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IN THE CRIMINAL SITTINGS OF THE SUPREME COURT HELD AT NUMBER 7 COURT, SALAMANCA PLACE, HOBART, BEFORE HIS HONOUR THE CHIEF JUSTICE, ON TUESDAY THE 19TH DAY OF NOVEMBER, 1996

 

THE QUEEN  v.  MARTIN BRYANT

 

Appearances:               MR. D. BUGG Q.C. and

                                    MR. N. PERKS                                                for the Crown

 

                                    MR. J. AVERY                                               for the Accused

 

MR.  BUGG Q.C.  (Stating facts):   Your Honour, Martin Bryant has pleaded guilty to all counts in the indictment which was filed in this Court on the 5th of July.

 

On the 28th of April of this year he travelled to Port Arthur.  He drove there in his Volvo sedan which at the time had a surfboard placed on the roof racks on top of the car.  The Crown’s case is that at the outset of that journey he intended at least some form of violent confrontation with Mr. And Mrs. Martin of the Seascape tourist accommodation facility at Port Arthur and in all probability his intentions also extended to actions which had the devastating impact on the community and the people of Port Arthur on that day.

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I say this because on the Crown case he had made preparations which were inconsistent with his normal behaviour.  He behaved deceptively to those close to him, as to his possession and use of firearms.  They were concealed in his house in the body of two pianos and elsewhere within the house out of view of visitors to that property.  Yet, when he left the property on the morning of the 28th of April to travel to Port Arthur he left one semi-automatic firearm and a substantial quantity of ammunition in the hallway of the house.

 

His acts of preparation included buying a sports bag to conceal one of his weapons, he took handcuffs with him, rope and a hunting knife and three semi-automatic weapons and a significant quantity of ammunition.  He told some people he met on the way that he was going surfing at Roaring Beach but on one occasion he let his guard slip and I will tell your Honour about that later.    He followed through a series of actions which culminated in a hostage and siege situation which had an air of pre-planning.  He clearly intended to embark upon violence and murderous conduct of the type to which he has pleaded guilty.

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Bryant at the time, lived comfortably in the sense that he didn’t have any money worries but I will cover that in more detail later.  His lifestyle was different and his behaviour, in the eyes of many, inappropriate.

 

He owned and drove a motor vehicle but did not possess a driver’s licence.  He owned and on the 28th April 1996, used military style semi-automatic weapons but did not hold a licence or any form of authorisation to possess or own those weapons.  A search of his house at Clare street after the shootings at Port Arthur revealed that he had hidden the firearms in the house and had other weapons and ammunition concealed there in such a way that his girlfriend and other visitors would not be able to locate them.  He was obviously stockpiling those weapons and ammunition which had a disturbing killing efficiency.  That he was planning or considering a significant violent act or series of acts culminating in his conduct in late April 1996 is best illustrated by his conduct at gun shops in Hobart in the short period of time leading up to this incident –

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He had, in October or November of 1993, purchased an AR10, also called an Armalite, semi-automatic rifle through a newspaper advertisement in Tasmania.  In early 1996 he enquired at one gun shop about the purchase of a semi-automatic .233 rifle and at the same time he bought three rifle cases, one of them with a double carrying capacity.  In February to April of 1996, from another gun shop he purchased cleaning kits for a 30 calibre and a 12 gauge shotgun.  At about this time it is believed that he bought that semi-automatic shotgun.  He later was to tell police that that weapon, when firing, frightened him.  On the 27th of March, 1996 he bought the AR10 rifle into a gun shop for repair.  At about 10.00 a.m. on the 23rd of April, 1996 he enquired at one gun shop in Hobart as to the availability of an AR15 semi-automatic weapon. 

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– told that such a weapon was available for a price of three thousand dollars however he did not buy the weapon at that shop although one of the guns he used on the 28th April, 1996 was an AR15 which he had purchased elsewhere and he provided details of that to the police and your Honour will hear about that later.

 

All these transactions and movements he concealed from his girlfriend, Miss Petra Wilmot.

 

In stating the facts to you I will cover those events leading up to the first fatal shootings on the 28th of April and through to the shooting of Mrs. Mikac and her two daughters on Jetty Road at Port Arthur.

 

My junior, Mr. Perks, will then deal with Bryant’s actions from the Toll Booth at Port Arthur through to the siege and his arrest at Seascape the next morning.  He will also cover the police interview of Bryant in early July, 1996, the video film of which will be played to the Court.  At the conclusion of the playing of that film I will then provide your Honour with Victim Impact details and background information on Bryant detailing information in my possession and expert opinion obtained by my office which I will be submitting to assist your Honour in the sentencing process.

 

Before proceeding further and in fairness to Bryant and his counsel I consider that it is proper that I inform your Honour as to the Crown’s position concerning sentence.

 

The Crown in this State is authorised to make submission on sentencing pursuant to Section 386, sub-Sections 11 and 12 on the Criminal Code and I propose to follow that authorisation, particularly under Section 386, sub-Section 12B and C –

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--- in this case and make submissions in due course to your Honour about the matter.  I will, because of the substantial number of murders committed by this man, be submitting that in relation to the counts of murder to which he has pleaded guilty the sentence of life imprisonment is the only appropriate sentence on those convictions and that your Honour’s discretion under The Parole Act should be exercised by orders under Section 12B (a) that he is not eligible for parole in respect of that sentence.  I will address your Honour in more detail on this in due course but I do make those comments to put the defence on notice as to my position on that.

 

On the 28th of April, Martin Bryant, who was born on the 7th May 1967, had been living at 30 Claire Street, New Town, for a number of years having obtained ownership of that property on the death of its previous owner, Miss Helen Harvey.  On her death on the 20th October 1992, Bryant inherited her estate which included a share in the profits of the estate of the late George Adams, the founder of the Tattersall’s lotteries and he also of course acquired a sole interest in the house in Clare street.  Insofar that this is relevant, further comment will be made about this aspect of Bryant’s life later.

 

In early 1996, Bryant advertised in “The Mercury” newspaper for a gardener’s position at his home in Clare street.  That advertisement was answered by, amongst others, Miss Petra Wilmott.  She was employed.  After a short time of being employed by Bryant, Miss Wilmott became friendly with him, ceased working for him and then started to go out with him on a regular basis and often stayed overnight at his house.  She stayed at his house for four successive nights up to and including the 27th April 1996,

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the night before Bryant committed these crimes.

 

On the 15th of April, 1996 Miss Wilmott accompanied Bryant in to Hobart to go shopping, less than two weeks before this incident.  She was in the Myer store in Hobart with Bryant when he purchased a Prince sports bag, having first measured that bag with a tape measure he had taken with him.  It’s the crown case that he was obviously measuring that bag to determine whether or not it had the capacity to carry the semi-automatic weapon he carried in that bag with him when he entered the Broad arrow Café on the 28th of April.  He turned to Miss Wilmott and said was the bag big enough and when she asked him what for he told her that he was going to use it for T’ai Chi.  However, in an aside conversation with the shop assistant he told the shop assistant that the bag had to have strong handles as it would be used to carry ammunition which would be heavy.  This bag was later to provide Bryant with an element of surprise and as an illustration of his pre-planning for what he did on the 28th of April.

 

  Miss Wilmott states that after seeing that bag at the time of purchase she did not on any other occasion see it either at Bryant’s home or in his possession.  It was most likely hidden with his firearms and ammunition.

 

On the 25th of April, Anzac Day, Bryant travelled to Richmond with Miss Wilmott ostensibly to test out his camera for which he had purchased new batteries.  At Richmond Bryant spoke to one shopkeeper and asked her how busy it was in Richmond on Sundays.

 

On Saturday, the 27th of April Bryant spent the day in the company of Miss Wilmott and in the evening had dinner at his mother’s home with Miss Wilmott.  On this occasion Miss Wilmott said that Bryant appeared

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to consume more alcohol than his usual practice, he became talkative and aggressive in a make believe way towards his mother.

 

After leaving his mother’s home they travelled to a local nightclub and then returned to the Clare Street property where Bryant set his alarm clock for 6 a.m. the following day.

