Occupation Station Hand Name Glen Valance | Convictions Murder Criminal status Hanging | |
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Died November 24, 1964, Adelaide Gaol, Adelaide, Australia | ||
Glen Sabre Valance, age 21, was hanged in Adelaide Gaol for the murder of Richard Strang. He was the last man executed in South Australia on 24 November 1964. Born Graham Paul Fraser, he changed his name as a teenager, to Glen Sabre Valance, after Liberty Valance, the title character of a 1962 western film.
Contents
Crime
In the early hours of 16 June 1964, Valance tied up three station hands at the Koonroon property near Bordertown, South Australia then entered the bedroom of Richard and Suzanne Strang. Valance shot and killed Richard as he slept and then raped his wife. Valance escaped by car and drove towards Adelaide. Suzanne called the police and Valance was captured at a road block near Murray Bridge. The rifle was in the car with him.
Trial and execution
Valance claimed he had a grievance with Richard Strang. He once worked for Strang but was sacked because Strang accused him of theft. Strang had legal proceeding against Valance accusing him of theft while Valance claimed Strang had owed him the money and it was Strang's fault he had had his car repossessed.
Valance pleaded insanity but was found guilty and sentenced to death by South Australian state Chief Justice Sir Mellis Napier on 17 September 1964. The Supreme Court of South Australia dismissed his appeal on 9 October and a further application to the High Court of Australia for leave to appeal was rejected on 9 November. The death sentence was carried out on 24 November 1964.
Valance was the final man executed in South Australia, and the second to last in Australia after Ronald Ryan, who was executed in Victoria on 3 February 1967.