The Walsh Street Police Shootings 1988
The Walsh Street police shootings were the 1988 murders of two Victoria Police officers: Constables Steven Tynan, 22, and Damian Eyre, 20.
Tynan and Eyre were responding to a report of an abandoned car when they were gunned down about 4:50am in Walsh Street, South Yarra (a Melbourne suburb), on 12 October 1988.
Four men, Victor Peirce, Trevor Pettingill, Anthony Leigh Farrell and Peter David McEvoy, were charged with murder and later acquitted by a jury in the Supreme Court of Victoria. Two other suspects, Jedd Houghton and Gary Abdallah, were shot and killed by Victoria Police before being brought to trial. Which I will get into later in this podcast.
There have been 27 police officers killed on duty since the Victorian force was established in 1853. This police shooting was the first multiple murder of police since the Kelly gang shot three constables dead at Stringybark Creek in 1878.
Background
Since the 1878 attack on three police officers by the Ned Kelly Gang, criminal attacks on police officers were considered as rare events in Victoria. During the period of the 1980s, prior to the Walsh Street killings, there had been a number of random acts of violence committed against members of the Victoria Police.
The Russell Street bombing on 27 March 1986 and the death of Constable Angela Taylor from her injuries 24 days later, had heighten fears within the Victoria Police that any officer on duty elsewhere could be considered as a target of a criminal attack. Those fears were later justified six months to the day of the Russell Street Bombing.
There was also the Assassination of Colin Winchester who was an assistant commissioner in the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Winchester commanded ACT Police, the community policing component of the AFP responsible for the Australian Capital Territory. In 1989 he was assassinated by an unknown perpetrator. David Eastman who was thought to be the killer had his conviction later overturned. I will touch on this case in a later podcast.
This period of the 1980s saw a high number of armed robberies being committed throughout Melbourne to a point where they had become a problem for police forces across Australia. Rather than committing robberies on impulse, professional armed robbers organised in gangs, began planning their robberies in advance by conducting surveillance on targets known to carry large amount of cash, selecting gang members, assigning roles, organising weaponry and equipment needed, arranging the getaway vehicles, and organising safehouses. The armed robbery gangs not only carried out their robberies with precision, they also carried out their robberies with threats of violence.
Prior events
What really kicked off this whole thing was the June, 1987 killing of Frank Valastro who was shot during a raid on his home by Victoria Police. Senior Constable Michael Lesley was the one who shot him. apparently he was a bank robber with the Flemington crew part time. He had also been raising the violence in the armed bank robberies to a terrifying new level.
After this Victor Peirce and the other members of his gang feared that police were gunning for them one by one with the sole purpose of killing them, which I highly suspect is exactly what they were doing. as they couldn’t get enough evidence to convict and put them away so they took things into their own hands. Reason I say this is because during no other time have the Victoria police armed hold up squad conducted so many raids on criminals and had so many fatal shootings with so many criminals all at once, with the end result being they all end up dead. Starting from 25 January 1987 up until the last killing on the 9 April 1989. During that period the raids and the attempted capture of greame Jensen in a carpark that were conducted led to the deaths of 5 criminals.
It was at the time that Victor peirce and his gang came up with, and formed a pact that if another criminal or member of their gang was killed by police, they would take out two police. A two for one deal. Police became aware of this but no action was taken.
The Flemington Crew
Victor pierce’s gang, dubbed the Flemington Crew by police, had robbed at least four Melbourne banks.
Soundbite of police talking about certain gang members:
At Oak Park, the robbery went wrong from the start when security screens were activated, separating the robbers from the money. Several shotgun blasts failed to open a security door and the robbers fled, leaving three shells.
Armed robbery squad detectives failed to get any leads. They filed details of the robberies in a box marked "The Flemington crew", as raids by other gangs drew their focus.
Four months after the Oak Park incident, a security guard Domonic Hefty at a Coles supermarket in Brunswick was killed in an exchange of fire. The wounded bandit escaped with $33,000.
A source told the armed robbery squad that Victor Peirce was involved and another tip-off hinted at Graeme Jensen. (DNA tests later proved that career criminal Santo Mercuri was the wounded bandit. Another known criminal drove the getaway car. Mercuri was convicted and later died in jail.)
On 11 October 1988, Peirce's best friend, Graeme Jensen, was fatally shot by police in Narre Warren. Jensen had been under observation by the Victoria Police Armed Robbery Squad, who had planned to arrest him in connection with an armed robbery and murder. The Flemington gang he belonged to robbed at least four banks.
Acting on the tip-off, detectives discovered that another armed robbery squad crew was investigating Peirce, Jensen and Houghton. According to an informant, they were planning a big robbery. When the informant said the job had been called off, detectives decided to arrest Peirce and Jensen - to ask Peirce about the Coles job and other raids, and to determine if Jensen might have been the wounded bandit.
The first arrest, by any assessment, went badly wrong. Detectives tried to grab Jensen at a Narre Warren hardware store but by the time they moved he was in his car. Three cars containing eight detectives attempted to block Jensen in as he left the store, but one of the cars was delayed by passing traffic, allowing Jensen to drive through.
Here’s where things get interesting. Police later gave sworn evidence that they saw Jensen brandish a firearm. Police yelled at Jensen to stop, one detective yelled: "He's got a gun." Jensen was then shot dead. His car crashed into a roadside pole.
