richard kelvin autopsy report

And the older ones tended to be involved more in the gay panic murders, rather than the poofter bashing homicides. In cars? The victims came flooding through the Speakers door with their stories of abuse. But it was a start. He said that he was at a relative's birthday party with his mother for most of that evening, and after dropping off a friend on the way home, had gone straight to bed and then to work the next day. It was a small murder in the media sense, rating a few short stories over following days and in the normal scheme of things would have received minimal attention even if a killer had been caught. Terrified, Mildwaters took refuge in a nearby bedroom. Soon after Handleys death, Utting received a phone call from another of her contacts, the former local chapter president of the Gypsy Jokers, Steve Williams. Von Einem admitted that the drugs were his and said that he used them to help him sleep. Kelvin also had a dog collar around his neck, which may have attracted von Einem's attention. They quickly organised banners and rallied outside the attorney-generals office. The document is only available to the immediate family of the said victim. Like so much else, Woodlands death had been swallowed by the darkness. On 29 October 2006, The Australian reported that von Einem had been selling hand-painted greeting cards to prison officers for $20 each. Bit of all right. The autopsy revealed that Neil had died from the same cause as Alan. The prosecution opened their case with the jury being taken to the various sites around Adelaide that were important in the trial, and over the first week they called various witnesses to the stand. The 33-year-old grabbed some cigarettes off the dash and sat on a bench by the river to think about some problems. This blog is about mysteries and true crime. The judge in his summation told the jury it came down to who they believed. He has always maintained he was not cruising the beat that night. Their brother, who they always called John, had come out to them a few years earlier, but not to their mother. There has been no justice for Duncan, but within seven weeks of his death, the first bill in Australia to decriminalise homosexuality had been introduced into the South Australian parliament, by a conservative politician. And put a small, a small axe through the back of his head.. She growled something at him and said she wanted this bloke out of there, but Lindsay wasnt going to kick him out. Their attitude wasnt a problem. Mick OShea arrived at the vice squad the next morning unaware that his career had already been thrust onto a new trajectory. Of the 92 offenders he studied, 43 were teenagers and 23 were in their early 20s. On June 5, 1983, he was abducted a short distance from his house after saying goodbye to a friend at a bus stop. It was then I started cruising the beats myself, South Parklands, Veale Gardens and a few well-known public toilets, sometimes during the day but mostly at night. Not even that. An autopsy showed that Kelvin had died from blood loss caused by massive anal injuries. I was warned by a mate to watch out for bashers but I thought, I will be right, I can run fast.. Several witnesses living near to the Kelvins' home heard cries for help, car doors slamming and a car with a noisy exhaust speeding away. However, police raids on various locations around Adelaide linked to von Einem yielded few clues. Forensic pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd uses Twenty-year-old Peter Stephens had Doig on the ground with his hands behind his head. They were white-collar office workers. The street kids I hung out with used to go down to Popeyes boathouse near the River Torrens [the Number One beat where George Duncan was murdered]. He was asked if he kept any other drugs in his possession, and he said no. He was asked if he kept any other drugs in his possession, and he said no. It was before lunch that I was told about it, recalls Lewis, and it made me sick and Im not often made sick because hed been afraid of that happening to him., I ask Lewis if he was alleging that Woodland had been killed to shut him up. 14/06/2007. Uniformed constable Rebecca Kuss arrived and saw a man sitting in the door well of the red Mercedes with his feet on the road. In inner-city parks, a Gday and a groin rub might be all the sign thats needed to head behind a bush. Together they smashed Pitchers face to a pulp and that expression is meant literally breaking his jaw, his eye socket, his cheek. On 1 November 2007, the ABC reported that after 24 years behind bars, von Einem was now eligible to apply for parole. His name was Ken Doig., Because he was gay they killed him? And so Robinson, with his cropped hair and short moustache, cruises back past the Mercedes. Deep down, I felt sorry for these guys and hated being a part of this. How the system let those little turds off. It must be such, as in a case like this, it causes the accuseds blood to boil to the extent where reason has been temporarily suspended. Someone is hiding there. von Einem is serving life imprisonment. Detective Linda Mildren interviewed Londema next. There was no inquest. [7], On 14 June 2007, the ABC reported that von Einem had been charged with producing and possessing child pornography, with police alleging that he had handwritten three fictitious stories describing sexual acts between a child