Captured: Portraits of Crime 1870-1930 - Flipbook - Page 86
Sadeek admitted to the murder and claimed it was jealousy
that drove him to it. His defence argued temporary insanity.
The jury returned a guilty verdict and Sadeek was given the
death sentence. Sadeek accepted his fate saying that he
preferred it to imprisonment. A petition for mercy was prepared
by Broken Hill’s religious leaders, and while some called for
clemency, other voices took a different line. Newspaper
reports claimed that in Sadeek’s ‘Asiatic’ culture, a life
was considered less important than in European culture.
The condemned man, therefore, should be shown no mercy. In
an environment that promoted a ‘White Australia’ some argued
that people like Sadeek should not be allowed into the country.
Sadeek’s case became something of a local flashpoint for race
debates in Broken Hill, which, at the time, was one of the most
culturally diverse places in NSW.
As he faced death at the hands of the State, Sadeek — who
identified as both Muslim and Christian — was confident of going
to heaven. As he stepped up on the scaffold, he said “I’m very
glad to die”. Peter Sadeek was executed at Broken Hill Gaol
on 13 June 1907.
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