Police said Jensen had a gun, which according to an article by Tom Noble who later wrote book about the case, turned out to be a non-functioning sawn-off .22 bolt action rifle which for someone like Jensen who was experienced and proficient with using firearms is an odd weapon for him to be found allegedly in possession of.
There are however many who believe that Graeme Jensen never had a gun and that the firearm that he was found with was planted by police.
On the 13 March 2011 the Sunday Night aired an interview with former disgraced police officer Malcolm Rosenes' who was later jailed for drug related offences, who claimed that Graeme Jensen was killed in cold blood and had a sawn-off rifle planted in his car after death.
However these allegations about police planting evidence to justify the shooting of Jensen were never proven or investigated.
Now to give some backstory about the policemen who were killed in Walsh Street South Yarra
Steven Tynan and Damien Eyre
Constable Steven Tyan, 22, joined the police force in September 1985. He graduated from the Police Academy the following January and spent his first year at Cheltenham.
He had been stationed since January at Prahran, where he earned a reputation for hard work.
Sergeant George Cooney, the officer-in-charge at Prahran said Constable Tynan had been particularly affected by his job when he was involved in the shooting of two men who allegedly tried to rob a South Yarra TAB.
Constable Tynan returned to night shift only on Sunday. He was keen to show his younger colleague how crime was fought.
When Probationary Constable Damian Eyre, 20, graduated from the Police Academy on 29 April it was the realisation of a life-long ambition.
He came from a police family: his father, Frank, had been an officer between 1963 and 1977 and is a member of the force reserve at Shepparton. His brother is a detective based at Melton.
His ambition to join the force was partly inspired by the respect his family had earned as police officers. He failed his first admission test to join the force, but doggedly pursued his goal.
His application to join the force said: “As most of my family are in the Victoria Police force, I believe I have a good knowledge of the force…This has been a life-long ambition and I respect the Victoria Police force very much.”
Report of an abandoned car
On 12 October, 13 hours after Jensen's death, at 4:39am, Constables Tynan and Eyre were operating a divisional van from Prahran police station when called to an abandoned Holden Commodore left in Walsh Street, South Yarra. At the time, the call about the abandoned Commodore would've been answered by police units from St Kilda Road police station, however at the time of the murders, St. Kilda Road police station had a shortage of officers on duty and were unable to send a divisional van. Nominally, the call would've been diverted to units from South Melbourne police station. But on the night, the only available South Melbourne police unit, another divisional van, operated by a female constable and a male constable, had been called to a suspected suicide in St. Kilda. As Constables Tynan and Eyre were the first available officers in the area, the call was passed onto their divisional van. While the officers were examining the vehicle, they were ambushed by armed offenders. Constable Tynan was cut down with a shotgun while sitting in the car, and Constable Eyre was seriously wounded. It is thought that Constable Eyre, despite having suffered serious wounds, struggled with the attacker these were several shotguns blasts one went up in the air while another went into the building, until another person approached him from behind, managed to remove Eyre's service revolver from its holster and shot him in the head with it at point blank range then he was shot again in the head.
That gun disappeared and has never been recovered it was believed that one of victor pierce’s gang took it and either hid it or disposed of it in some way.
Upon hearing reports from residents on Walsh Street about shots fired, at 4:53am, the police communications officer attempted to contact Tynan and Eyre. Unable to contact Eyre and Tynan, the police communications officer contacted the South Melbourne district supervising inspector.
Police believed members of a Melbourne armed robbery gang had organised the murders. In the period up to April 1989 there had been an unusually high number of fatal shootings of suspects by police. The killings of the two police officers were viewed by many as a form of payback by members of the Melbourne underworld.
A postmortem showed that both men were shot with a shotgun. Constable Tynan was shot in the head and was found lying next to the Commodore. Constable Eyre was shot in the back and his service revolver was used to shoot him in the head and chest. Both were shot from side-on and at close range.
At the time Police said it was possible that Tynan and eyre had came across thieves trying to steal a car for use in a robbery. The Commodore, belonging to a Walsh Street man, was not far from his house. Several cars near the murder scene had quarter-windows broken overnight in apparent theft attempts.
The police deputy commissioner for crime, Mr John Frame said the original call for police to attend the scene came from a Walsh Street resident. Police spoke to the caller and eliminated the possibility that the killers called police as part of an ambush.
Witnesses told police that two men were seen jumping over a fence outside a nearby block of flats, and that a small grey sedan sped away from nearby Airlie Street towards Punt Road just after the shots were heard. Police did not discounted other information that men were seen running towards Domain Road.
Mr Frame said the only description police had was that one man wore a black jumper with a white stripe. Witnesses told police they heard up to six shots from the street about 4.50 am. Some said they heard four shots, followed by silence, then another two shots apparently farther sway.
Mr Frame rejected suggestions that police were putting officers on to the street when they were too young. Constable Tynan had been in the force for three years and Constable Eyre for less than one. "It certainly wasn't that we had two very inexperienced members because three years' experience in mainly inner-suburban police stations is relatively experienced.”
He said the officers were not wearing flak jackets and, given their injuries, would not have been saved by them. "It was simply a suspect vehicle, a fairly routine call." Mr Frame said he would hate to see the day Victorian police had to attend all calls with their guns drawn. Police are advised to wear firearms when they go out on the streets on duty, but Mr Frame said they had to make their own decisions.
