A brutal beating

In 1995 Blanch, Taylor and Matthews were all in prison together in Broken Hill, for various offences. In the months leading up to October they concocted a plan to escape together. Blanch covertly made three copies of the keys which would open the lock on the door of his cell, which he shared with Taylor. On October 26 he managed to break the latch system on the storeroom door, which went unnoticed by guards. By about 6pm, Taylor and Blanch were locked away in their cell, No. 13.

Matthews was not to be locked up until 9pm, as he had a 'C' classification that gave him much more freedom within the jail. Blanch and Taylor were still classified 'B'. All three men were aware that after the 'C' prisoners were locked away at 9pm, the guards did not come around again to check any of the cells by opening the doors, or checking the observation panel.

At about 8pm Matthews opened up the door of cell No. 13 using one of Blanch's keys. Blanch left the cell and hid in the storeroom. Matthews was then locked inside cell 13 with Taylor, and they made up the beds to look like they were both occupied. Not long afterwards Blanch left his hiding spot in the storeroom and used another key to let Matthews and Taylor out. They all went and hid in the storeroom together until about 9:20pm. Matthews grabbed some wire cutters and other tools while he was there. Blanch changed out of his prison greens into civilian clothes.

They made their way out to the back compound area and Blanch used the wire cutters to cut the razor wire, and pinned it back with a hook. They managed to get a rope that they had made out of a series of sheets tied together earlier by Blanch and Taylor up over the wall, and once it was in position they made it to the top of the wall and down the other side, to the outside of the jail.

They all headed straight to the Lodge Motel in Broken Hill. Blanch managed to check in, as he was not dressed in prison greens, after which Matthews and Taylor went out to get some civilian clothes, as well as some liquor. They came back to room No. 16 at the Motel and had drinks to celebrate their successful escape. Once that ran out, they tried to get the night officer of the motel to open up so they could gain access to another hotel room, which was occupied by two older people, including Mr Curran.

Mr Curran was a state public servant, who was also spending the night at the Lodge Motel for work. As it turned out, although he'd shut the door to his room, he had not locked it properly, and the three men managed to get in easily. They desperately needed money to continue with their plans. Mr Curran had very little cash on him, so they became determined to wring his PIN number out of him.

Although it was not easy to establish who exactly did what to poor Mr Curran, there was no doubt he was subjected to a brutal and terrifying experience. He was tied up, tortured in various way including having his eyes gouged, kicked and punched all over, and eventually stabbed several times. These assaults went on for a lengthy period of time, and left Mr Curran with permanent debilitating injuries. After being admitted to hospital, he had to undergo several surgeries in an attempt to fix some of the physical damage done to him. As for the psychological damage, needless to say that is ongoing.

Before the three escapees could finish their job they were discovered and again made their escape, seizing Mr Curran's car keys and making off in his car. However they were quickly caught by the police and returned to custody.

Simon Taylor was found to be the man who inflicted the stab wounds. He pleaded guilty to malicious wounding with intent to commit grievous bodily harm, robbery in company, escaping lawful custody and stealing a motor vehicle. He was sentenced to a fixed term of five years for the malicious wounding, two years for the robbery, and one year for stealing the car - all to be served at the same time. For escaping lawful custody he received a sentence of four years and nine months with a non-parole period of one year and nine months, to be served after the completion of the five-year malicious wounding sentence. So his total time in custody was nine years and nine months, with a non-parole period of six years and nine months.

Lance Matthews pleaded guilty to malicious wounding with intent to inflict GBH, robbery in company, escaping lawful custody and stealing a motor vehicle. For the malicious wounding he was sentenced to a fixed term of three years, for the robbery he received two years, and one year for stealing the car - again, all to be served at the same time. For the escape he received three years imprisonment, with a non-parole period. This sentence was also to start at the end of the three-year malicious wounding sentence. So the effective total was six years with a non-parole period of four years.

