for Annie Turnbull. On 6 April at the Maitland Circuit Court, Annie was found guilty of using an instrument for an illegal purpose on Margaret Jane McRae (no papers have survived) and sentenced to a seven years in Maitland Gaol. In June she was transferred to Darlinghurst Gaol to stand trial in Sydney on the same charge in a separate case, which became known as "the Breckenridge malpractice case" in the newspapers of the day. 

When the Police raided Annie's home they found a lerge amount of physical evidence that helped to convict her.  In Court thirteen letter that were presented as evidence that Annie was conducting a business as an abortionist (Exhibit envelope B2). All the letters are in a similiar friendly tone, as if writing to an old friend or acquaintance. Some of the women had been to visit Annie previously for abortions. The need for secrecy is also evident. It is surprising then that Annie had kept these letters, some of which were over a year old.  Other evidence included a floor plan of the boarding house and shop run by Annie McCarthy in Newcomen Street, Newcastle (Exhibit B1-Y). Jane Benson and Mary Breckenridge stayed upstairs in the Garret room and were joined by another woman, who provided eye witness testimony of her own abortion and that of Jane.

Annie was found guilty, again, and sentenced to another seven years, to be served concurrently with the first sentence.  For more background on this case see the Jane Ann Benson Gallery page.

Related: Trove newspaper article on the 1899 case »

It appears that Annie went back to her former life after her release from gaol.  She continued to appear in the Newcastle police court on charges of performing illegal operations from 1906 onwards and by about 1914 had moved to Sydney.  For the next nine years Annie, now variously know as Belinda Turnbull, Mrs Bright and Nurse Bright, faced court continuously on charges of operating an unlicensed hospital and breaching the Private Hospitals Act (fined £50 each time).  There were also numerous charges of using an instrument with the intent to procure a certain event, including Dorothy Scott in 1914, Edith Waller in 1917 and Mildred Aylmer in 1918.  Annie escaped further gaol time though due to a lack of direct evidence.

Annie stood trial for the murder of Alice Berry at the Central Criminal Court on 14 May 1920. Alice, a widow with three young children already, travelled to Sydney from Queanbeyan to have an abortion.  She returned home and collapsed, dying of blood poisoning soon after.  In her dying statement Alice mentioned overlooking a racecourse from her room at Annie's place, called Kia Ora.    Part of the evidence against Annie in this trial was the eye witness testimony of two women, including Charlotte Bryant, who had abortions at similiar times to the deceased but there was no eye witness testimony of Alice's abortion or anyone to confirm she had visited Annie.

Annie was found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter even though the jury could not agree and received a five year sentence. This conviction was set aside on appeal and a new trial was held on 1 October 1920. This time Annie was found not guilty.