Ty-Eyre task force
The police investigation was known as the Ty-Eyre Task Force, a combination of the two surnames of the officers killed. Detective Inspector John Noonan was the Officer in Charge and it was the biggest investigation Victoria Police had ever undertaken at the time and also the longest running, spanning 895 days. At the height of the investigation, police had hundreds of officers working with the task force to investigate the murders.
Police investigations revealed the shotgun used to perform the murders was the same weapon used earlier in a bungled attempt to blast open a bank door during a robbery at the State Bank in Oak Park seven months earlier. The robbers, on security CCTV at the Oak Park robbery, had left shotgun shells at the scene.
Seven months into the investigation, the shotgun itself was found half-buried in an inner-city golf-course plant bed by a gardener. The shotgun and shells became the single forensic link police had, linking the Oak Park robbery to the same shotgun used in the Walsh Street murders. The shotgun and empty shotgun shell casings are on display at the Victoria Police Museum, Melbourne.
the weeks that followed, police conducted numerous and sometimes brutal raids. More deaths at the hands of Victoria police’s armed hold up squad soon followed. More blood hit the streets.
Victor Peirce was arrested however he was put into jail on other matters related to armed Robbies he was suspected as having some involvement in which wasn’t what those who were working on the Walsh Street task force wanted because to them he couldn’t be gotten at to assist with their enquires.
his Richmond home was literally demolished in the search for clues. Which to me was more symbolic of the police getting their own back on those who they deemed had killed their brothers in arms, rather than them searching for evidence.
Jedd Houghton was shot and killed during a police raid on the Big4 Ascot Holiday Park in Bendigo in November 1988. The police as I understand it had come to this area some time before the raid and it is alleged that they spent time casing the joint finding the best way to raid his home, however other people thought they were there to kill Jedd not arrest him. Tom Noble went on to state that to his knowledge when the police tried to enter his home it was through a different door then they had thought and allegedly Jedd pointed a firearm at them as he explains.
Gary Abdallah, a friend of Houghton, was shot dead by police after the murder taskforce had cleared him. According to police he was a car thief who they believed had been hired by peirce to steal a car for the ambush on Walsh street. Apparently he had pointed an imitation pistol at them and had a bullet lodged in his brain for his troubles. he was in a coma and died shortly after.
I find this whole thing strange and bizarre as to why he was targeted? If he had nothing to do with Walsh street why was he gunned down? The imitation pistol theory really seems fishy to me.
Jason Ryan was scooped up in the police raids and decided to turn on his family and become a snitch. His reason for doing so was because he generally felt remorse about what had happened at walsh street.
As he would later tell a herald sun reporter Quote: ’Cos those two policemen (Tynan and Eyre) had nothing to do with Jensen's death.”
Ryan said he started out as a drug and gun mule for Allen, who was running a million-dollar heroin-trafficking business out of several houses in the blue-collar suburb of Richmond.
With the backing of his notorious family, he graduated to a cocky standover kid and eventual robber.
"I did a lot of bad things," he admitted.
"I was always confident because I had my family there. Dennis virtually said I was his young apprentice ... As I did more crime I got greedier.”
By age 13, he said, he was drinking heavily and injecting speed. It was around this time he witnessed Uncle Dennis murder "friend" Wayne Stanhope after a day of drinking and injecting speed.
Allen was a mad dog at the best of times, but went off tap during binge sessions. "Stanhope wanted to kill Dennis," Ryan stated. "They all wanted his gold.” Allen shot Stanhope in his lounge room in front of a group of friends as Stanhope went to change the record player. "Dennis shot Stanhope six times," Ryan stated.
"I came out of the bedroom. I had a gun with me at the time - it was a .25 auto. Dennis looked at me and grabbed the gun. The music was still pumping and Stanhope's last words were, 'Help me Dennis.’
"The other people sitting on the couch were horrified. Dennis gave Stanhope another seven from my gun. As he was doing it he said, 'That's for your mates.' Dennis grabbed him and dragged him because he was bleeding on the carpet - Dennis was fond of his carpet - and he dumped him on the tiles.
"Dennis finished his drink and grabbed Stanhope's head and smashed it into the tiles. He became like an animal.”
Ryan said he was afraid and refused to help his uncle move the body, as ordered."I'd just watched a movie prior to this called Evil Dead, and in that movie the dead people always come back.”
Stanhope's death went to inquest but Dennis Allen was never charged.
The next murder Ryan witnessed was that of prostitute Helga Wagnegg in November 1984. Ryan suggested she was "put off" because Uncle Dennis believed she was informing to police; something Allen himself was suspected of doing on occasion to stay out of jail.
Wagnegg died of a "hot shot" drug overdose, purportedly administered by Allen, who then drowned her with a bucket of water collected from the Yarra River. "He put her head in the bucket," Ryan said.
"He was just making normal conversation and she was going blue and purple.” Wagnegg's body was later dumped in the Yarra. An inquest into her death ended with an open finding.
It was about a year later when Allen killed former Hells Angel bikie Anton Kenny. According to Ryan, unidentified bikie members contracted Dennis to kill Kenny. "We had a bit of dealing with the bikie gang," Ryan explained.
"Dennis wanted to buy an M-60 (machine gun) off them. That's how far Dennis was going. He was thinking of going to war with the police.
"Kenny's rocked down and was sitting at the table. Underneath the table was a .38 special. Dennis had no T-shirt on to show Kenny he didn't have a gun. Kenny gave Dennis his gun, thinking he was doing the right thing.