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Miss Wilmott said to Police when later interviews by them that this was out of keeping in the sense that in the time she had known Bryant he had never used an alarm clock nor had he risen that early before.  He did not work and he had no commitments.  She had never seen any firearms either in the home or in Bryant’s possession in the time she had known him.  She left the home at about eight a.m. and whilst Bryant had said that he wanted to take Miss Wilmott to Port Arthur she had never been there with him.  He didn’t tell where he was going that day and she was certainly unaware of him ever having been surfing in the time she had known him, although he did tell her that he was a good surfer.  Information gathered by the Police after this incident seemed to indicate the contrary was the case.  Miss Wilmott later assisted the Police in identifying Bryant'’ voice from the audio tape recordings of the hostage negotiations, which occurred later in the evening of the 28th of April.

 

At the time Bryant was the registered owner of a yellow Volvo 240GL sedan which he had purchased in September, 1995.  He also had at the Clare Street property a blue Honda Civic station wagon which was out of registration.  The only other registered owner of that vehicle had been Miss Harvey.  The vehicle had passed to Bryant on her death.  Bryant had never held a driver’s licence and had one conviction against his name for being an unlicenced driver of an uninsured, unregistered motor vehicle following his interception by Transport Department Officers on the 6th of July 1994.  The car he was driving was the Honda Civic which had remained unregistered after the death of Miss Harvey.

 

Miss Wilmott in statements provided to the Police after the 28th of April said that Bryant would often speak about Japanese tourists and wasps, and in fact raised both topics with the woman he spoke to in Richmond on Anzac Day.

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Bryant’s home in Clare Street is fitted with an electronic alarm system.  In attending, the police late in the day of the 28th of April, the Police in attending those premises the Police discovered that the alarm had been set, that is engaged, at nine forty-seven a.m. on Sunday the 28th of April.  So obviously that was the time at which Bryant left his home.  He left driving his yellow Volvo sedan and carrying with him at that time the AR15 semi-automatic .223 calibre rifle and FN, commonly called an SLR military style semi-automatic .308 calibre rifle and a semi-automatic Daiwoo twelve gauge shotgun.

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He also had with him two sets of handcuffs, sash-cord rope and a hunting knife and a number of containers of petrol.

 

The times that I will give your Honour now are approximate because they are estimates given by witnesses who came forward to assist the police with their inquiries following the horrific events of the 28th of April.

 

At approximately 10.30 a.m. Bryant arrived at the Midway Point Newsagency and purchased a cigarette lighter from the proprietor, Mr Angelo Kessarios.  The owner recognised Bryant because he used to call in at the newsagency on a regular basis approximately 18 months previously.  The usual time of his arrival was 6.00 a.m.  The proprietor said that he had had, at that time the assumption that Bryant had an early work commitment to be arriving at his shop at such an early hour of the day.  But, in fact, Bryant’s real reason for doing so was that he was living in the Copping District, he did not have a driver’s licence and he therefore drove at a time, at that time in an attempt to avoid police detection.  When he had been in the shop on previous occasions he would giggle inappropriately but was always outgoing in his manner.  But on this occasion the proprietor noticed that his demeanour was quite different.  He didn’t pass any pleasantries.  He didn’t show any recognition of the proprietor, although they had obviously exchanged conversation on a number of occasions, and he purchased the cigarette lighter leaving more money than was necessary to pay for it and departed quite abruptly.

 

Bryant then travelled to the township of Sorell where he stopped at the local supermarket and purchased a bottle of tomato sauce.  The proprietor of the supermarket, Mr. Diamantis, noticed that he had with him a large bag which was a sports type bag.  He therefore watched his movements in the supermarket closely. 

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When he left he paid for his purchase with a large quantity of small coin, small denomination coin.

 

Your Honour, the list of witnesses names has been provided to the transcribing typist so there is no problem with spelling.

 

Bryant then travelled further south to the village of Forcett, arriving there between 11.00. and twelve midday.  He stopped at the Shell service station and spoke to the proprietor, Mr Gary King, and requested a cup of coffee.  He told the proprietor that he had been there earlier in the week and had enjoyed the cup of coffee he had on that occasion, but he said, ‘On this occasion would you boil the kettle for less time.’.  He paid for the coffee in five and ten cent coins and told Mr King that he was going to Roaring Beach to surf.  The service station proprietor thought that was strange because it was a very calm day and he certainly didn’t expect that the sea conditions would be conducive to surfing.

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Your Honour, there were a number of other sightings of Bryant, the car was distinctive, and those sightings occurred in the Eaglehawk Neck area and at some of the tourist attractions near Eaglehawk Neck.  Clearly he moved on from Forcett through Eaglehawk Neck and then down to the Peninsula at Taranna and there he stopped at the service station-convict bakery and purchased fifteen dollars worth of petrol.  From there he drove on to Port Arthur.

 

Mr. Christopher Hammond, a long time resident of the Peninsula and proprietor of the service station said that when he served Bryant the petrol he stood looking out across Norfolk Bay with Bryant and he said the water was mirror calm and he was rather surprised to see someone with a surfboard travelling down there in those weather conditions.

 

Clearly Bryant travelled on from there towards Port Arthur and the Crown case is that he stopped at the Seascape guest accommodation at that time owned by Mr. And Mrs. David Martin.

 

There were two interesting observations made late in the morning and at about midday by two people who reside in the area, one Mr. Simmons, heard at about 11 a.m. two shots.  He knew the Martins well and he knew on that day that it was Mr martin’s birthday.  Further down towards Port Arthur and near the boat ramp a Mr Doug McCutcheon heard a series of rapidly fired shots and his best estimate of the time of that was about twelve o’clock to twelve thirty.  He estimated that the calibre of the rifle used was larger than .22.  He has some experience with firearms and some sensitivity about it, being involved in the operation of a fish farm.  He claimed that whenever gun shots went off in the district he was blamed for shooting

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seals.  But he estimated that in that volley of shots there would have been six, at the most twelve shots.  Later in the day he heard further shooting when Bryant was in Port Arthur.  In that late morning how many shots were fired and precisely when is difficult to determine but these two residents heard shooting on that day in the pre-lunch period and the Crown case is that Bryant shot Mr. And Mrs. Martin at about that time. 

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Further details will be given by Mr. Perks.

 

Tourists to Tasmania at the time, Donald and Stephanie Gunn, had spent the night at “The Seascape”.  They departed at about 11.15 to 11.20 a.m. and at that time David and Sally Martin were in residence, all the other guests had departed, the Gunns stayed chatting to Mr. & Mrs. Martin and then later when they departed they noted that both of the Martins were engaged in chores about  “The Seascape”, so at about 11.20 a.m. the Crown case is that Mr. & Mrs. Martin were at the premises on their own.  At about 11.45 a.m. a Peninsula resident, Mr Copping, drove past “Seascape” on the Arthur Highway.  He had known the martins for a number of years, and when he looked towards “The Seascape” building he observed a yellow Volvo sedan backed up into the front door of the main home with the driver’s door open.  There was a surfboard on the rack and he took particular notice of this because being a person who had surfed in the area some many years before he knew that the weather was not good for surfing and he recalled that when he spoke to the police because he said he thought to himself at the time that a lot of surfers had improved somewhat since his day of surfing if they could afford to stay overnight when the weather was like that.  He drove through past Port Arthur township and then returned at about 12.40 p.m., in other words he was driving back towards “The Seascape”, and as he did so he noticed the yellow Volvo being driven towards Port Arthur about two hundred metres south of the general store at Port Arthur itself.

 

The Crown case is that in that intervening time, that is, between 11.45 and 12.40, Martin Bryant shot and killed Mr. & Mrs. Martin, and I say this because not only were shots heard by the residents I have mentioned but on the same day Victorian tourists, Maureen and John Mason, who had visited Port Arthur and were returning to catch

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a flight from Hobart, called in to look at “The Seascape” premises on their way out of the Peninsula at about 12.30 p.m. 

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So noticed the property on the way into Port Arthur and they were attracted by it and thought that they might come back and visit the premises on a future holiday.