Peter Blanch pleaded guilty to malicious wounding with intent to inflict GBH, escaping lawful custody and stealing a motor vehicle. He was sentenced to a fixed term of four years imprisonment for the malicious wounding, and one year for stealing the car. For the escape he was sentenced to five years with a non-parole period of two years, to start at the end of the four-year malicious wounding sentence. The total was nine years with a non-parole period of six years.

The reason the wounding, robbery and car-theft offences are served at the same time is because they were committed at the same time, arising out of one set of factual circumstances. However, it is the law that sentences for escape are always added onto the end of any existing sentence.

Simon Taylor was due for release in July 2005, Peter Blanch in October 2004, and Lance Matthews in October 2002.

Greek Tragedy - Part II

Stephen Anas was also charged with Toula Soravia's murder, but he left for Greece less than a month after the shooting, before he could be arrested. He joined his ex-wife Laurie Sellis and her family in the city of Ioannina, seven hours north of Athens, and adapted his name to Stavros Anastasiatis. Police issued a warrant for his arrest through Interpol, leading to his apprehension in October 1995. The Australian government then attempted to have Anas extradited to Sydney to face trial, but this failed in 1996, as the Greek government said the Australian-born 33-year-old was now a Greek National. However, in a legal first, the Greek goverment honoured an existing treaty agreement and decided to put him on trial in Greece for his role in the killing, charging him with being the 'moral instigator' of the crime.

Anas was under strict bail conditions to report regularly to Ioanninan police, but in August 2007 he failed to do so, and disappeared to Athens. He was then due to stand trial in October 1999, but he claimed he was ill and needed to have his appendix removed, so the trial did not go ahead. It was next listed for May 2000, butAnas managed to avoid trial for the second time by signing up for Greek national miliarty service and joining the army. Upon discovering the legal situation (thanks to extensive negotiations between Australia's Federal Justice Minister and her Greek equivalent) the Greek army gave him leave to stand trial in June, however that trial collapsed.

The fourth attempt at trial began in January 2001, with Anas maintaining his innocence from the dock. Unfortunately the numerous delays had led to one witness refusing to return to Greece anymore, and the remaining eye-witness, Eugene Benitez, was running out of patience. He said he found the process intimidating: "I'll see how I go with this trial, this is bloody nerve-wracking." Benitez had identified Anas as the driver of the white Toyota.

Widower Louis Soravia, who had been fighting for seven years to see Anas tried for the murder of his wife, was also worried. "Its been sort of frustrating. This is the fourth time and definitely if something goes wrong it is hard to predict if we are going to be here next time or not". Although Louis was not a witness to the robbery and therefore not able to give evidence in Australian courts, he opened the case for the prosecution in Ioannina. When trying to tell the court of his 33-year marriage to Toula, and the devastating effect her death had had on his family, he was told by Judge Spiros Mexas to stick to the facts of the case. The defence, led by Ioannina Deputy Mayor Nicolos Gondos, tried to damage Louis' credibility by accusing him of beginning a relationship with another woman just two months after Toula's death. He also admitted he had received $50,000 from an insurance policy on Toula's life. Louis denied his new relationship (with Nicoletta, a Greek woman he married in 2000 in Sydney) began shortly after his wife's death.

Anas' ex-wife Laurie Sellis also gave evidence, maintaining that Anas was innocent, and that he was at home with her at the time of the shooting. She said they were "childhood sweethearts" who had been together since they were 15. Under cross-examination she was forced to admit that before the offence Anas had threatened to kill her, and that she'd taken out a restraining order against him. She also admitted there were problems in her marraige and that they had separated for a "brief" time. She took the opportunity to attack Louis Soravia, saying he had lied about the amount of insurance he received "First of all I know he is married, and I personally know he did not get $50,000. He got $200,000."

