The Schoolgirl Strangler by Katherine Kovacic

Author:Katherine Kovacic
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: true crime, serial killer, history, murder, crime, 1930s Melbourne, criminals, justice system, homicide
ISBN: 9781760686864
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction
Published: 2020-12-16T05:02:43+00:00

Chapter 15

When Arnold Sodeman was first questioned by detectives in Leongatha and confessed his crimes, he asked to write a letter to his wife. It was short and to the point:

Dear Doll, I have confessed my mania and will pay for my sins. Please try and forget me.

[signed] Arnold

Bernice must have written straight back and a second letter, penned at the City Watch House in Melbourne, followed:

Dear Doll,

I was very pleased to receive your letter. Please do not make any attempt to obtain counsel for me as I will plead guilty, and I want you to put all the money available for your own and Joan’s use. I wrote to the shire asking them to pay to you or to the Bank of Australasia my wages. May God be always with you and forgive the harm I have done.

Arnold

P.S. Love to Joan

These letters are composed and rational, and although he uses the word ‘mania’, Sodeman does not necessarily mean it literally: he could have equally written ‘vice’ or ‘weakness’. There is consideration for his family, and writing to request his outstanding pay reflects the calm actions of a man going about his business. What they lack is emotion.

Despite saying he didn’t need counsel, by the first week of January, Sodeman had legal representation in the form of barrister John P. Bourke and solicitor Charles Auty. On 6 January, paperwork was lodged requesting financial assistance (the 1936 equivalent of legal aid) to enable Sodeman to conduct his defence.

***

His wife Bernice was shocked and baffled. She couldn’t reconcile her Arnold – a loving husband and father – with the allegations against him. The confusion evident in her letter of 13 January serves to emphasise how completely ‘normal’ Arnold Sodeman had seemed, not just to his wife, but to their friends as well.

Dear Arnold,

I am writing to ask you to do one thing for me and that is to tell me the absolute truth. If you have done this thing don’t let me be battling in the dark. I know in your right mind you could never have hurt anything but you must know and only you. I try hard to convince myself it is a mistake. So play fair and tell me the truth. It will not make the least bit of difference as my sympathy will always be with you. You must realise that if those turns came on you before, they would do so again unless you have treatment and you would only be a worry to yourself.

You know how dearly we loved our girlie and you must know that others love theirs just as much. Just think how we would have felt if it had been our little one. Your love for your own kiddie should help you realise those things.

I have about £24 of the money to defend you and friends have offered to lend me the rest. Of course if you are innocent I feel quite justified in accepting their offer and you could always help me

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