"Anyway, Dennis pulled the .38 from under the table and went boom. Emptied it right out.” Kenny's legs were later chopped off and his body sealed in a 44-gallon drum.
In 1987 Allen died of a broken heart; his ticker irreparably damaged by his chronic lifestyle.
The following year - on the afternoon of October 12, 1998 - heavily armed police arrested Ryan and associate Anthony Farrell while on the hunt for Victor Peirce, who became an immediate suspect for the Walsh St murders.
Fearing for his safety from both sides, Ryan said he started talking to the cops about Walsh St and was taken away on a country “trip".
"There wasn't many barbecues, I can tell you that," he said sarcastically of the four-day trip.
Ryan gave several statements."I told them bits and pieces and told them some bullshit because I didn't trust them at first,".
"I was only 17 and confused.”
Ryan came to trust Det-Insp John Noonan, one of the taskforce bosses. He said that after testing Noonan with half-truths and lies he eventually told his version of the truth.
By the time the case went to trial, Ryan found himself bearing the weight of the prosecution case on his young shoulders.
The defence barristers hammered his credibility during cross-examination. Ryan said the pressure and responsibility in the witness box became unbearable.
"I was a kid and the lawyers there were smart people. If I was lying, why wasn't I charged with perjury? And if the magistrate didn't see enough there in the 14 days of the committal hearing, why did he commit them to trial?
"I felt sick every time I went to court. I couldn't explain things at the trial like I did at the committal. The defence lawyers just heard what they wanted to hear then they cut me off.”
Ryan went interstate after the Walsh St four were acquitted. For fear that he would cop several bullets for Turing on his “family”.
Anthony Farrell was arrested by police and according to Tom Noble, the police had hoped that by arresting him, they could apply pressure to him and hopefully he’d crack and give up everyone else. However this plan didn’t work, because Farrell got some very good advice from none other than disgraced lawyer Andrew Fraser, who was later charged and jailed for drug related offences. Specifically cocaine.
Now to give some background on this underworld family
Pettingill family
The Pettingill family is a Melbourne-based criminal family, headed by matriarch Kath Pettingill. Family members have many convictions for criminal offences including drug trafficking, arms dealing and armed robberies.
Two of Kath Pettingill's sons, Victor Peirce and Trevor Pettingill, faced a murder trial for the 1988 Walsh Street police shootings, with both acquitted along with two fellow defendants. Victor Peirce's de facto wife, Wendy, later claimed that her husband planned and carried out the murders with the fellow accused. The family was furthermore involved in the infamous Melbourne gangland killings, where it suffered a major blow, with the death of one of its highest-ranking members, Victor Peirce, and resulting in its power being greatly weakened.
Family members
Kath Pettingill
Kathleen Pettingill (born 27 March, 1935) is the matriarch of the Melbourne criminal family, the Pettingill family.
Pettingill first worked in a bar, and having herself been a prostitute, she went on to run brothels. She lived with her children in the Richmond area of Melbourne, and a number of her sons were sent to the Turana Boys' Home.
Pettingill has a glass eye in place of the one she lost after being shot in 1978 by Kim Nelson and Keryn Thompson. The bullet passed through a closed door at the Collingwood Housing Commission of Victoria flats as she and her son, Dennis Allen, attempted to repay a $300 debt on behalf of her daughter, Vicky Brooks.
Dennis Allen
Dennis Bruce Allen (7 November 1951 – 13 April 1987) was an Australian drug dealer who was reported to have murdered many victims. He was based in Melbourne, and was the oldest son of criminal matriarch Kath Pettingill. Allen, whose solicitor was Andrew Fraser, avoided jail by having info on the corrupt Victorian police at the time. He died of heart disease in 1987 in prison custody awaiting trial for murder.
Criminal career
Allen, nicknamed Mr. Death or Mr. D, was believed to have been involved in up to 13 underworld murders, including the dismembering of Hells Angels biker Anton Kenny with a chainsaw in 1985. One victim who survived was guitarist Chris Stockley of The Dingoes, whom Allen shot in the stomach while attempting to gatecrash a party. Allen received a ten-year prison sentence for rape during the 1970s. It is also reported that he was a major drug dealer in the Richmond and South Yarra areas of Melbourne during the 1980s.
New South Wales Police Detective-Sergeant Roger Rogerson was convicted of supplying heroin in a deal with Allen, but was acquitted following appeal. Allen avoided capture and prosecution for his crimes by having vital information against several corrupt members of the Victorian police.
Death
Allen died on 13 April 1987 of heart failure at St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne; "pieces of his heart actually broke off after decades of heavy drug abuse". His funeral was conducted by Father Peter Norden, a Jesuit priest who performed funerals for three members of the Pettingill family during the 1980s.
Peter Allen
Peter Allen is the second oldest son of Kath Pettingill. He has spent 28 years in prison. He is a violent armed robber and has a long list of assault charges. He ran a heroin empire which allowed him to purchase a mansion in Lower Templestowe. This was later taken from him due to the Proceeds of Crime act. He continued to deal heroin in jail.
He is very skilled in court and is the jailhouse lawyer of the family. He was released from prison in 2002 after serving time for an armed robbery conviction.
Vicki Brooks (nee Pettingill)
First born daughter and third child of Kath Pettingill. Born in 1954. Later turned against the family and gave evidence for the prosecution at the Walsh Street trial. She went into witness protection.