Judge Mexas threw out Ms Sellis's 'new' alibi evidence for her husband, saying "Why has it taken you five years to tell a court about this alibi? You have never mentioned it before." He read from previous court transcripts in which Anas claimed he had been at Instint with Jullio Quinteros at the time. She replied that if she had mentioned it in Austalia, Anas would have been breaking his restraining order. However the Judge said the order was not relevant in Greece and threw out her alibi. He also challenged her about other inconsistencies in her evidence.

Eugene Benitez gave his evidence that he recognised Anas as the driver of the getaway car, however ongoing problems with the translation from Greek to English and back again frustrated Mr Soravia, who kept interrupting loudly. He was repeatedly reprimanded by Judge Mexas for interfering with proceedings, and was eventually thrown out of the court. However the Judge later relented and allowed him back in. Benitez was questioned by Mexas: "How could you have seen the driver, when according to the sketch [of the scene] you have drawn for the court, and taking into account that you drive on the left-hand side in Australia, you could only have seen the passenger?" Benitez maintained he had seen Anas. The Judge also asked "In previous testimony you said that you saw the car for one second, now you claim you saw it for four seconds. Which is correct?" Mr Benitez replied "About four seconds."

In the earlier trials in Australia Mr Benitez had said he was wearing sunglasses when he made the observation, but in Greece he stated that they were not really sunglasses but glasses, and that he had also been wearing contact lenses. These inconsistencies led to his evidence being discredited.

NSW Detective Sergeant Jason Breton, who had travelled to Greece several times to give evidence in the case, was found to be ineligible under Greek law because he had previously come into contact with defence witnesses.

Anas eventually gave evidence, and accused Hakki Souleyman of framing him: "Everything Hakki said was a lie." He said Souleyman planned the robbery with Jullio Quinteros, who was a drug dealer: "Hakki knew that Quinteros was responsible but because of his drug addiction he needed Quinteros, so he framed me." Anas then claimed that on the morning of the shooting he was at a pub trying to buy drugs. This contradicted his earlier claim that he was at Instint with Quinteros, and also Ms Sellis' claim that he was at home with her. He was then asked about mobile telephone records that showed he was in the area of the shooting in Summer Hill at the time, but he told the court that Telstra records were wrong, and that this was a "common problem" in Australia.

Judge Mexas dismissed his explanations, saying "What you have said so far does not make any sense at all. We don't have the slightest evidence that Hakki or Quinteros had any connection to this incident. We find it difficult to believe that a friend of yours, a good friend of yours, could accuse you of such a thing. Usually a naive man like Hakki does not lie. He tells the truth." Anas then claimed that Souleyman framed him because he (Anas) was more popular with women - "probably because I am better looking."

In Greece, as throughout most of Europe, criminal trials are conducted under the Inquisitorial system, rather than the Adversarial system seen in Austalia, America, Canada, Great Britain and most other Commonwealth countries. Not only can judges ask questions and cross-examine witnesses, members of the jury are also allowed ask questions of the witness. The four jurors asked "The court has heard how when Hakki told you that Mrs Soravia had been shot, you said "I don't give a shit". Is that true?" Anas said No. He then launched an attack on Louis Soravia, saying he was "very powerful and very dangerous. If I don't get convicted I'll be dead in a month." He also said Louis was a "bad father", and forced his sons to "steal" from the service station because he gave them so little.

Louis and Toula's son Alex, who was a passenger in the car when his mother was shot at point-blank range, was devastated by the accusations levelled at his father. "I am very close to dad, I love him very much and I have a lot of respect for him. And the way they made my dad look was absolutely disgraceful... Its been pretty stressful... Just sitting there across from him and seeing the way he acts makes you realise what type of vermin of society that he actually is. I think in some ways, a conviction, after all we have been through, getting him in jail will be a win for us."

Judge Mexas then questioned Anas about inconsistencies in his earlier evidence, and asked him "So you say you love this country so much, and that you trust this justice system, how many times have you bothered to come to this country? Or is it true that you came here just one month after the murder?" Anas admitted it was true he had never been to Greece before this. He also stated he was allowed to leave Australia because the police did not have enough evidence to keep him there.