 

On later hearing of the events at Port Arthur Mrs. Mason was to describe to the Police what occurred when she and her husband drove onto the Seascape property.  She said that her husband stopped the car, they both alighted from the vehicle and started to walk towards the house.  She has a vague recall of a squarish shaped vehicle near the house but didn’t take any particular note of it.  She then told the police “Suddenly a young man appeared in front of us out of nowhere, he appeared agitated, he was making jerking movements with his hands and wasn’t still, moving about nervously.  My husband said to him ‘I wonder if we could have a look at one of the apartments?’ and he said ‘No, my mother and father are out for ten minutes’ He said, ‘I can’t show you around because I’ve got my girlfriend inside’” Mrs. Mason described his manner of speech as strange and “I opined that he was speaking as if something was wrong”.  She said his manner of speech was not natural and she said that he appeared quite rude and she became uneasy about him.  She told the Police that at this time all she wanted to do was just get away from the property as quickly as possible and she asked her husband to do so by saying “Come on let’s get out of here”.  Both Mr. and Mrs. Mason then re-entered the car, drove away from the property, back along the Highway.  Mrs. Mason looked back over her shoulder as the car travelled onto the Highway and she said that the person she had spoken to was standing in front of the house looking in their direction.  Their time of departure was about twelve thirty-five p.m.

 

Shortly after this your Honour Bryant left the Seascape and drove towards Port Arthur in his Volvo.  He had

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with him at the time the keys to the Seascape properties which had obviously been locked following his killing of Mr. and Mrs. Martin.  These keys were later recovered from the Volvo sedan when he abandoned it near the Toll Booth. 

 

On his way to Port Arthur he stopped to speak with two persons whose motor vehicle had over-heated and was stationary on the roadside.  That was just past the Seascape property.  Bryant chatted to them briefly and was asked if he was going surfing because of the surf board on the roof racks. 

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He replied, “No, I’m going to the Isle of the Dead to get rid of some wasps”.  He then suggested that they meet later at the café at Port Arthur when he said, “You can shout me a cup of coffee.”  From there Bryant travelled past Port Arthur, or through Port Arthur, and past the historic site, to Palmer’s Lookout Road.  That’s on the southern side of the historic site.  And there he stopped his car and spoke with a long term resident, Mr. Roger Larner, whom he had known for a number of years.  Bryant’s parents had owned a seaside holiday property and approximately fifteen years previously Mr. Larner had met Mr. and Mrs. Bryant and their son Martin.

 

Your Honour, it’s important that I read to you the account given by Mr. Larner of his conversation with Martin Bryant because on the Crown case this conversation took place approximately one half of an hour after he had murdered Mr. and Mrs. Martin.  He asked Mr. Larner how his health was – I am referring to page 43 of volume1, part A of the crown papers, your Honour.  Mr. Larner replied that it was good.  He asked after Martin Bryant’s health and he said, “I don’t drink much anymore and I don’t smoke.  I’m down here surfing.”  Mr. Larner then asked where he was living and Bryant said that he had bought a place just out of New Norfolk, called ‘Fogg Lodge’.  He said that he had sold his farm at Copping for about a hundred and forty five thousand dollars and said that he was looking for some Murray Grey cattle to buy.  Mr Larner responded that he had some to sell and asked him what he was looking for and Bryant said, “A couple of heifers and a young bull.”  Mr. Larner said that he had a heifer for sale and indicated where they were in the paddock.  Bryant then said he didn’t want to look at them right away.  He said to Mr Larner, “I wouldn’t mind buying Martin’s place.” That is Mr David and Mrs Sally Martin.  And that reference Mr Larner took to be the next door property because Mr. and Mrs. Martin also owned property further

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down the peninsula, next door to Mr. Larner.

 

He then asked Mr. Larner if his wife was at home and Mr. Larner said, “Yes, she’s up at the house.” And he then asked if it was all right if he could go up to the house to see her and Mr. Larner responded, “Yes, that would be all right and I will come up.” 

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Bryant then responded that he might go to Nubeena first and then come back later in the afternoon if that was all right.  The background to that, your Honour, is that some time previously, and after the death of Martin Bryant’s father, Bryant had met Mrs. Larner accidentally at New Town and after that meeting he had made a nuisance of himself and rung Mrs. Larner on a number of occasions and those phone calls Mr. Larner described in a term which could commonly be called nuisance calls.  As a consequence he asked his wife to report the matter to the police, which she had done.  Certainly with what had already transpired and with what later transpired Bryant’s refusal of the invitation to travel up the path to the home in company with Mr. Larner we say is somewhat significant.   He certainly showed composure in behaving in the way in which he did, not only in the presence of Mr. Larner but also with the people to whom he spoke on the roadside when clearly at that particular time he intended, on the Crown case, to embark upon his murderous and violent conduct at Port Arthur.

 

Bryant then travelled back from Palmer’s Lookout Road to the entrance to the historic site.  His vehicle was observed entering the site by tourists following him and he was also seen by a member of the historic site staff operating the toll booth on that day.  That person estimates that at approximately 1.10 to 1.15 p.m. she observed a yellow Volvo sedan in a line of vehicles waiting to enter the site.  She noticed the surfboard on the roof racks and she noticed the sudden backwards movement in the vehicle whilst it was in the queue.  When the vehicle arrived at the toll booth window Bryant complained that the driver in front of him had reversed without warning towards him.  This witness made a full statement to police not only of Bryant’s entry to the site but also of later events which occurred near the toll booth and they will be covered in detail by Mr. Perks later in this hearing.

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Your Honour, Bryant then drove down Jetty Road towards the carpark near the broad Arrow café, and in due course we will make available some plans of the area so that a geographie orientation can be achieved but I won’t do that at the moment.

 

At about 1.25 p.m. the security manager at the site, Mr. Ian Kingston, was directing people in the carpark when he saw Bryant, who indicated that he wanted to park his vehicle near the water’s edge.  Mr Kingston directed him away from that area because it is normally reserved for campervans and the carpark area was quite busy o that day.  Bryant became argumentative but drove off in his car and parked it near the information centre.  Mr Kingston attended other matters and then later noticed that Bryant had moved his car back to the water’s edge.  He saw Bryant alight from the car carrying a bag, a sport’s type bag, a video camera, and he then walked towards the Broad arrow café.  It is the Crown’s case that that bag that he then had with him contained the AR15 semi-automatic rifle and ammunition and it was the bag which he had previously measured, which I’ve referred to.  At this stage, Mr Kingston didn’t take any further notice of Bryant. 

 

During the mid-lunch time busy period at the Broad Arrow café on the 28th April, there were at least sixty customers either seated within the Broad Arrow café or waiting to be served for takeaway meals which could be eaten away from the café at outside eating areas in front of the café and others were browsing in the souvenir and giftshop area.  Bryant entered the Broad Arrow café at about 1.30 p.m.  He stood at the servery and obtained food and drink, a fact which was noticed by one of the witnesses consisting of a cup of fruit juice and also a can of fruit juice.   He left the café to take a seat outside and as he left the door was held open for him at his request by Mrs. Carol Pearce and Mrs. Carmel Edwards members of a party of ten who were just entering the

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café.  Comments were made to Bryant about the size of his meal which he was taking out with him and he responded saying that he had been surfing all day.  He walked on to the balcony and seated himself at one of the tables –

 

 and, your Honour, I would ask, I say so in this amount of detail because there are two other rooms at court and there are people assisting me in those rooms who will place on the screen plans of the area, and I would ask Mr. Perks if he wouldn’t mind helping as well, to place firstly the floor plan of the broad Arrow café on the board. 

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I’ll spend some time referring to this your Honour because obviously I need to go through this in some detail and I’d ask that Mr. Perks stay there and perhaps assist the Court by indicating certain locations.  By way of explanation your Honour I should say that the plan has been prepared by the Police to assist.  It is a floor plan of the café after Police investigators were called to examine the scene and record what they observed.  What has been done to the plan in addition is to make faint red outlines of the Locations of the tables in the arrangement which existed at the time and was the place at which the tables were located on the afternoon to Bryant entering the café with his firearm.  So the plan also depicts the location of bodies left in the café after Bryant’s departure and their location at the time the Police attended, so clearly there has been probably some movement of the bodies for medical attention and examination.