Jason Ryan
Victor Peirce's nephew and son of Vicki Brooks (née Pettingill). Star prosecution witness who turned against the family and gave evidence over Walsh Street. Ryan has battled drug addiction for years.
Victor Peirce
Victor George Peirce was the sixth child of Kath Pettingill. Together with his de facto partner, Wendy Peirce, he fathered four children. He was convicted for drug trafficking and served a six-year prison sentence during the 1990s. He once worked as a bodyguard for murdered businessman Frank Benvenuto.
Victor Peirce was murdered in Bay St, Port Melbourne, whilst parked outside a supermarket on 1 May 2002. It would later be alleged in court by barrister and Queen's Counsel Robert Richter that the now-deceased contract killer Andrew Veniamin had murdered Peirce. Veniamin was shot and killed during an argument in 2004 with Mick Gatto in a Carlton restaurant.
Wendy Peirce
Wendy Peirce was the de facto partner of Victor Peirce. The couple never married but produced four children from their long-term relationship.
She entered witness protection for 18 months, estimated to have cost approximately $2million. At trial, she refused to give evidence against the accused and all men were later acquitted. In October 2005, Wendy Peirce gave a media interview detailing how her husband planned and carried out the Walsh Street police shootings for which he was charged and later acquitted.
In September 2008 Wendy Peirce was jailed for six months after pleading guilty to threatening and stalking former lovers of her ex-partner Victor who was murdered in 2002 during Melbourne's underworld war. The threats included using Facebook to make death threats.
Katie Peirce
On 15 December 2009, Wendy and Victor Peirce's 24-year-old daughter, Katie Peirce, was found dead in her home in Greensborough. At the time of her death, she and her mother were on bail for an incident at the Clare Castle Hotel in Port Melbourne on 28 March 2009, when Mark Lohse, a regular patron at the hotel, was attacked with a meat cleaver and left seriously injured with a deep and long gash across his face, three fractures to his jaw, broken teeth and facial nerve damage. Police allege that Wendy and Katie Peirce and a third woman agreed to pay Tong Yang A$200 to assault Robert Sales, the father of a woman who was dating Katie Peirce's ex-boyfriend. Sales had been sitting one table away from where the assault occurred but was outside having a cigarette at the time of the assault, and in a case of mistaken identity Mark Lohse was hacked across the face with the meat cleaver. Senior County Court judge Geoff Chettle said at the plea hearing the incident was "the worst example of intentionally causing serious injury he has seen." Tong Yang pleaded guilty to charges of intentionally causing serious injury, but Katie and Wendy Peirce both pleaded not guilty to charges that included attempted murder and intentionally causing serious injury. Katie was bailed pending a committal hearing which had only been partly heard at the time of her death. Wendy Peirce's lawyer said he had spoken to her on the phone on 15 December 2009 to inform her of her daughter's death and would apply to the prison for permission allowing her to attend the funeral.
Lex Peirce
Lex Peirce (born 1960) is the seventh child and fifth son of Kath Pettingill and has a minor criminal record.
Jamie Pettingill
Ninth child of Kath Pettingill. Born 1963. Died of a heroin overdose in 1985 aged 21. Was alleged to have been involved in an armed robbery in Clifton Hill.
Trevor Pettingil
Trevor Pettingill is the tenth and last child of Kath Pettingill, born in 1965. He has a history involving drugs and burglaries. He has multiple convictions for firearms and drug-related offences, and has served several jail terms. He has been described as a "career criminal".
Pettingill was charged and acquitted over the Walsh Street police murders.
Trevor's son Jamie Pettingill had two criminal convictions including one for assault.
Members of the gangs responsible for the robberies were believed to be Victor Peirce, Graeme Jensen, Jedd Houghton and Peter David McEvoy.
Timeline of relevant events
By the time the case went to trial, Ryan found himself bearing the weight of the prosecution case on his young shoulders.
The defence barristers hammered his credibility during cross-examination. Ryan said the pressure and responsibility in the witness box became unbearable.
"I was a kid and the lawyers there were smart people. If I was lying, why wasn't I charged with perjury? And if the magistrate didn't see enough there in the 14 days of the committal hearing, why did he commit them to trial?
"I felt sick every time I went to court. I couldn't explain things at the trial like I did at the committal. The defence lawyers just heard what they wanted to hear then they cut me off.”
Ryan went interstate after the Walsh St four were acquitted. For fear that he would cop several bullets for Turing on his “family”.
Anthony Farrell was arrested by police and according to Tom Noble, the police had hoped that by arresting him, they could apply pressure to him and hopefully he’d crack and give up everyone else. However this plan didn’t work, because Farrell got some very good advice from none other than disgraced lawyer Andrew Fraser, who was later charged and jailed for drug related offences. Specifically cocaine.
Now to give some background on this underworld family
Pettingill family
The Pettingill family is a Melbourne-based criminal family, headed by matriarch Kath Pettingill. Family members have many convictions for criminal offences including drug trafficking, arms dealing and armed robberies.
Two of Kath Pettingill's sons, Victor Peirce and Trevor Pettingill, faced a murder trial for the 1988 Walsh Street police shootings, with both acquitted along with two fellow defendants. Victor Peirce's de facto wife, Wendy, later claimed that her husband planned and carried out the murders with the fellow accused. The family was furthermore involved in the infamous Melbourne gangland killings, where it suffered a major blow, with the death of one of its highest-ranking members, Victor Peirce, and resulting in its power being greatly weakened.