and a man. And I despise those c**ts on the jury and the judge. And while other Adelaide crimes like the disappearance of the Beaumont children and the Snowtown murders grabbed the headlines and gave the city its perhaps undeserved reputation, with one notable exception the cases I was looking at like most gay-hate crimes went by largely unnoticed. In his first statement to police, he said he was feeling dizzy as he drove along so he pulled into Veale Gardens to see what was happening down there and also to watch the Festival of Arts laser show. Her colleague, Barry Standfield, thought hed shake things up by sending the letter to the media with all names included. So they set up a similar white van at the beat and asked people to come forward with information, no questions asked. The bashers had got away with it. They had to take into account that an offer of money for sex made by a Caucasian man to an Aboriginal man in his own home and in the presence of his wife and family had a pungency that such an advance would not have to the rest of us. Little effort was put into concealing Kelvin's body; he was found wearing the same Channel 9 shirt, blue jeans and white Adidas sneakers which he wore on the day of his abduction, together with the dog collar fitted around his neck. An inquest was called. He was in G Block of Yatala Prison for decades but was transferred to Port Augusta Prison in the north of the state in 2007. Also testifying for the defence was the bushwalker, who while walking his dogs through the airstrip had discovered Kelvin's body on 24 July. Justice Duggan ruled that the evidence relating to the Kelvin murder, and from the various associates of von Einem and hitchhikers, was inadmissible. They gave him a towel and offered to take him to hospital, but he declined. On December 3, 2004, former Supreme Court judge Ted Mullighan was appointed to head a commission of inquiry into the abuse of children in state care. The other, Roger James, suffered a broken leg and after crawling to the road was rescued by von Einem, who was driving past. They were hospitality workers. She decided to call him to find out where hed got to. Is that what youre saying?, Yep. For their part, the police saw the homosexual community as the criminals - because they were. I remember the kids saying they did it because they were gay and easy prey. In the first high-profile murder case involving a Von Einem pleaded not guilty; his defence was led by barrister Barry Jennings, who was assisted by Helena Jasinski, who had been von Einem's solicitor from the start of the police investigation of him in the murder during the previous year. When Rex Robinson was doing his first cruise along the strip that summers night in early 1992, another man who well call Tom also cruised in. You would end up loitering around a toilet block yourself. The documentary series takes a turn to look at Real Crime and reveals the truth behind the controversial deaths of people whose untimely deaths were surrounded by scandal and intense media attention. I assumed that he must have had tyre trouble, he told police, and that he was getting the jack.. But in a small-town coincidence, when OShea left more than an hour later, he had pulled up next to them at traffic lights, still in the city. To answer evidence about how fibres from von Einem's bed came to be on Kelvin's clothes, von Einem stated that the two of them sat on his bed and played with the large harp which he kept in his bedroom. The jury had to make their ordinary person of the same race, age, ethnicity and personal background as the accused. An accountant by profession, he was convicted in 1984 for the murder of 15-year-old Adelaide teenager Richard Kelvin, the son of local television and radio personality Rob Kelvin. The High Court ordered a retrial. This is how the judge explained the defences modern manifestion to the jury in the Lindsay case: In considering provocation, there are two questions which you must ask. Hed left a big party to go to Veale Gardens. The purchaser of von Einem's Ford Falcon detailed the condition of the car, and the relative who hosted the birthday party on 10 July stated that von Einem and his mother had arrived there at 5:30pm and left at 10:30pm. SBS acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country and their connections and continuous care for the skies, lands and waterways throughout Australia. Gay bashings and murders continue. So I was privy to the high-fliers and big rollers who used to come through The Wall and pay us boys for sex.. He said he couldnt recognise his attackers even though hed been tricked into getting out of his car to follow one of them down to the river bank. After several attacks, I left the group and went and lived on the streets in another part of town. They denied having heard anything about the 1991 murder of another gay man, David Saint, in the South Parklands. I looked around me and looked into the rear-vision mirror and I could not see anyone else around. He had no reason to kill Mr Negre. Kevin Williamson, not long out of the army, had a few beers at the Torrens Drill Hall on the parade grounds below Government House, before heading to his car about 10.45pm on May 10, 1972. The gay community organised a candlelight vigil in the park next to the Japanese gardens. I remembered it was an automatic and it was a six-cylinder and I remembered the first three