Murder house: terrace where crime boss found dead with shots in face, chest up for rent
Today it is on a popular cafe strip, but a historic terrace now up for rent was once at the centre of a murder-mystery fit for a crime novel, complete with four spent bullets and four suspects.
It’s the Surry Hills terrace where an underworld figure was found dead in an upstairs room with blood oozing from a bullet wound through his cheek.
Found on a bed next to the body was a bloodstained towel used to wipe the victim’s face and bullets were discovered lodged in the walls of a nearby room, along with bloodied women’s clothes.
This was in 1945 and now more than 70 years later the terrace on Crown St where the killing took place has recently returned to the spotlight after being listed for rent.
MORE: Way to save $164k on mortgage
Buyers go nuts for rundown home
The terrace has hit the market for $700 per week and has been fitted out as a commercial cafe available for lease.
It was recently used as a dog-friendly cafe but near where recent visitors would have sipped flat whites and cappuccinos was a site once at the centre of a case that rocked WWII-era Sydney.
Victim Donald “The Duck” Day and his associates were alleged to have used the premises as one of numerous black market liquor drops.
“The Duck”, a disgraced former jockey, had come to Sydney nine years earlier from South Australia and started a chain of brothels. He was also understood to have been a racketeer who had ratcheted up plenty of enemies along his path to the criminal underworld.
They included salesman Keith Hull who fired the shots that ultimately killed him after the two got into a brawl outside the same address the day before.
Day had also upset his wife Irene by having an affair with a younger woman.
The mistress was alleged to have approached Mrs Day at a nightclub shortly before the murder to brag about the affair, pouring beer over her head.
The wife later responded by glassing her in the eye, sending her to St Vincent’s hospital for stitches, according to reports at the time.
Mrs Day was living at the Surry Hills property where the murder took place, while “The Duck” lived at an address on nearby Elizabeth St.
Police initially suspected the wife had a hand in the murder, along with Hull and two other people, but a court later found Hull acted alone and in self-defence.
The night before his death and still fresh from their earlier fight, Day had threatened Hull, telling him “I’m going to get you”.
Hull was understood to be friendly with Day’s wife and was frequently at her home. He testified that he shot Day after he attempted to ambush him at the terrace.
Day stormed onto the property holding a gun and attempted to fire, but Hull managed to shoot first with a revolver. “The Duck” was shot through the face and chest and additional bullets were found lodged in a wardrobe and bedroom door. Coroners reported that it was the bullet through his heart that killed him.
Day’s body was later moved to an upstairs room and put on a bed, Hull told an inquest into the murder.
Hull was acquitted but would continue to be implicated in the criminal underworld, later surviving shots through the chest and wrist two years later in an incident in St Kilda, Victoria.
CoreLogic sales records showed the building where the murder took place has rarely changed hands over the last 50 years. It last sold in 2004 for $1.25 million and before that sold in 1970 for $23,000.
Valuation expert Kevin Brogan said properties where violent crimes occurred were often stigmatised if the event was recent but this effect usually waned as time went by.
Once several decades had passed, the stories often became a point of curiosity for potential buyers (or renters), he said.
Renovations or any other major overhaul also appeared to blunt any association between the crime and the property in the minds of potential buyers, according to Mr Brogan.
The Surry Hills terrace is among a range of properties recently listed for rent where violent crimes took place, some recent, some old.
The Sydney high-rise apartment where Simon Gittany murdered girlfriend Lisa Harnum in 2011 by throwing her off the 15th storey balcony was up for rent in October at $1400 per week.
MORE: Homes where residents were found dead
Welcome to Tuscany on the Central Coast
Also for rent was the two-bedroom Erskineville home where a man killed his lover with a razor blade in the 1930s. It was considered one of the most brutal murders of the era, with police believing killer Alfred Ball tried to cut out lover Catherine Sim’s heart.
The home was available for rent late last year at $680 per week.
Originally published as Murder house: terrace where crime boss found dead with shots in face, chest up for rent