Family members
Kath Pettingill
Kathleen Pettingill (born 27 March, 1935) is the matriarch of the Melbourne criminal family, the Pettingill family.
Pettingill first worked in a bar, and having herself been a prostitute, she went on to run brothels. She lived with her children in the Richmond area of Melbourne, and a number of her sons were sent to the Turana Boys' Home.
Pettingill has a glass eye in place of the one she lost after being shot in 1978 by Kim Nelson and Keryn Thompson. The bullet passed through a closed door at the Collingwood Housing Commission of Victoria flats as she and her son, Dennis Allen, attempted to repay a $300 debt on behalf of her daughter, Vicky Brooks.
Dennis Allen
Dennis Bruce Allen (7 November 1951 – 13 April 1987) was an Australian drug dealer who was reported to have murdered many victims. He was based in Melbourne, and was the oldest son of criminal matriarch Kath Pettingill. Allen, whose solicitor was Andrew Fraser, avoided jail by having info on the corrupt Victorian police at the time. He died of heart disease in 1987 in prison custody awaiting trial for murder.
Criminal career
Allen, nicknamed Mr. Death or Mr. D, was believed to have been involved in up to 13 underworld murders, including the dismembering of Hells Angels biker Anton Kenny with a chainsaw in 1985. One victim who survived was guitarist Chris Stockley of The Dingoes, whom Allen shot in the stomach while attempting to gatecrash a party. Allen received a ten-year prison sentence for rape during the 1970s. It is also reported that he was a major drug dealer in the Richmond and South Yarra areas of Melbourne during the 1980s.
New South Wales Police Detective-Sergeant Roger Rogerson was convicted of supplying heroin in a deal with Allen, but was acquitted following appeal. Allen avoided capture and prosecution for his crimes by having vital information against several corrupt members of the Victorian police.
Death
Allen died on 13 April 1987 of heart failure at St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne; "pieces of his heart actually broke off after decades of heavy drug abuse". His funeral was conducted by Father Peter Norden, a Jesuit priest who performed funerals for three members of the Pettingill family during the 1980s.
Peter Allen
Peter Allen is the second oldest son of Kath Pettingill. He has spent 28 years in prison. He is a violent armed robber and has a long list of assault charges. He ran a heroin empire which allowed him to purchase a mansion in Lower Templestowe. This was later taken from him due to the Proceeds of Crime act. He continued to deal heroin in jail.
He is very skilled in court and is the jailhouse lawyer of the family. He was released from prison in 2002 after serving time for an armed robbery conviction.
Vicki Brooks (nee Pettingill)
First born daughter and third child of Kath Pettingill. Born in 1954. Later turned against the family and gave evidence for the prosecution at the Walsh Street trial. She went into witness protection.
Jason Ryan
Victor Peirce's nephew and son of Vicki Brooks (née Pettingill). Star prosecution witness who turned against the family and gave evidence over Walsh Street. Ryan has battled drug addiction for years.
Victor Peirce
Victor George Peirce was the sixth child of Kath Pettingill. Together with his de facto partner, Wendy Peirce, he fathered four children. He was convicted for drug trafficking and served a six-year prison sentence during the 1990s. He once worked as a bodyguard for murdered businessman Frank Benvenuto.
Victor Peirce was murdered in Bay St, Port Melbourne, whilst parked outside a supermarket on 1 May 2002. It would later be alleged in court by barrister and Queen's Counsel Robert Richter that the now-deceased contract killer Andrew Veniamin had murdered Peirce. Veniamin was shot and killed during an argument in 2004 with Mick Gatto in a Carlton restaurant.
Wendy Peirce
Wendy Peirce was the de facto partner of Victor Peirce. The couple never married but produced four children from their long-term relationship.
She entered witness protection for 18 months, estimated to have cost approximately $2million. At trial, she refused to give evidence against the accused and all men were later acquitted. In October 2005, Wendy Peirce gave a media interview detailing how her husband planned and carried out the Walsh Street police shootings for which he was charged and later acquitted.
In September 2008 Wendy Peirce was jailed for six months after pleading guilty to threatening and stalking former lovers of her ex-partner Victor who was murdered in 2002 during Melbourne's underworld war. The threats included using Facebook to make death threats.
Katie Peirce
On 15 December 2009, Wendy and Victor Peirce's 24-year-old daughter, Katie Peirce, was found dead in her home in Greensborough. At the time of her death, she and her mother were on bail for an incident at the Clare Castle Hotel in Port Melbourne on 28 March 2009, when Mark Lohse, a regular patron at the hotel, was attacked with a meat cleaver and left seriously injured with a deep and long gash across his face, three fractures to his jaw, broken teeth and facial nerve damage. Police allege that Wendy and Katie Peirce and a third woman agreed to pay Tong Yang A$200 to assault Robert Sales, the father of a woman who was dating Katie Peirce's ex-boyfriend. Sales had been sitting one table away from where the assault occurred but was outside having a cigarette at the time of the assault, and in a case of mistaken identity Mark Lohse was hacked across the face with the meat cleaver. Senior County Court judge Geoff Chettle said at the plea hearing the incident was "the worst example of intentionally causing serious injury he has seen." Tong Yang pleaded guilty to charges of intentionally causing serious injury, but Katie and Wendy Peirce both pleaded not guilty to charges that included attempted murder and intentionally causing serious injury. Katie was bailed pending a committal hearing which had only been partly heard at the time of her death. Wendy Peirce's lawyer said he had spoken to her on the phone on 15 December 2009 to inform her of her daughter's death and would apply to the prison for permission allowing her to attend the funeral.