Anas' mother, who had travelled to Greece from Melbourne with his father, was next to give evidence. In what was described as bitter, angry and emotional evidence, she dramatically accused Louis Soravia of killing her other son. George, the younger brother of Stephen suffered from diabetes which led to his death in 1996, however she claimed he died after seeing his brother on TV during the investigation. "I feel sorry for Toula Soravia, but I hate her husband. He never came to ask me about my son. That man is the only person responsible for my son's death." She also accused Louis of lying over the amount of insurance money he received. She insisted Steve was a good, church-going son with strong family values: "I am a very proud Greek and I wanted my son to be a very proud Greek as well."


Judge Mexas asked Mrs Anas "Did your son ever take drugs?" She replied that "I have never seen anything like that." Judge Mexas then informed her that the court had evidence of Stephen's involvement with drugs. Mrs Anas also tried to support one of her son's alibis by claiming he had received a parking ticket on the morning of the shooting, however Judge Mexas told her the matter had already been investigated and there was no such ticket.


In summing up, the prosecution described Anas as immodest and arrogant. "This is a man who loves himself to death... He believes that he is intelligent, cool, good looking, and right about everything. He said he wanted to be tried under the Greek justice system because it was so fair. How did he know it was fair when he didn't even know Greece? He just went to Mykonos and Santorini for a holiday". The lawyer said Anas had told a "barrage of lies", painting a massive conspiracy involving the police, the witnesses, the media and the Soravias. "This is a man who grew up playing rugby, which is a violent sport, he loved fast cars, and he went to a very tough school where he said he got into a lot of fights. Therefore he became a very aggressive person. Even his wife said he threatened to kill her and that she took out a restraining order against him." He said Laurie Sellis "had lied through her teeth" when she attempted to give him an alibi.

Mr Katsantonis, one of the most revered lawyers in Greece, told the court Anas was a "smart-arse.. He sat in this court room and told all of us nothing of the incident but only of himself. He told us how he and Hakki had many girlfriends. He told us about his fast cars and what a good athlete he was. He has the typical behaviour of all immigrant criminals who believe that the police hate them, conspire against them, and always gets treated badly by the police." Anas frowned throughout, although earlier he had winked at family and friends, confident of the outcome.

Mr Katsantonis continued his tirade against Anas and his evidence. "Steve Anas' demeanour, his way of communicating, everything about him says 'shit, fuck off''. His parents came into court to tell us what a good kid he was, but when he wasn't believed by anyone in this court, they started blaming the Australian press. Anas even had the nerve to say why didn't Mr Soravia go find him and ask him what happened. However it was Anas who was twenty times obliged to go and tell him 'Louis, I'm innocent, I will help you find out who killed your wife."

The panel of three judges and four jurors acquitted Anas of all charges, by a majority vote of four to three (Judge Mexas and two jurors voted to convict, the other two judges and remaining two jurors voted to acquit). Mrs Anas rushed up to her son, wailing, thanking the Greek legal system and God for freeing her son: "This was God's gift". The presiding Judge, Spiros Mexas stated "Even though I found him guilty on both counts, the jury has ruled against my decision". Mr Soravia was numb: "I am in total disbelief by this court's acquittal." The Greek prosecution said it would consider an appeal, however Louis said it was time to "turn the page" and devote the rest of his life to his family.

As he was put in a van to be returned to military service in Samos, he shouted to his father that he loved him. He also asked that two bottles of whisky be delivered to the Greek police who sat beside him during the trial. Two days later, he flew to Athens instead, as he had been released by the Greek army from completing his military service, due to the time he spent in custody awaiting the trial.

He said "I want to get my life back in order and do everything right, by the law, and just get on with my life. I want to come back to Australia one day, of course I do. I am going to do that one day, whether I do it today, tomorrow, or the next day, I am going to do it one day. I am not scared... I've got to go back to bury my brother... People tell me they are writing that Australia's most wanted is free in Greece. How can I be Australia's most wanted? My God, I have a clean record... I feel I have been unjustly treated by the media and I hope something positive will happen now... I was kept in an army jail for, like, seven months and they said the army is finished for me. I can't believe I am free. Its been a really rough seven months, but I am free."