letters of the number plate.. The committal hearing to determine if von Einem should stand trial for the murders of Barnes and Langley began on 5 March 1990 before magistrate David Gurry. I felt myself being hit with a hard object more than a fist. He told them he was gay and that hed been bashed by a man hed met who wanted to take him home. At approximately 6:15pm on 5 June 1983, von Einem (likely along with other unknown persons) abducted Kelvin near the intersection of Margaret Street & Peppertree Lane, North Adelaide, just 60 metres from Kelvin's home around the corner in Ward Street. It has moved to where the Valiant had previously been parked. It completely contradicted his initial statement of his whereabouts on 5 June 1983, when he said he had been in bed with the flu. To do that they had to ignore Toms evidence that hed seen them pulling a jack out of the boot on a nearby street; the evidence of the ransacked glove-box; Robinsons evidence that hed seen someone hiding in the back seat, and that Verco was loitering on his boot watching the cars go by as Blaxland had said, rather than just dashing out for a leak. All 52 cards featured the faces of unsolved-murder victims. Von Einem admitted that the drugs were his and said that he used them to help him sleep. Other forensic scientists were called to testify about the hair and fibre samples collected that were linked to von Einem himself and his home. Some 23 years after Rex Robinson found Jim Blaxland brutally bashed beside his red Mercedes in Veale Gardens, I knock on his door and explain my purpose. She had no solid material or food in her stomach; only a dark green material that had "the consistency of dried leaves." The toilets? It is more attractive to them. I wondered if he was bullshitting. Bashers are common at beats, but theyve never got Robinson. Lewis told me that the perpetrators had infiltrated the police service and its administration and evidence was then either corrupted or destroyed. I wonder what he has to tell me. But if we take the victims of gay-bashing murders as a random sample of beat users and perhaps they are except for a bias towards an older, slower cohort they represent a cross-section of society, according to criminologist Professor Stephen Tomsen, who studied 74 gay murders in NSW in the 1980s and 90s. Four months after Pitchers attack, Mark Coonie, 34, left Adelaides most prominent gay nightspot, the Mars Bar, saying he was headed for Veale Gardens. Forensics also determined that Kelvin was murdered between 8 July and 10 July 1983 and was dumped at the airstrip no later than the 10th. She knew Williams had a lot of dangerous enemies, any one of whom could have taken him out, totally unrelated to her business. Its not that James denied ever using beats. Its actually something that is so well known to police that if some goods, a wallet or a car was taken, they actually think, Thats easy to classify. It was a talking point, a laughing point, all those things rolled into one., So when they asked John why he hadnt come out to them earlier, hed said, Well everybody carried on so much about Bobby, I couldnt do that to Mum and Dad. The four murdered were Alan Barnes in June 1979, Neil Muir in August 1979, Peter Stogneff in August 1981 and Mark Langley in February 1982. I was surprised at what she said and suspected that she knew more than she was saying. But when they came to interview Kevin Williamson, he thought, Well, why not? WebAutopsy: The Last Hours. Another man, who would become known as Witness A, had also been thrown in the river that night. He sliced his throat, made sure he saw everything. While the forensic scientists conceded that this was a possible scenario, under renewed cross-examination by the prosecution, they conceded that it would be still unlikely given the whole science of how fibres and hair are transferred from surface to surface over time. No mates in sight. But no one that got thrown in ever surfaced for a complaint because they were homosexual.. But what those figures dont reveal are the broken ribs and ruptured spleens that were nurtured and unheeded by a society that was looking the other way. The pre-trial hearing began on 19 December 1990, in the Supreme Court of South Australia, with Justice Duggan as the presiding judge. Lindsay appealed the decision on the basis that provocation colloquially known as the gay panic defence was not put properly to the jury. Robinson drives to the end of the track, past two more cars, and does a U-turn at the car park of the Adelaide Pavilion restaurant. His skeletal remains were found 10 months later in Middle Beach, by a farmer who was doing a prescribed burn in his land. There was also that person who had tipped off police about Von Eimen initially. After 7.5 hours of deliberation, the jury returned to give their verdict. However, it turned out to be impossible to corroborate these allegations. Of course she panicked. When the police arrived at the house shortly after they took one look at a photo of him and said, Yeah, thats John.. In fact, the prosecution had to present the evidence of provocation to show a motive, but not so strongly as to turn a motive into an excuse. Fearing that the police officer who was at the centre of the claims might still be able to influence the inquiry, Lewiss team refused to hand over their information. Plus, the quantity of fibres on Kelvin's clothes was far