Lex Peirce
Lex Peirce (born 1960) is the seventh child and fifth son of Kath Pettingill and has a minor criminal record.
Jamie Pettingill
Ninth child of Kath Pettingill. Born 1963. Died of a heroin overdose in 1985 aged 21. Was alleged to have been involved in an armed robbery in Clifton Hill.
Trevor Pettingil
Trevor Pettingill is the tenth and last child of Kath Pettingill, born in 1965. He has a history involving drugs and burglaries. He has multiple convictions for firearms and drug-related offences, and has served several jail terms. He has been described as a "career criminal".
Pettingill was charged and acquitted over the Walsh Street police murders.
Trevor's son Jamie Pettingill had two criminal convictions including one for assault.
Members of the gangs responsible for the robberies were believed to be Victor Peirce, Graeme Jensen, Jedd Houghton and Peter David McEvoy.
Timeline of relevant events
25 January 1987 – Mark Militano is shot and killed by Victoria Police
June, 1987 – Frank Valastro is shot and killed by Victoria Police
11 October 1988 – Graeme Jensen is killed
12 October 1988, approx. 4:50am – Walsh Street killings occur
21 October 1988, TyEyre taskforce set up
24 October 1988 – Jason Ryan moved to Mansfield and placed under witness protection
17 November 1988 – Jedd Houghton shot and killed by police in a Bendigo caravan park.
9 April 1989 – Gary Abdallah is shot and killed by Victoria Police after pulling an imitation pistol on detectives.
26 March 1991 – four accused men found not guilty.
1 May 2002 – Victor Peirce shot and killed in Bay Street, Port Melbourne in drive-by shooting linked to Andrew "Benji" Veniamin
October, 2005 – Widow of Victor Peirce, Wendy Peirce gives an interview to John Silvester, detailing her husband's involvement in the crime.
February, 2010 – Peter McEvoy told New South Wales Police, in anger, that he had heard the final words of a dying constable, prompting calls for a coronial inquest into the deaths of the two policemen.
13 March 2011 – Sunday Night airs former police officer Malcolm Rosenes' claim that Graeme Jensen was killed in cold blood and had a sawn-off rifle planted in his car after death.
October, 2011 – The book A Pack of Bloody Animals was published, concluding that two of the defendants, Anthony Farrell and Trevor Pettingill, played no part in the murders of the two policemen.
Trial
The trial of the four men accused, Victor Peirce, Trevor Pettingill, Anthony Leigh Farrell and Peter David McEvoy, began in March 1991. The prosecution alleged six people were involved in the planning of the shootings: the accused, Jason Ryan, and the late Jedd Houghton.
Prosecution
Jason Ryan became a prosecution witness in the trial and was offered immunity in exchange for his testimony. Police placed Ryan under the witness protection program and moved him to Mansfield on 24 October 1988 for questioning. His evidence changed a number of times up to the opening of the trial.
Ryan's evidence had implicated Gary Abdallah, Jedd Houghton, Anthony Leigh Farrell and Emmanuel Alexandris. Police were told the party of killers were Jedd Houghton, Peter David McEvoy, Anthony Leigh Farrell and his uncles Victor Peirce and Trevor Pettingill.
Victor Peirce's wife, Wendy Peirce, also became a prosecution witness and entered the witness protection program. She had previously maintained her husband was with her in a motel all night on the night of the murders; she retracted this alibi in preparation to testify against her husband. But, in a pre-trial hearing, she retracted her retraction and, as a hostile witness, did not appear at the trial.
In a series of video interviews in 1989 that detailed a decade of crime, including several murders by her brother-in-law Dennis Allen, Wendy Peirce examined bank security pictures and identified those in them, saying she recognised her husband, Jensen, Houghton and McEvoy by their clothes, shoes, features (they wore balaclavas or stocking masks) and stance.
She said she had seen her husband and Jensen wearing balaclavas at home as a joke, so she knew what they looked like wearing them. She informed police that her husband told her when he was planning a robbery; she knew when he was conducting surveillance on targets; and she knew when he completed a job because he came home with money.
Victor Peirce's sister, Vicki Brooks, turned against him and joined the witness protection program.
Not guilty verdict
All four men charged with the murders were acquitted in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Victor Peirce and Peter David McEvoy were taken back into custody on other charges. Upon receiving the verdict, D24 sent a broadcast of the verdict to every police officer in Melbourne, telling them to keep control and resist from carrying out any acts of retaliation against the defendants. However some forms of retaliation were carried out:
Wendy Peirce was charged with perjury, convicted and sentenced to serve 9 months non-parole.
The prosecution believed six people were involved in the ambush (including Jason Ryan and Jedd Houghton). But only two were needed to complete the killings and only two people were seen. Perhaps only two killers were there.
Yet while the shotgun's link to the Flemington crew remains the only certainty in the case, circumstantial evidence and testimony suggest that one of the killers that night was Jedd Houghton, and most likely Victor Peirce was there, too.
The kicker was that During 2005, Wendy Peirce, widow of Victor, gave an interview to the mass media. In this interview, she stated that her late husband had planned and carried out the murders and that he was actually guilty as charged.