 

But when Bryant left the café he left by the doorway which took him out onto the balcony and then seated himself at a table, on the edge of the second last table before the gap on the balcony.  When he sat down at that table he commented in a rather loud voice that there were a lot of wasps about.  One person who was dining on the balcony at that time, Mrs. Sullivan, said that she hadn’t seen any and made a comment to that effect to Bryant. 

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Bryant then spoke to people at or near the table he had seated himself at and he questioned them about parking problems.  Did they have any difficulty, and so on, and stated that he had had problems but that he had parked where he wanted to anyway.  Seated at the table next to him was a Melbourne couple, Michael Beekman and Rebecca McKenna.  And, your Honour, I will be taking you through some photographs and I tender a bundle of photographs for your assistance.

 

            EXHIBIT P 1 – BUNDLE OF PHOTOGRAPHS – Taken in

 

HIS HONOUR: Thank you.

 

MR BUGG QC  (RESUMING)            If your Honour turns towards the back of that folder of photographs there is Photograph 1,039 – that shows part of the balcony, obviously after this incident, and the area which we are now talking about.  That’s one zero three nine.  Mr. Beekman and Miss McKenna said that Bryant appeared to be talking to himself.  He mentioned ‘wasps’ and spoke to Miss McKenna.  He also said that there were not many Japanese tourists at the site that day.  The couple tried to ignore him.  Mr Beekman noted that he was eating his food quickly, they observed him gather up his bag, tray and other possessions and go back into the café.  Mr. Beekman said that someone opened the door for him again.

 

There are two entrance doors – one off the balcony into the café to the left of – if you could just show that, please?  There is that entrance doorway and there is another entrance doorway there.  That last entrance doorway, the one on the right, is the one through which Bryant walked when he went back into the café.

 

HIS HONOUR: That’s immediately below the sign, “The broad Arrow Café”, is it, on the photograph?

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MR BUGG QC: I’m sorry, your Honour.

 

HIS HONOUR: If you look at the photograph?

 

MR BUGG QC: Yes, you’re looking at that.  You can see the doorway from the photograph in 1039.

 

HIS HONOUR: Yes.

 

MR BUGG QC:  It’s the doorway you can see just to the right of the person walking along in front of the balcony.

 

HIS HONOUR: That door has opened out in that photograph, has it?

 

MR BUGG QC:  Yes.

 

HIS HONOUR:  Yes.

 

MR BUGG QC: (RESUMING)            Someone opened the door for him again and Mr Beekman said that he himself saw wasps there when Mr Bryant was mentioning wasps but he said that Bryant’s speech was a little difficult to understand but he certainly articulated the problem that he’d recently experienced with Mr Kingston over parking because he said, ‘Fuck him.  I parked there anyway.’  He was described as appearing to be anxious with quick hand movements and looking at the carpark and into the café quite regularly.

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Another couple, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, on a coach tour, also sat outside.  He spoke to them in similar terms.  They later went on to their coach, a coach which Bryant was later to shoot at.  Mrs. Iris Williams when the shooting had finished, noted the registration number of Bryant’s vehicle as he was driving out of the car park.

 

Another couple, Mr. and Mrs. Kelly, entered the café shortly after Bryant.  They had been at the outdoor tables and had entered to leave their cups and look for souvenirs.

 

Bryant then walked in to the dining area of the café and placed his bag on a table in the north-western corner of the café.  That’s being indicated on the plan now, so he’s walked through a good two thirds of the café area towards the north-western corner.  The table that he placed the sports bag on was not occupied and he immediately took out the AR15 rifle which was fitted with a thirty shot magazine, although the Crown case is that there were approximately twenty six live rounds of ammunition in the magazine at that time. 

 

Your Honour, the bag was left by Bryant in the café after he departed and I would tender that, along with a towel which was found to be in it.  There was also some clothing but I won’t tender that, your Honour, the Crown places no relevance on that.  There was a towel, a hunting knife – sash cord rope in two lengths.  While they are being tendered, your Honour, I will just say that subsequent DNA analysis of the hunting knife and deposits that were observed on it disclosed that there was blood on the knife of a DNA type matching Mr. David Martin.  A very refined test undertaken, the results of which only came to my office on Friday, has disclosed that there was also a DNA sample which was unable to be

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identified initially but it has now been identified as being consistent with that of Martin Bryant, but obviously from his plea there is no dispute about that now.

 

EXHIBIT P2 – BAG AND CONTENTS OF A ROPE,    -    TAKEN IN

                         KNIFE and JUMPER

Page 78.

Your Honour, on the plan there has been marked faintly in red table numbers to indicate table numbers and their location in the restaurant on that day.  Seated at table number two were four visitors to Port Arthur Mr. Michael Sargent, his girlfriend Kate Scott, Mr. John Riviere and Miss Carol Villiers.  Mr. Sargent stated that he had been seated at the table for about ten minutes when he noticed that an Asian couple were seated at a single table near the western side of the building.  That’s now being indicated.  They were eating a meal and Mr. Sargent noticed Bryant near the table with a large sports bag and he was staring at them.  Mr Sargent returned the stare briefly and then he turned to the other members of his group and continued the conversation he was having with them.  Mr. Sargent then heard two shots in quick succession.  He looked up and saw Bryant holding a gun in a position indicating that he had just fired it at the Asian couple and was turning the gun on him.  He started to move forwards and downwards and the gun was fired in his direction the bullet striking the top of his head as he fell to the floor.  Shortly after and whilst on the floor he realised that Miss Scott, his companion had also fallen to the floor. His first thought was that she was alive and that she had escaped serious injury but then he realised that she was deceased after he observed the horrific head injury caused by the direct shot to the back of the head.  She was sitting with her back to Bryant.

 

Whilst on the floor he could still hear shots being fired in the room.  Your Honour, the first two shots fired killed Mr. Moh Yee Ng and Miss Sou Leng Chung, visitors to this state from Malaysia. 

Page 79.

The third shot struck Mr. Sargent and the fourth shot killed Miss Scot.  The single shot which killed Mr. Ng struck him in the neck and death was instantaneous.

 

I will comment about the suddenness of this incident later, but, your Honour, police investigators who attended the scene later were to observe that Mr. Ng still had his dinner knife in his hand after death.  Examination of his body disclosed that the muzzle of the firearm was close to him when fired because there was gun powder stippling around the entrance wound.  And, your Honour, just by way of explanation, that observation is a process used by ballistic experts to try and determine the distance between the muzzle of the firearm and the object or body which the firearm has been fired at.  The range used by Bryant to cause the injuries and murder people in the café was in most cases at very close

Quarters and the terms used by the ballistics experts who examined the injuries of the persons who sustained injury and the bodies of the deceased gave three ranges of shots – close or contact, being either contact or within a few centimetres of the body – intermediate, being within a few centimetres out to about one to one point five metres – and then distant, being one to one point five metres and beyond.  Certainly within the intermediate range and in the close or contact range there is, with a firearm such as the one used by Bryant on this day, a residue of unburnt propellant which is discharged from the muzzle of the gun which causes a stippling or tattooing effect around the entry wound.

 

Miss Chung died when the bullet fired towards her struck her left ear and continued towards the base of the brain and the skull causing lethal traumatic disruption to the base of the brain and skull.  Assessment of the range of this shot was distant because of the lack of gunpowder stippling or searing.

Page 80.

An examination of the scene indicates that Miss Scott who was sitting with her back to Bryant, probably first slumped to the table and then fell to the floor.  As I said previously she was shot in the back of the head.

Page 81

Your Honour, I won’t take you through in any detail the photographs but you have before you that bundle of photographs, I refer you to photographs 52 to 57.  But if you turn to photograph 52, what you are looking at there, yout Honour, is in fact the table with the Prince bag on it, as left by Bryant, and to its immediate left you can see with back to the camera the body of Mr. Ng slumped against the wall and Miss Chung leaning against the window and you can see just to the right of the bag, the right hand corner of the bag on the floor, further in to the back of the café, the body of Miss Scott on the floor.  And those photographs 52 to 57 will then take you through the closer photographs of the three deceased.

