Martha Needle - Arrest, Trial and Execution

Arrest, Trial and Execution

Doctor Boyd informed the police of his suspicions and a trap was set, the police asked Hermann to ask Martha to make lunch. After being served a cup of tea, Hermann literally "blew the whistle", summoning detectives who arrived as Martha was struggling with Hermann to upset the tea cup, which was found to contain enough arsenic to kill five people.

Martha was charged with attempted murder. The body of Louis Juncken, interred in Lyndoch, South Australia was exhumed and samples sent to Melbourne. The bodies of Henry Needle and the three girls, interned in Kew, were also exhumed. All five bodies were found to contain fatal levels of arsenic and Martha was charged with the murder of Louis Juncken. Pleading not guilty, the trial lasted three days, with Martha being found guilty and sentenced to death, though she pleaded her innocence.

Martha Needle was executed at 8.00am on 22 October 1894. Despite insisting her own innocence when asked for last words, Martha replied, "I have nothing to say."

During the Great Depression the Brighton City Council built bluestone walls to protect local beaches from erosion. The stones were taken from the outer walls of the Old Melbourne Gaol and included the headstones (initials and date of execution engraved on a stone at the head of the graves) of all those executed and buried on the grounds. Although most were placed with the engravings facing inwards, Martha's stone was faced outwards and the initials MN and date is still clearly visible in the Green Point wall.