Sources: https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-bloody-trail-of-violence-that-led-to-walsh-street-20020503-gdu6du.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walsh_Street_police_shootings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pettingill_family
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Peirce
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/flashback-1988-the-walsh-street-police-shootings-20181011-p50916.html
https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-bloody-trail-of-violence-that-led-to-walsh-street-20020503-gdu6du.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pettingill_family
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Peirce
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Allen_(criminal)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kath_Pettingill
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/gangland-witness-jason-ryan-tells-why-he-put-his-life-on-the-line-to-dob-in-the-walsh-st-police-killers/news-story/9ab361e9a04fbd9a213d5e90f42238b8
June, 1987 – Frank Valastro is shot and killed by Victoria Police
11 October 1988 – Graeme Jensen is killed
12 October 1988, approx. 4:50am – Walsh Street killings occur
21 October 1988, TyEyre taskforce set up
24 October 1988 – Jason Ryan moved to Mansfield and placed under witness protection
17 November 1988 – Jedd Houghton shot and killed by police in a Bendigo caravan park.
9 April 1989 – Gary Abdallah is shot and killed by Victoria Police after pulling an imitation pistol on detectives.
26 March 1991 – four accused men found not guilty.
1 May 2002 – Victor Peirce shot and killed in Bay Street, Port Melbourne in drive-by shooting linked to Andrew "Benji" Veniamin
October, 2005 – Widow of Victor Peirce, Wendy Peirce gives an interview to John Silvester, detailing her husband's involvement in the crime.
February, 2010 – Peter McEvoy told New South Wales Police, in anger, that he had heard the final words of a dying constable, prompting calls for a coronial inquest into the deaths of the two policemen.
13 March 2011 – Sunday Night airs former police officer Malcolm Rosenes' claim that Graeme Jensen was killed in cold blood and had a sawn-off rifle planted in his car after death.
October, 2011 – The book A Pack of Bloody Animals was published, concluding that two of the defendants, Anthony Farrell and Trevor Pettingill, played no part in the murders of the two policemen.
Trial
The trial of the four men accused, Victor Peirce, Trevor Pettingill, Anthony Leigh Farrell and Peter David McEvoy, began in March 1991. The prosecution alleged six people were involved in the planning of the shootings: the accused, Jason Ryan, and the late Jedd Houghton.
Prosecution
Jason Ryan became a prosecution witness in the trial and was offered immunity in exchange for his testimony. Police placed Ryan under the witness protection program and moved him to Mansfield on 24 October 1988 for questioning. His evidence changed a number of times up to the opening of the trial.
Ryan's evidence had implicated Gary Abdallah, Jedd Houghton, Anthony Leigh Farrell and Emmanuel Alexandris. Police were told the party of killers were Jedd Houghton, Peter David McEvoy, Anthony Leigh Farrell and his uncles Victor Peirce and Trevor Pettingill.
Victor Peirce's wife, Wendy Peirce, also became a prosecution witness and entered the witness protection program. She had previously maintained her husband was with her in a motel all night on the night of the murders; she retracted this alibi in preparation to testify against her husband. But, in a pre-trial hearing, she retracted her retraction and, as a hostile witness, did not appear at the trial.
In a series of video interviews in 1989 that detailed a decade of crime, including several murders by her brother-in-law Dennis Allen, Wendy Peirce examined bank security pictures and identified those in them, saying she recognised her husband, Jensen, Houghton and McEvoy by their clothes, shoes, features (they wore balaclavas or stocking masks) and stance.
She said she had seen her husband and Jensen wearing balaclavas at home as a joke, so she knew what they looked like wearing them. She informed police that her husband told her when he was planning a robbery; she knew when he was conducting surveillance on targets; and she knew when he completed a job because he came home with money.
Victor Peirce's sister, Vicki Brooks, turned against him and joined the witness protection program.
Not guilty verdict
All four men charged with the murders were acquitted in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Victor Peirce and Peter David McEvoy were taken back into custody on other charges. Upon receiving the verdict, D24 sent a broadcast of the verdict to every police officer in Melbourne, telling them to keep control and resist from carrying out any acts of retaliation against the defendants. However some forms of retaliation were carried out:
Wendy Peirce was charged with perjury, convicted and sentenced to serve 9 months non-parole.
The prosecution believed six people were involved in the ambush (including Jason Ryan and Jedd Houghton). But only two were needed to complete the killings and only two people were seen. Perhaps only two killers were there.
Yet while the shotgun's link to the Flemington crew remains the only certainty in the case, circumstantial evidence and testimony suggest that one of the killers that night was Jedd Houghton, and most likely Victor Peirce was there, too.
The kicker was that During 2005, Wendy Peirce, widow of Victor, gave an interview to the mass media. In this interview, she stated that her late husband had planned and carried out the murders and that he was actually guilty as charged.
Sources: https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-bloody-trail-of-violence-that-led-to-walsh-street-20020503-gdu6du.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walsh_Street_police_shootings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pettingill_family
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Peirce
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/flashback-1988-the-walsh-street-police-shootings-20181011-p50916.html
https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-bloody-trail-of-violence-that-led-to-walsh-street-20020503-gdu6du.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pettingill_family
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Peirce
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Allen_(criminal)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kath_Pettingill
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/gangland-witness-jason-ryan-tells-why-he-put-his-life-on-the-line-to-dob-in-the-walsh-st-police-killers/news-story/9ab361e9a04fbd9a213d5e90f42238b8
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