 

The injuries caused by the use of this firearm were to say the least, horrific.  There is no indication from an examination of the body of Miss Scott as to the range of that shot but he would have been quite close to her at the time of firing the gun.

 

There were five spent shells located near the bag, all fired from the AR15 semi-automatic rifle which was later recovered from Seascape and admitted by Bryant in interview with the police as belonging to him.  The Crown case is that Bryant fired those four shots in a north-westerly direction towards the couple at the table on the western wall and then in a northerly direction towards Mr. Sargent and Miss Scott.  He then turned and commenced firing the weapon at people further down the café on the western wall of the building, Mr. Perks indicating that south-western corner of the café.

 

Mr Sargent sustained an injury to his head which creased the top of his skull and which was described as a scalp laceration and, your Honour, the first two counts in the indictment, the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Martin I have briefly touched upon, they will be covered later when Mr. Perks deals with the examination of the scene

Page 82.

of the Seascape.  But I have just dealt with counts 3,4,5 and 6, count 5 being an attempt murder charge to which the accused has pleaded guilty and the Crown case is that the forward movement of mr. Sargent in all likelihood avoided him sustaining a full blast of the weapon to his head.

Page 83.

 When Bryant started shooting, the other male at that table, Mr. Riviere, who had been going back to the counter of the servery – and that can be seen on the plan, the servery counter – jumped the counter and from behind the counter he observed Bryant firing his rifle.  He later described to the police his observations and said that Bryant was not saying anything but he appeared to be laughing in an aggressive way rather than in an amused way.  He said that Bryant walked from table to table shooting people in the head, he said he saw Kate Scott slumped over the table and he saw Mr. Sargent, who was calling out “Keep down, keep down”.  He then observed Bryant moving towards the other end of the café, meaning the south-western corner, still shooting people in the head.

 

The Crown case is that having fired the four shots in the area where he had placed the bag, Bryant turned in the south-westerly direction, down the westerly wall of the café towards table 8, which is being indicated, 9, 10, 11 and 12 – and so that your Honour understands what happened thereafter I will describe the locations of persons at tables so that you can better understand what followed.

 

At table No. 8 a visitor to this State, Mr. Anthony Nightingale, was seated by himself facing towards Bryant, so in other words he was looking in a northerly direction.  From the evidence of one of the witnesses in the café who survived, Mr. Nightingale stood up when the shooting started and called out “No, no, not here”, he was then shot, a single shot to the neck area causing fatal injuries with extensive damage to the larynx, thyroid larynx complex and the cervical spine.  The path of travel of that bullet was downwards indicating that Mr. Nightingale was probably leaning forward as he was shot. 

Page 84.

He was then seen to fall against the window by people outside the café whose attention had been drawn to it when they heard the shooting.  That is count seven in the indictment your Honour, and I refer you to photographs 48, 50 and 51, and your Honour will see the nature of the injuries by examining photograph 51 that this firearm inflicted upon the people shot at in the café.

 

HIS HONOUR:            48 shows two bodies.

 

MR. BUGG:                 Yes.

 

HIS HONOUR:            Mr. Nightingale is the –

 

MR. BUGG:                 Yes, 48 your Honour by way of description 48 shows Mr. Nightingale, he is the ---

 

HIS HONOUR:            The one in the blue jeans is he?  With coloured jumper?

 

MR. BUGG:                 That’s – no, he’s the person who is next to the wall your Honour.

 

HIS HONOUR:            Yes.

 

MR. BUGG:                 There were many people in the café that day who were members of groups touring the Port Arthur site, one such group, ten persons in all, consisted of Mervyn and Maureen Schadendorf, Maree and Gary Broome, John and Gaye Fidler, Kevin and Marlene Sharpe, Ray Sharpe and Mr. Walter Bennett.  They had arrived at the Port Arthur site in separate vehicles, six of them moving to the café to eat shortly after their arrival.  They were awaiting the arrival of the other four but seated themselves at table nine and commenced eating their meal.  They almost finished their meal when the others, Kevin and Marlene Sharpe, Ray Sharpe and Wally Bennett arrived

Page 85.

and stood at the northern end of the table, being indicated by Mr. Perks, with their backs towards the position that Bryant was in when he placed his bag on the table.  And they were standing when Bryant started shooting.

 

Having shot Mr. Nightingale Bryant moved at close quarters to shoot Kevin Sharpe, Wally Bennett and Ray Sharpe.  The precise order in which these three men were shot is not clear.  They were crowded towards the corner of the café with their backs towards Mr. Bryant.  Mr. Schadendorf who was seated at the table believed that he saw Mr. Ray Sharpe shot in the side of the head by a close or near contact shot, saying that he heard Mr. Sharpe say “That’s not funny” as the noise, the significant noise of this weapon being discharged was heard at close range by these people.

 

Then Mr. Bennet was shot in the neck, once again by a near contact shot.  So in other words by now the Accused is at their bodies standing behind them pointing the gun and touching them almost with the barrel of the weapon.

Page 86.

That shot which struck Mr. Bennett in the neck in the right side left an exit wound on the left and medical and ballistic evidence indicates that on exiting that bullet then struck Mr. Ray Sharpe, also killing him.

 

Mr. Kevin Sharpe was shot twice, once in the arm and once in the top of the head, the head wound was fatal.  Mr. Ray Sharpe died of massive head injuries and Mr. Bennett died from injuries caused when he was shot in the neck.  That’s counts 8, 9, and 10.

 

And, your Honour, I refer you to photograph 38 and your Honour can then see Mr. Nightingale over against the wall.  As you come towards the photographer there are other bodies, and I’ll come to that in a moment, but Mr. Bennett and Mr. Sharpe, one of the Mr. Sharpes, is seen in the middle ground of that photograph.  And then photographs 44 to 49 give a closer indication of those persons.

 

Mr. Gary Broome, who was also in the party and was seated at the table, was struck in the left side of his face apparently by bullet fragment which had struck another person, probably Kevin Sharpe.  He was admitted to the Royal Hobart Hospital.  And, your Honour, that is count 11.  Your Honour, I don’t want to create any confusion about the order in which this occurred but some people who attended the café on that day and survived probably have a vision of what occurred and a state of mind of the order in which things occurred.  What we have tried to do is present an account which places as near as can be determined the order in which people were injured or shot at or killed and obviously there will be some discrepancies in terms of people’s recall and their memory of this incident but this account is given based on assistance from both forensic evidence, ballistics evidence and examination of the bodies at

Page 87.

the scene.  Mr. Broome underwent surgery on the 29th of April for left side lacerations to his face caused by the passage of the bullet and there was removal of metallic objects from his face and some bony fragments.

Page 88.

That your Honour, as I said was count 11.  Mrs Gaye Fidler, another member of the party, received shrapnel wounds to her back after a bullet fragment, having struck one of the four people mentioned, passed on to hit her.  Mr. John Fidler who was also seated at this table at that time was struck in the forehead by shrapnel fragmentation and he also sustained a small injury to his back with metallic fragments believed to be from another bullet which had fragmented on striking one of the deceased persons.  He was treated for these injuries at the Royal Hobart Hospital and discharged.  That’s counts 12 and 13.

 

Your Honour, Mr. Kevin Sharpe’s injuries indicates first of all a gunshot injury to the head which was fatal and towards the left side of his face.  He also sustained another injury to his left arm.  Because on the Crown case Bryant was aiming his shots at peoples heads it is highly likely that the left arm injury, because Mr Kevin Sharpe was standing at the end of the table, was caused by a shot aimed at one of the other persons seated towards the rear of the table and that Mr. Sharpe had turned, facing Bryant, at the time he was shot.

