Epitaph - An Unforgeable Signature

Television (Full Length) – 1999 Documentary

Start video player

Part one of three from Episode 13, Series Two.

Part two of three from Episode 13, Series Two.

Part three of three from Episode 13, Series Two.

The credits from Episode 13, Series Two.

In the 13th episode of Epitaph's second season, Paul Gittins goes digging in Waikumete Cemetery. The epitaph for 25-year old convicted murderer Dennis Gunn, hanged in 1920 for shooting the Ponsonby Postmaster, includes an intriguing inscription: "sadly wronged". Gittins unearths the story of a post office robbery, and the first conviction in New Zealand based on fingerprint identification. The judge called the print an "unforgeable signature". Before he died, Gunn claimed innocence: "if only my brother-in-law will speak up I will be saved".

Key Cast & Crew

Paul Gittins

Director, Writer, Presenter, Executive Producer, Original Concept

John Harris

Producer

Michael O'Connor

Cinematographer

See all 17 credits

In what was claimed to be a world first for a capital crime, Gunn’s conviction was based almost entirely on fingerprint evidence.
– Website NZ History, on the Dennis Gunn case

Produced by

Greenstone TV