The news understandably angered Louis Soravia: "I can't believe it. He was supposed to do 15 months [national service]. This is a joke. Its an absolute joke." Anas refused to comment on Mr Soravia, but said "All I know is I feel sorry for Alex Soravia, what he went through is unbelievable. But I have been to hell and back too. Everybody who was involved in that crime, they deserve to be behind bars for the rest of their lives. That's it, you take a life, you lose a life, that's the way it goes. But it doesn't really concern me much anymore."

Director of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery said that Anas would face arrest if he ever returned to Australia: "This is not the absolute and automatic end to this matter."

Greek Tragedy - Part I

Stephen Anas had been a regular customer at his local BP Service Station in Summer Hill for at least two years. It was owned by Louis Soravia. He was good friends with console operater Hakki Souleyman, who seemed to harbour some resentment towards his employer. He had made some comments to a fellow employee Hedley about being ripped off by Mr Soravia and that he wanted to 'get him' one day, and that "I should get someone to knock me on the head when I've got the takings", but Hedley thought he was just "blowing off steam" or "mouthing off", which of course is not uncommon in employer-employee relationships, as we all know. Nonetheless, it seems Hakki may have harboured some resentment towards Mr Soravia.

Steve Anas took advantage of this, and began to discuss money handling arrangements with Hakki, and eventually talked to him about robbing the service station. Hakki's brother said in an early police interview that Steve was coming in once or twice a week and putting some pressure on Hakki, saying "we'll do the service station job.. its all organised, all planned Haks, you've got nothing to worry about. Just tell us what time they do the banking." One day Steve came in and showed him a small black pistol. He said it was just to scare people so they could take the money. According to Hakki he didn't know if it was meant to be loaded or not - all he was meant to do was let them know the time the Soravia's go to the bank.

At trial Hakki denied all knowledge that Anas was planning to rob the service station, or that he had even known or heard of Anas. Hakki's brother also recanted his statements to the police.

Steve Anas was also good friends with David Zammit through mutual connections at a window tinting business called Instint. It was unclear if Hakki ever met Zammit - he certainly denied any knowledge of him at trial. However there was the statement of a "Mr A", who was Hakki's cellmate in Long Bay, who said that Hakki told him he had met both Anas and Zammit before the intended robbery (along with a man called something like 'Julio'), and supplied them with the details they wanted. Hakki said he did it because he needed the money - he was behind in his car and house payments, and was not getting paid enough by Mr Soravia. He told Mr A that he was not supposed to know Zammit, but had seen him at jail visits and spoken to him on a number of occasions. Mr A said Hakki told him that he knew for sure that Zammit had shot his boss, and that Anas was driving.

Jail records confirmed that Zammit had visited the jail at the relevant times, and that the two had opportunity to speak. But the jury never heard Mr A's evidence, as it was considered too prejudicial for a number of reasons (these included the fact that Mr A had a criminal record that included dishonesty offences; that he had been diagnosed with a severe personality disorder that apparently made him prone to pathological lying; and general law that states that the uncorroborated evidence of an informant who hoped to receive a discount in his own sentence is unreliable).

At around 9:30am on 26 April 1994 Hakki spoke to Anas on the phone, and gave him important information about the contents of the till, the times the banking would be done, and the colour and make of the car Mr Soravia would drive to the bank, carrying almost $7,000. Unfortunately on this day, Mr Soravia asked his wife Toula a favour - that she would bank the takings for him. She agreed, and took his car.