too large to suggest that Kelvin was in his company for only 2 hours. Unprompted, he felt the need to explain to the officer what a jack handle was doing in Vercos back seat: Hes been fixing his car hes got everything in there.. Knowing the extent of his injuries, and knowing that hes now about 77, I wonder what state hell be in when I knock on the door of his cute inner-Adelaide cottage with its rambling, mossy garden. Verco, 21, and Londema, 20, remained consistent in their story throughout the committal and trial for grievous bodily harm with intent. In his unsworn statement, von Einem detailed his alibi with what he claimed happened between 5 June and 11 July 1983. I say this, that although some additional distress will probably be caused to the Kelvin family as a result of publication of the fact larvae or maggots were on Richard Von Eimen hinted at some point that he was scared of giving names to police. To detect them and deal with them you had to sort of operate partially covertly, which sort of put you in the realms of being a queer yourself. But his movements would remain unclear. Utting says they told police what they knew but were guarded in what documents they handed over. The victim was in a coma with a fractured skull, a broken cheek bone, a broken eye socket. In an extraordinary twist, a close relative appeared on Big Brother a few years later and told her fellow house-mates what the girl had done. Tall and thin, he was intensely shy, private and unable to swim. Hell go call the cops.. Negre struck up a conversation with the strangers and hit it off right away. I look at the first three letters and I turn them into a word, because if your friend doesnt come back in an hour or two, I can then go to the police and go, Right, he jumped into a red Commodore and these were the first three letters.. His story was consistent with his friends about the beer and the bongs and the random nature of their stopping. [11], On 28 March 2008, the ABC reported that the child pornography found in von Einem's cell had been determined not to have been written by him and that fingerprints did not match. He again claimed that on 5 June he had picked up Kelvin in North Adelaide, had driven him to his home, and later had dropped him off in the Adelaide CBD. David John Saint was an ordinary guy. Youve got no say., Blaxland heard someone walk to his car and that was the last thing hed remember until a voice: Try and hold on. In an instant, Lindsay was punching Negre in the head. This is something I was told repeatedly. This page was last edited on 1 April 2023, at 21:47. Or indeed that the history of gay law reform in Australia was about to begin. He often dropped in on Helen for a coffee. And while the straight cops like OShea were dragging gay men into the legal system, throwing them in prison cells, the bent cops were coming at them from a different angle. My head was twisted around and I was being forced to the ground in the same movement. A time where people were forced to find their freedom under the cover of darkness, and in doing so risked violence, victim-blaming and institutional prejudice. The court heard that Handley, 38, was acting as a go-between for a third man who wanted to buy a gun from Ninnes worth $1600. Detective Jennifer ODonohue interviewed Verco first. Different beats have their own rhythms and cultures. Von Einem then tortured, drugged, raped and held Kelvin captive for five weeks, before murdering him and dumping his body alongside an airstrip near Kersbrook in the Adelaide Hills area (to the north-east of the city and close to where relatives of von Einem lived). WebPersons reporting a death should provide details regarding the death. The inquest failed to reach a conclusion as to who killed Duncan, though the three officers were pushed out of the force. January 3, 2014. He cruises back, senses fully alive. He was sitting on his car playing with his dick, having a tug, and they reckoned they were just there to go to the toilet, he says. He had arrived from a teaching post in England only six weeks earlier. The fact is, though, that Lewis and his team already had a deep distrust of the polices ability to handle the allegations, given what theyd been told by their informants about police cover-ups. Second, is it a reasonable possibility that what the deceased did or said might cause an ordinary person, in the position of the accused, to lose his or her No mention of the homosexual motive was made when the three were convicted, either. Mullighan made no mention of any specific high-profile paedophiles in his report, just that: One PIC [person in care] alleged that at Veale Gardens there was judges, there was magistrates, there was police they all go down there, absolutely.. They took the stand and carried it through cross-examination. Von Einem took James to hospital where the alarm was raised. This was, in part, due to a series of murders which would go a long way to cementing Adelaides reputation for particularly sick sadism. Once there, the street kids bashed and robbed them. Local gay community leader Bill Rutkin knew Doig through common friends who could attest to his popularity in their circles. This gay-panic issue was given a kickalong by an incident in a Queensland churchyard. It was alleged that Ninnes attempted to rob Handley and shot him in the head at point-blank range with a .22 calibre gun during a scuffle. Three