 

Bryant then turned towards table number twelve and seated at that table were visitors from Sydney, Mr. and Mrs. Tony Kistan and Mr. Andrew Mills.  Mr. Mills and Mr. Kistan both stood up when the shooting started.  Mr. Kistan pushed his wife towards the door, Mr. Mills was shot in the right rear of his head behind the ear at an intermediate range gauged on the basis that there was no tattooing or powder burning from the muzzle glass.  This shot caused significant head injury which was immediately fatal.  Mr. Kistan was also shot whilst standing up and the estimated distance of the muzzle of the gun from him at the time of shooting was two to three metres.  He was shot in the left rear of the head.  He had moved

Page 89.

slightly away from the table in moving his wife towards the door.  The photographs dealing with those incidents your Honour are photographs 38 to 43. 

Page 90.

And that’s counts 14 and 15.  Photographs 40 and 41 are of Mr. Kistan and 42 and 43 are of Mr. Mills.

 

Bryant then quickly moved towards the front central portion of the café in an easterly direction moving in the space between the tables at the front of the café and those located in the centre.  Your Honour probably can’t see it at that distance but if Mr. Perks could just indicate – on the day at this time there were tables in what now appears to be an open space and the tables were quite crowded together – but they have been pushed aside and you can see the tables to the left and right of that area that he is now indicating.

 

At table number 13, on the immediate left of Bryant as he turned and started to move eastwards along the café, there were eight members of a party of ten.  The other two were seated at table number 16.  The eight persons were Faye Richards, Carol Pearce, Fred and Pat Barker, Ron and Carmel Edwards and Robert and Alyece Elliott.  The other two members of the group, Lindsay Richards and Ken Pearce. Were seated at table 16.  At table number 14 there was a party of three, Mr. Graham Colyer, Mrs Carol Loughton and her fifteen year old daughter, Sarah.  They were just preparing to leave the table, having finished their meal, and they were standing up to put their coats and jackets on.  Shortly prior to that four other visitors to the historic site had been seated at this table but they had, a short time previously, finished their meal and left the café.  I will mention their names later – as they moved up Jetty Road with Mrs Mikac and her two daughters.

 

At table number 15 Mr. Peter Crosswell was seated with Thelma Walker and Pamela Law.

 

To the right of Bryant as he moved eastwards were two tables against the front window of the café.  The first on, table number 18 was occupied by Mr. Mervyn and Mrs. Mary Howard. 

Page 91.

They were seated having their meal.  At the other table was a party consisting of Mr. Jason Winter and his wife, Joanne, their one year old son, who had been brought there in a pusher, and Mrs. Winter’s father, Mr. Ron Fowler, who had visited from New Zealand.

Page 92.

When Bryant first started shooting, Mr. Winter wasn’t at the table, he’d gone back to the servery area – if that could be indicated – in a position somewhere behind that fireplace which is marked almost in the centre of the café, the fire place, and he was returning the plates and trays because the party had finished its meal.  When Bryant shot Mr. Kistan and Mr. Mills he was to their west, to the west of them, and his gun was therefore pointed in an easterly direction placing the people at tables 13, 14, 15, and 16 in his firing line.  Thelma Walker and Pamela Law at table 15 were struck with shrapnel or fragments from the shots which killed Mr. Kistan and Mr. Mills.  Mrs. Walker sustained shrapnel wounds to the right temporal region, to the back and right ankle.  Mr. Crosswell pulled both women at that table to the floor and as Mrs. Law was being dragged to the floor she felt a graze to the rear of her head and while on the floor felt stinging sensation to her right side.  It appeared at the time that she had been shot directly but further examination revealed that the injuries were also shrapnel caused;  that’s counts 16 and 17.  Both women and Mr. Crosswell sheltered under the table while Bryant continued through the café shooting at people.

Page 93.

People  were now starting to realise that what was happening was a real life drama and that what had first appeared to be a re-enactment – and, your Honour, that was the response or the reaction of many people who were in the café and at the site on that day, a lot of them were seasoned travellers who had visited other historic sites such as Sovereign Hill where there had been re-enactments and that was their immediate assumption when they heard the gunfire, and they were then starting to realise  that this was not a re-enactment and that their lives were in danger.  They had little or no opportunity to react, your Honour, let alone escape, they certainly did not have any opportunity or means to retaliate.

 

THEN FOLLOWED THE MORNING ADJOURNMENT

 

THE COURT RESUMED

 

HIS HONOUR: Yes, Mr. Bugg?

 

MR. BUGG:            Thank you.  Before I continue, your Honour, if I could just correct one matter in what I’d – about the material I put before you before the adjournment and that is, if I could take you to the photographs near the window of Mr. Nightingale and Mr. Sharpe.  I believe in taking your Honour through those photographs I have incorrectly identified Mr. Sharpe.  The photograph 48, Mr. Nightingale is the body – it is his body which is the closer one to the camera.

Page 94.

I hadn’t formally tendered that plan but there’ll be three plans briefly referred to, your Honour, and I’ll tender all three as a bundle, being a statement of facts on a plea of guilty I would seek leave not to have to follow the strict requirements.

 

HIS HONOUR:            Yes.  There’s no objection from the defence.

 

MR. BUGG Q.C.:    Your Honour, proceeding on from the location we were at the adjournment, Patricia barker and her companions were at table number 13 and they reacted and took cover under the table on the floor,  Mrs. Barker received shrapnel wounds to the right upper arm, left hand and left cheek.  These injuries were sustained by fragments of shrapnel most likely from the fatal shots towards Mr. Kistan and Mr. Mills.  She sustained those three injuries before she was able to get to the floor.  That’s count 18.

 

It’s now that the events taking place in the café become quite confusing.  People concerned for their safety and the well being of their companions were taking evasive action and observations become quite understandably confused and affected by the urgency of the situation.  Whilst it is important to try to place in a correct time frame the sequence of the events which took place in the café it is, for the purposes of these proceedings, important that the basic ingredients of the crimes are detailed and the relevant particulars placed before your Honour.

Page 95.

Many people, not only in the café but elsewhere, observed some of the happenings of the afternoon.  They have all made statements to the police.  Those statements, coupled with ballistics and forensic evidence, have been used to try and piece together as accurately as possible the events of the day.

 

At this time it is believed that Mr. Bryant shot Mr. Colyer who, along with Mrs. Loughton and her daughter you will recall, were getting ready to leave the table.  Mr. Colyer was shot from about six to eight feet away.  He sustained a gunshot injury to the neck near his jaw and the bullet exited at the right back of Mr. Colyer’s neck.  His serious injuries were treated in emergency surgery at the Royal Hobart Hospital.  When he fell to the floor he remained conscious, almost suffocating on his own blood.  He could see Sarah Loughton on the floor in front of him and knew that she was dead.  He was later airlifted to the Royal Hobart Hospital.  That, your Honour, is Count 21.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Howard were seated at their table near the front window of the café.  He shot Mr. Howard when he was still seated.  Later his body was found to be on the floor but that’s understandable bearing in mind the attention and treatment that people tried to give and administer to the dead and dying in the café on that afternoon.

 

The Crown contends that Bryant had not moved from the position he was in when he shot Mr. Colyer, and he merely swivelled to shoot Mr. Howard.  The bullet struck Mr. Howard in the head, killing him instantly.  He fell forward onto the table.  The bullet continued on its way through the window of the café and that bullet passed the table at which Mr. Beekman and Miss McKenna had been seated.

Page 96.

That, following the shooting, caused – the noise of the shooting caused Mr. Beekman to immediately depart the balcony of the café and seek refuge.  Miss McKenna had already moved off the balcony when she heard the first shots fired.

 

Bryant then moved closer to that table,

Page 97.

and he fired a further shot striking Mrs. Howard in the neck.  That was a non fatal injury.  He then at some time shortly after that, changed position, leaned over the vacant pusher belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Winter and placed the muzzle of the gun near Mrs. Howard’s head and shot her a second time.  The massive fatal head injuries that caused can be observed your Honour from the photographs 66 to 70.

 

Your Honour, as I have said, the sequence of these shots is difficult to discern but most likely, relying on the evidence of Mr. Lindsay Richards, they occurred in this sequence;  Mr. Richards was at table number 10, no I'’ sorry, sixteen.