At about 11:00 am, Toula left the service station with her 17-year-old son Alex, heading for the Westpac Bank with the weekend's takings. Just as they pulled up outside the bank, Zammit leaned in through the passenger-side window, pulled the pistol from the front of his pants and pushed it against Alex's head. Alex instinctively brushed it away at first, not realising what it was. Then he saw Zammit leaning into the car, holding the gun in his right hand. He yelled "where's the money? Where's the money?". Toula began to scream. Zammit leaned further into the car, across Alex, and pushed the pistol against Toula's cheek. Alex tried to hit Zammit's arm away. Zammit continued to shout at Toula and threaten her, then Alex saw him shoot his mother. The car filled up with smoke. Toula died almost instantly from her head injuries.

Zammit grabbed the bag of cash and ran across the street, where he was picked up by the driver of a white Toyota Corolla. Some passers-by gave chase, one of them yelling "stop him, he's got the money", but were unsuccessful. Ricky Patman was in his car at the time and tried to chase the Toyota, but was cut off by a garbage truck. Anthony Mimica also joined the pursuit but was similarly foiled by the reversing garbage truck. A bus driver saw the white Toyota swerve around the garbage truck and hit a speed bump, causing its exhaust to hang down. As the car raced off, it nearly collided with Eugene Benitez, who yelled at the driver. Zammit looked out of the passenger window and swore at him.

Eugene was less than a metre away from the car at the time, and later positively identified Zammit from police identification photographs and videotape. He said Zammit's haircut was different, but on seeing the face, he said "bingo". Alex Soravia also positively identified Zammit from police photographs, stating "yes, that's the one I saw. There is no doubt whatsoever. I could never be more definite of anything in my entire life. The photo of that man ... is the man that took my mother's life, that is the fact I will live with until the day I die."

Several witnesses described one of the offenders wearing pink-soled running shoes, and mirrorred sunglasses with a cord. Both these items were found during a search of Stephen Anas' home.

The white Toyota Corolla was recovered on 27 April in St Peters. The number plate (partially damaged) was SDO 359, which matched the details supplied by Ricky Patman, as well as two other witnesses, and its exhaust pipe was hanging down. Police found that the car was used in connection with the Instint window tinting business.

Jullio Quinteros, the owner of Instint, said that when he left the workshop on 23 April, the white Toyota was there, but was absent when he returned to work on 26 April. However, he did notice that Steve Anas's motorbike was parked on the footpath. Anas and Zammit arrived at the shop between 12:30 and 1pm.

Zammit claimed he had been to Instint on the 25th April, but on the morning of the 26th he was at home with his mother. He said he spoke to a couple across the road - Andrew Rice and Melissa Borland - and a neighbour, Jackie Loveridge, and spent the afternoon at Michael Atsis' place. Rice said he'd seen Zammit at his gate at 11:00 am, and Loveridge said she spoke to him from 11:05 to 11:20am. However both were discredited when it was discovered they had criminal records for dishonesty and misleading police. Melissa Borland has no recollection of seeing Zammit. Michael Atsis refused to speak to police and could not be found to call as a witness. Zammit's parents also refused to speak with police.

At trial, the defence tried to discredit both Alex Soravia's and Eugene Benitez's positive identification of Zammit, saying that they must have seen news items showing the Identikit sketches put together by other witnesses. However it was apparent that these sketches bore little resemblance to Zammit, and had been perhaps confused with some of the chasers at the scene. Defence also submitted that Alex was too distressed to have seen the shooter properly, and Eugene had only a "split second" to see the man in the car. Both these arguments were clearly rejected.

At Hakki Souleyman's first trial, he was charged with accessory before the fact of murder, however the jury was unable to reach a verdict, telling the judge they stood deadlocked at 11:1 in favour of finding Souleyman guilty. At the second trial he was acquitted altogether of that charge, but found guilty of the lesser offence of being an accessory before the fact of armed robbery, and sentenced to six years in prison. He was released in April 2000.

David Zammit was convicted of the murder of Toula Soravia (pictured below), and sentenced to 24 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 18 years. He was also sentenced to ten years for the armed robbery.

Stay tuned for Part II - the trial of Stephen Anas.