Obsession

Love can make people do crazy things, risking their reputations, careers and even their freedom. New research into the NSW Police Forensic Photography Archive has revealed some unexpected stories behind the images.

Frenchman Gerard Beaumont seemed unable to take no for an answer. He was charged with stealing items of clothing, including an opera cloak, from a woman living in Neutral Bay on Sydney’s lower north shore. He admitted that he had taken the woman’s clothes but asked the all-male jury to stop thinking like ‘Britishers’ and instead imagine they were passionate Frenchmen. The woman had rejected his advances, and Beaumont explained that in a fit of jealousy he had taken the items to prevent her from going on a date with his rival. He further declared, ‘In my country it is nothing for a young man to be chased by gendarmes because he has climbed, perhaps, to the window of his lady to say good-night to her’.2 The magistrate described his defence as very strange but entirely worthy of consideration. Beaumont was acquitted. The young woman’s thoughts on his actions weren’t recorded.