 

MR. PERKS:               That’s a sixteen.

 

MR. BUGG:            Sixteen, thank you Mr. Perks, closer to the print.  And he thought that Bryant, when he leant forwards with the gun, was going to shoot into the pusher.  But in fact at that time Mrs. Winter had taken cover on the floor under the table together with her son and her father. 

Page 98.

Mrs. Winter was trying to placate her child who was distressed and crying at what was happening, and obviously alarmed that any noise would attract Bryant’s attention towards them.  Clearly, Bryant intent on shooting Mrs. Howard did not observe the three persons taking cover under the table.  Whilst not relevant to the question of criminal responsibility, your Honour, it is important to understand how confusing the situation must have been.  People who survived describe their feelings of utter helplessness and almost a fatalistic acceptance that they were likely to be the next to be shot.

 

Carol Loughton and her daughter Sarah who had been with Mr. Colyer were separated by a short distance but Sarah ran towards her mother and they both fell to the floor together with Mrs Loughton covering her daughter.  Mrs. Loughton described the noise of the gun being discharged as very loud.  She in fact has a ruptured eardrum caused by the explosion of that firearm.  Whilst Mrs Loughton and her daughter were on the floor, Bryant shot Mrs Loughton in the back and shot Sarah in the head.  It is most likely at this time that the close proximity of the shot to the back of Sarah’s head caused the explosive noise which ruptured Mrs. Loughton’s eardrum.

Page 99

They are counts 23 and 24 and I refer your Honour to Photograph 63 to 66 which depict the injuries sustained to the deceased, Sarah Loughton.

 

The injuries caused to persons by this firearm were, as your Honour can see, horrific.  Mrs. Loughton sustained a wound to her back which was ten centimetres in diameter.  She was later evacuated by helicopter and did not know until she had been operated on and come out of surgery the next day that her daughter had been murdered.  Sarah Loughton appears from the medical evidence and ballistic examination to have been lying on the ground with her right hand under her head when she was shot.  Her right hand was injured as well, suggesting that she had fallen to the floor with her mother and then shot.

 

Your Honour, perhaps it is appropriate at this stage that I tender - well, I suppose it is not necessary to tender it in evidence - and I would seek that direction.  I don’t know whether my learned friend has any submissions about that, but I would certainly prefer the availability of the police safe to remove this firearm and the other firearms that were at Port Arthur on that day.  Does your Honour have any problem about that?

 

HIS HONOUR:            Well, I think the firearm should be retained in that custody.  As far as other exhibits are concerned they should be retained in the custody of the court.

 

MR. BUGG QC:      Yes, well, perhaps maybe they could be marked for identification and then later returned to the custody of the police.  Your Honour, that is the AR15 semi-automatic .223 rifle which was used by Bryant in the café and at other locations on that day.  It is the weapon which the Crown says he purchased shortly before this incident.  It is the same as the weapon he enquired about at another gun shop in Hobart. 

Page 100.

The magazine which Mr. Mace has with him was the magazine fitted to the gun at the time Bryant entered the café.  It is a thirty shot magazine.  The weapon is very light, it is semi-automatic, not fully automatic, and there is apparent damage to it because it was recovered by the police from the Seascape ruins the next day.

 

FIREARM and MAGAZINE – MFI A

Page 101.

MR. BUGG Q. C.:        A –

 

HIS HONOUR:            Yes, it’s marked “A”.

 

MR. BUGG:            Thank you, your Honour.  Bryant was now moving towards the gift shop area of the café, which can be seen to the eastern end and the whole eastern wall of the café was devoted to the sale of souvenirs, gifts and craftware and part of the craft display came down to the southern end of the café towards the front window.  And your Honour will see that there is an exit door shown out on to the balcony though that display area.  At the time of this shooting that door was locked and was unable to be opened either internally or externally without the appropriate key.  As Bryant moved towards the gift shop area he passed table 13 and Mr. Robert Elliott at that table stood up and in the confusion of the moment, he later told police he is just not certain why he did so.  He certainly didn’t have any spare room to conceal himself under the table as the area was now fully occupied, most of the people at the table had tried to take some sort of  cover underneath the table.  He states that in the confusion of thought in the time that he had to think he felt that his movements may distract the gunman and he felt that he had a reasonable chance of making it to the fireplace and safety.  Mr. Elliott was shot twice as he moved, once in the left upper arm and once in the head.  The head injury left some metallic fragments external to his skull, causing a head injury as well which resulted in some loss of vision due to swelling of the brain.  He underwent surgery and plastic surgery on the 28th of April, 30th of April, 2nd of May.  Your Honour, I haven’t gone into all the detail of some of the injuries and the treatment received for them but it has been a common experience for some of the people who suffered more severe injuries to have had as much as ten visits to surgery as a result of the injuries they sustained. 

Page 102.

He was discharged from the Royal Hobart Hospital on the 4th of May and transferred to the Monash medical Centre.  Your Honour, if you look at photograph 62 you will see just towards the hearth of the fireplace and clothing and bloodstaining on the floor that’s where Mr. Elliott fell.  That’s count twenty-five in the indictment your Honour.

 

Your Honour, it’s appropriate at this stage that I ask your Associate to play a portion of a video tape which is a compilation.  I will ask her to stop the tape at a particular point but I do so your Honour for the simple reason of illustrating to the Court and to the members of this community the short period of time in which the incident that I’ve just been talking about occurred.  It’s my estimation that at that point at which Mr. Elliott was shot Bryant had been shooting for fifteen seconds.  And this video tape may illustrate that.

 

                        EXHIBIT P.3 – VIDEO TTAPE – TAKEN IN

 

This first tape was filmed by Mr. and Mrs. Wilkinson from Corio who were attending the site on the day.  It’s start filming across the roof of the Broad Arrow Café.  Across the car park area and towards the ruins of the historic site, the penitentiary area.  If that could be played now, thank you.

 

                                    VIDEO PLAYED TO COURT

Page 103.

VIDEO STOPPED

 

Mr. BUGG Q.C.:    Your Honour, that shows just to the right of the frame in the middle of the picture the yellow Volvo with the roof rack.  That was filmed some time after the initial piece of filming and that is Bryant entering his car and about to reverse his car out and leave the carpark area.  If the film could be played on now.

 

PLAYING OF VIDEO CONTINUED

 

Mr. BUGG Q.C.:    This is a second film taken at the critical time from the penitentiary area and it is significant because of the noise level which can be heard of the gunfire from the café some hundred and fifty –two hundred metres away.  If that could be played.

 

SECOND VIDEO PLAYED TO COURT

 

Mr. BUGG Q.C.:    This was filmed by a Mr. Barry Turner.  The four buses that can be seen will become relevant later when I deal with Bryant’s conduct in the carpark.          

 

VIDEO CONTINUING

 

Mr BUGG Q.C.:    By then he’s moved away from the site and shots can be heard in the distance, which I’ll comment about later.

 

VIDEO CONTINUING

 

Mr. BUGG Q.C.:    Just near that little guardhouse you can see just below the fence two people, one of them is Miss Brigid Cook who was shot and was sheltering there.

PAGE 104.

Mr. BUGG Q.C.:    If that could be stopped now and played forward to the next spot.  The rest of that is really not relevant to your Honour’s consideration but it does film the arrival of one of the Emergency Services helicopters and part of the evacuation process.

 

TAPE TURNED OFF

 

Mr. BUGG Q.C.:    Your Honour, what you heard from those two sections of video film which recorded the gun shots was in fact a recording of the shots fired from the moment Bryant picked the gun out of the bag and started shooting in the café. 

PAGE 105.

The first tape, the Wilkinson tape, stopped after fifteen seconds and it recorded seventeen shots.  The second tape, the Turner video, as far as the sound of shots in the café is concerned, stopped after twenty-five seconds and recorded twenty-one shots.  I tender for your honour an audio response chart recorded off both films and your Honour will see the sharp, wide, white markings illustrating the timing of each shot and attributed to each tape.  But if one goes back to the Wilkinson tape, which stopped recording sound after fifteen seconds, in those fifteen seconds twelve people were dead, one had suffered grievous bodily harm, five were wounded and four had suffered significant injuries in Bryant’s attempts to murder them.