months later, however, Woodlands death would become a whole lot more. Von Einem also allowed police to take hair and blood samples, as well as carpets and other materials for testing. There is some good news. And not only did the police mostly turn a blind eye to it, but sometimes, it is believed, they were the perpetrators. Police also questioned other people whom von Einem had associated with, but they volunteered little information. I formed the impression that the gay community in Adelaide, afraid of being lumped together with these sadistic paedophiles in the public imagination, had been making itself into as small a target as possible ever since. Within hours of the story going live, I received an extraordinary email from a guy well call Todd. She said that she had been told Richard Kelvin had been held in a unit and that Denis had cut Kelvins hair during that time. The message from this decision is that gay people are no longer protected by the law, Penley said. I didnt know what it was at the time. Since then, several suspects of being part ofThe Family have been investigated by the police, but not enough evidence has been gathered against them. Through all this, though, Im still wondering where its going. Nevertheless, on the way home they thought it would be a good idea to punch back a few more cones, so they pulled into this little track in the South Parklands, completely unaware, he said, that theyd just driven into Adelaides most thumping beat. Faced with irrefutable evidence from prosecutors that Kelvin had been in his company, von Einem suddenly changed his story to answer that evidence and admitted that he had been in contact with Kelvin on the night of 5 June 1983. von Einem said that he was driving along O'Connell Street in North Adelaide looking for a parking spot in order to buy some fish and chips for dinner. The detective clarified that there had been no aggression from the victim. [6], On 4 February 2007, the ABC reported that von Einem had been charged over commercial dealings during his incarceration, including selling hand-painted greeting cards. WebThe Dallas County Medical Examiner & Coroner creates death records that can be used in criminal investigations, to resolve insurance claims, or to monitor Dallas public health. I dont have any doubt that that was the reason for him being murdered, he says. It was also announced that von Einem had been excused from attending his court hearings so that he could avoid an "unpleasant" three-hour drive with other inmates.[12][13]. Around this time, Negres girlfriend, Fiona Ninos, woke up in her bed alone. Why would somebody murder a bloke like that, or any person like that, thats harmless?. Is this some sort of trap? Before he shuts the door in my face, he tells me he is going in for surgery next week on the leg that Verco and Londema had broken all those years ago. Finally, to answer evidence about how fibres from von Einem's cardigan got onto Kelvin, von Einem stated that he put his arm around Kelvin and hugged him because Kelvin was upset about how his peers had been bullying him at school. They took Pitchers mobile phone and Zito phoned his own mum. Alarm bells ring in his head, so he pulls away and the guy leaning on the boot turns to watch him go. So like we said, the jury thought that grabbing a bloke by the hair and smashing his face into the floor, kicking him, rummaging through his pockets, grabbing a pair of gloves, pulling his trousers off and stabbing him 25 times was not a way an ordinary person could act. Police also questioned other people who von Einem associated with, however they volunteered little information. Shaine Moore was lying under his doona, bulked up with pillows, with a red line around his throat where hed been strangled with a shoelace. Hed suffered brain damage and his cognitive function was in the bottom one per cent of the population. Then his car got a bump from the back. The prosecution, on the advice of the Attorney-General, then entered a nolle prosequi for the Barnes murder charge. Kenton Penley, spokesman for the Lesbian and Gay Community Action, said gay bashings were on the rise and that according to information gathered by the community, at least two homosexuals were hospitalised each week after serious attacks. He denied having any other drugs in his possession, but police also seized a bottle of Noctec, concealed on a ledge behind his wardrobe. WebA forensic autopsy is the examination of a body by a medical examiner with specialized training. Richard Dallas Kelvin (1 December 1967 c.10 July 1983), was the son of Adelaide television personality Rob Kelvin. You might have hooked up with somebody in a fumbling and hardly ideal way, I dont know, maybe two in ten times. Which brings us to the curious case of Robert Woodland. Mr. Justice White imposed a non-parole period of 24 years. When police knocked on von Einem's door and enquired about whether they could ask him a few questions, his immediate reaction was to say that he would not answer anything without speaking to his lawyer first. A judge ruled there was no case to answer, but the director of public prosecutions reinstituted the charges. I couldnt get a member of the South Australian police force to sit down and talk to me about any of these murders, but was instead asked to put questions in writing to the media depart- ment.

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