Captured: Portraits of Crime 1870-1930 - Flipbook - Page 103
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L O N G B AY
GAO L
WO R S T WO M A N
IN SYDNEY
B e l i n d a Tu r n b u l l
MANSL AUGHTER
Belinda Turnbull, a 56 year old nurse from Newcastle, was photographed at the State
Reformatory for Women, Long Bay on 20 May 1920 while serving a five year sentence
for manslaughter.
Turnbull—using the names Annie and Belinda, or Belinda Bright—provided
illegal abortions over a period of about thirty years first in Newcastle, and then,
Sydney. Turnbull’s first big court case was in April 1895 when she was charged with
feloniously and maliciously murdering Mary Bryant in Newcastle. Bryant died from
blood poisoning following an abortion that, the Crown alleged, Turnbull provided.
After thirty-five minutes deliberation the jury found Turnbull not guilty.
On 6 April 1899 Turnbull appeared before Maitland Circuit Court on the charge
of using an instrument with the intent to procure a miscarriage on Margaret McRae.
She was found guilty and sentenced to seven years imprisonment. In June she was
transferred to Darlinghurst Gaol and was brought before Central Criminal Court to
face a charge of performing an illegal operation on Jane Benson. Turnbull was again
found guilty and sentenced to serve seven years concurrently with the first
sentence.
Turnbull was released from Bathurst Gaol on license on 1 June 1903. She
returned to Newcastle and her old ways. By August 1914 she had moved to Sydney and
was offering her services in Paddington. From 1918 onwards Turnbull faced numerous
court appearances and fines for operating an unregistered or unlicensed private
hospital. She escaped further serious convictions until 1920 when eye witness
testimony led to her being found guilty of the manslaughter of Alice Berry.
Turnbull was sentenced to five years penal servitude but the conviction was set
aside on appeal, and a new trial ordered. This time, Turnbull was found not guilty.
In 1920 while facing court for operating an unlicensed hospital, the
prosecutor described Turnbull as ‘one of the worst, if not the worst woman in
Sydney’. She continued to appear in more court cases until November 1923 and died
in the Coast Hospital, Sydney, in January 1928.
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