 

EXHIBIT P4 – CHART – TAKEN IN

HIS HONOUR:            And all of this was caused by the seventeen shots?

 

 Mr. BUGG Q.C.:            Seventeen shots.

You will remember, your Honour, that the five wounded people suffered shrapnel wounds which were the by-product of hitting an intermediate target and then fragmenting so that what you have are seventeen shots resulting in twelve deaths and subsequent wounding and four attempted murders and one caused grievous bodily harm.  I will come back to the numbers of shots fired and what occurred at the end of an examination of the criminal behaviour of this man in the café that afternoon. 

Bryant continued eastward towards the souvenir shop area of the building.  Working in this area of the shop on that day were Nicole Burgess and Elizabeth Howard.  I will describe the placement of people in that area of the shop – Mr. Perks has just indicated a counter area which was a serving counter at the gift souvenir shop section and below it, depicted in sketch form the bodies of both Nicole Burgess and Elizabeth Howard.  But there are a number of persons as I said at the outset, your Honour, who had moved to this area of the café, they were examining souvenirs, some of them waiting

Page 106.

for other members of their group to either finish a meal or return plates and trays to the servery area.

Page 107.

In the gift shop area was Sandra Vanderpeer, an Army Major, who had travelled to Tasmania with her aunt Jenny Moor, and they had been looking at the displays for about ten minutes when the shooting started.  Miss Vanderpeer realised immediately what was happening and moved quickly to the display table right at the back of the souvenir shop.  She sheltered behind that table along with Beverley and Peter Kelly.  You will remember I mentioned Mrs. Kelly having seen Bryant on the balcony at lunchtime.  And Mr. Kelly had moved to the gift shop area of the premises to wait for his wife while she returned a coffee cup.

 

Ron Neander and his wife Gwen were also in the gift shop.  Mr. Neander had noticed Bryant in the meal queue earlier in the day.  When he heard the shooting he saw Mrs. Howard shot and then took cover behind a display table in the souvenir area.  That table is the square table which Mr. Perks is now indicating and he was hiding behind the table on the northern portion of the floor.  If you look at photograph 79 that photograph your Honour is taken looking down towards the water, in other words the front windows of the café, and you can just see in the foreground a red garment which is on the display table, behind which Mr. Neander was sheltering.  It gives a better idea of the close proximity of everything in this area of the souvenir shop.

 

His wife was near the steps into the front part of the display area.  If that could perhaps be indicated.  The steps, the step down is that line going east to west marked by Mr. Perks.  In the gift shop area were four friends who had been travelling together, Coralee Lever and her husband Denis, and Vera Jary and her husband Ron.  They heard the shooting start and Mr. Jary thought

Page 108.

it was an re-enactment and said so.  And as I said this unfortunately was the response of many of the people in the café, although I guess arguably a realisation of the correct situation would probably have not made any real difference on the day.

Page 109.

Mrs. Lever, Mrs. Jary, Mrs. Moor, the auntie of Sarah Vanderpeer, hid behind a hessian screen.  That’s the slight triangulated section that Mr. Perks is indicating.  And if you turn to photograph 80, your Honour, that is the screen with the jumpers hanging on it – and that was moved out to enable the three ladies to get in behind it and it was then drawn back behind them.  I have little doubt that act saved their lives.

 

Another couple, Peter and Carolyn Nash, were also in this area of the premises.  They moved to the door out of the gift shop area – if that could be indicated- but, unfortunately, that door was locked.  Mr. Nash told his wife to get down and covered her.  Near them was Pauline Masters, she had travelled to Tasmania with her sister and mother and had left them outside the café to enter the premises and look at things in the gift shop.  Bryant moved towards the souvenir area, he shot Nicole Burgess, she was standing near the counter.  He was standing some distance from her when he shot her and the shot struck her in the head.  She fell forwards and the shot – the injuries caused were immediately fatal.  He then shot Elizabeth Howard through the right arm and chest, this was probably because she had turned to her right away from Bryant.  She received a further gunshot wound through the chest, probably as she had fallen to the floor or was actually on the floor with Bryant moving further into the gift area to fire that second shot at her.  Both wounds caused to Elizabeth Howard were fatal.  That’s counts 26 and 27, your Honour.   And I take you to photograph 72 through to 75 showing the bodies of the two deceased behind the counter in the gift shop area and the injuries sustained by them depicted in photographs 74 and 75.

 

At this point Bryant turned the gun on Mr. Lever and shot him in the head.

Page 110.

 I refer you to photograph 76.

 

Mr. Lever had obviously moved from the area where his wife was to take some cover and you can just see it on the plan behind a pillar.  But that is more evident in the photograph, your Honour.  And his body fell just near that pillar.

 

Bryant was most likely still at this stage on the far side of the service counter when he shot Mr. Lever.

Page 111.

Whilst it appears some distance from that plan, in reality when you look at the photograph it wasn’t very far at all.  That was the count – yes, I’ve covered that.  Bryant then fired towards Mrs. Neander who was on the step near the wall behind the counter, he struck her in he left lower side of the face and she was killed instantly – I refer you to photograph 79 through to 82, and that your Honour is count 29. 

 

Bryant then appears to have been distracted by movement in the café area back towards the west and somewhere near the fireplace because he turned and moved back in the direction from which he had come to a point near the table at which Mr. Colyer and Mrs. Loughton had been seated.  Some people described Bryant moving backwards and forwards through the café.  When one considers that we are probably now talking about him being in the café shooting for about, at the outside, thirty seconds, the one movement backwards and forwards is on the estimate of the ballistic experts and people who closely examined the scene the likely interpretation that people had.  He fired into the café injuring Mr. Crosswell who was still under the table with the two women – that’s count 30 – the shot struck him in the buttock.

 

Jason Winter, who you will remember had gone through to the servery area, who must have heard a pause in the firing after he had shot Mrs. Neander, thought Bryant had left the café going out that way.  He was sheltering along with two other people and he made a comment to that effect, and I will come back to that in a moment, but he obviously started to move and it’s probably his movement that attracted Bryant.  He was probably in an almost upright position coming out from behind the area in which he was sheltering, he was heard to call out “No, no” and Bryant fired twice at Mr. Winter, the first shot struck him as he was getting up, injuring his hand, neck and chest, and the second shot struck Mr. Winter in the head.  He died from the head and chest injuries sustained from these two gunshots

Page 112.

and his body fell partially under a table being identified by Mr. Perks with the pointer just to the western side of a brick fireplace. 

Page 113.

That’s count 31 and Mr. Winter’s position in the café is shown in photographs 58 through to 60 and injuries shown in 61.

 

He was sheltering with Mr. Dennis Olson and his wife, Mary, and after that pause in the shooting he was heard by the Olsons to say, He’s gone.”, and then he started to move and it was at that time that he was shot.  Shrapnel from those shots struck Mr Olson in the hand, head, left side of the chest and left eye.  He was treated at the Royal Hobart Hospital that night and was discharged the next day for the follow up with his regional medical officer on his return home.

 

Having fired those shots Bryant then returned to the gift shop area.  And, your Honour, it becomes a little confusing at this stage as to just what Bryant did in terms of the firearm because the position is that the Crown suggests that he had twenty-six rounds in the 30 shot magazine when he entered the café because at some stage some considerable time after this event he is attributed as having said that to put thirty shots in the magazine jams the spring clip so he normally put twenty-eight in it.  But he fired two shots before he went to Port Arthur, leaving twenty-six.  Twenty-nine spent shells were retrieved from the café, and each one of those is marked on that plan ‘FCC’ – Fired Cartridge Case, which will be in evidence, your Honour.  The thirty shot magazine was discarded when empty by Bryant near the servery counter and that’s actually shown on the plan which your Honour will have in due course.  Why I say there is some confusion about this – I will now explain what occurred: Having returned to the gift shop area he found Mr. Jary, Mr. and Mrs. Nash and Pauline Masters and an unidentified Asian gentleman all crowded together towards the locked door near the gift shop.