One fight too many...

Dale and Sharon Barry were married in 1992, following a short relationship, in which he’d been found guilty of assaulting her two months before the wedding. Dale against assaulted his new bride on her wedding night. He was convicted again, and given a community service order (despite being on a good behaviour bond for the previous assault). Dale and Sharon separated, but began living together again within a few months.

Sharon already had two other children by two other men: Tara, born in 1985, and Benjamin, born in 1991. She also had two daughters with Dale - Jaimyn and Ashlee, born 1993 and 1995 respectively.

The marriage continued, with disagreements, and at least one further episode of violence. In 1996 Dale struck Sharon on her jaw, resulting in a restraining order (AVO) being taken out against him, and the couple separated once more.

During this time Dale still had access to his children and step-children. In 1997, he accompanies them all on a holiday to Bateman’s Bay. Sharon and Dale began living together once more after that, despite the AVO still being in place. This lasted until October 1997, when there was a further episode of violence, this time involving Sharon’s son Benjamin. Another AVO was imposed and Dale moved out, seeking access to his kids.

During this time Dale admitted himself to Nolan House at Albury Base Hospital for treatment for his alcoholism. After that, he stayed with workmates Arthur Milgate and Angela Harris. Two weeks after his discharge from hospital, he told Angela he intended to kill his wife. However Angela talked him out of it, or so she believed.

In December 1997, Sharon told Dale he was no longer allowed access to the children. Two days later, Dale was seen drinking at the Boomerang Hotel at Lavington. At 12:30am he was seen by the supervisor of the Hotel standing by his car, which was parked around the back. He then made his way to the family home at Springvale, arriving at around 2am.

There were no signs of forced entry, so it was not clear if he let himself in with keys, or if Sharon let him in. They immediately began to argue about access to the kids. The remaining evidence came from Tara, as Dale subsequently claimed complete amnesia.

Tara saw them both in the main bedroom, Dale on top of Sharon. Tara returned to her bedroom and stood in the doorway, where she saw Dale walk down the hall towards the kitchen. As he passed Tara, he turned to face her, and stabbed her in the upper abdomen. The wound was 2-3cm wide and 6-7cm long, penetrating her liver. Such a wound required significant thrust.

Dale then forced Tara and Sharon into the kitchen and forced them to the floor. He then stabbed Sharon four times - three on her right breast and one in her upper right arm. The main wound was in the middle of her right breast, 2cm wide and 16cm long. It penetrated a major blood vessel in her lungs, leading to blood loss and death.

Dale left the kitchen, leaving Sharon and Tara bleeding on the floor. He went to attend to the younger children, who had been disturbed by the noise. When he returned, he picked up a padded stool from the kitchen and began to beat Sharon around the face and head with it. She sustained about five blunt force wounds, plus lacerations to her face, nose and cheek, and defensive wounds.

While Dale remained in the house, Tara managed to make it back to her bedroom, where she lay on her bed until she heard him leave. She then made it to Benjamin’s room and told him to get help. Benjamin ran next door to Mrs Grelli’s house, who came in, saw the blood and called the police.

Dale pleaded not guilty to the murder of Sharon at his trial. He formally admitted to attacking her, with intent to at least do her grievous bodily harm, but claimed he had a defence of ‘diminished responsibility’ - i.e his mental state, his depression and possible mood disorders, caused him to lose control. The issue of provocation was also raised - with the aim of reducing the conviction to manslaughter.

The jury clearly rejected both defences.

Dale was convicted of murdering his wife Sharon, and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent to his step-daughter Tara. The Judge felt ‘grievous bodily harm’ did not do justice to Tara’s injuries, which were likely to result in significant morbidity in the future.

In sentencing Dale, his mental state was relevant in mitigation, however the Judge found there was no real ‘loss of control’. Dale came from an unfortunate background - his father was killed in a road accident when he was young, and he had a violent step-father. His biggest problem was alcohol, although he occasionally smoked pot and used heroin. He claimed to be remorseful for what he had done, and said he loved his own children very much, but this was diminished by his past episodes of violence against his step-children.

For the murder of Sharon, Dale Barry was sentenced to 24 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 18 years. For the wounding of Tara, he received a fixed term of 12 years, to be served at the same time.

He will be eligible for release in December 2015.

She stabbed herself... over and over again?

Mansour Aala was charged with wounding his wife, Mary Razi, with intent to murder her, or at the very least, cause her grievous bodily harm. He went to trial, but the jury only convicted him or malicious wounding. He was sentenced to three years and six months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of one year and nine months. Despite this favourable result, Mr Aala appealed against his conviction, without legal representation. The Crown also appealed, stating that Mr Aala’s sentence was too lenient, in light of the severity of the offence.

Ms Razi’s account of events was basically that her husband attacked her, beginning with punches to the face and head, after which he took to her with a knife. She was found with multiple stab wounds to the head, chest, abdomen, and both arms and legs. One chest wound penetrated the lung, and the abdomen wound penetrated the liver. Surgery was required to treat the wounds, and in the course of the operation it was discovered that her diaphragm had also been perforated. In total there were five or six stab wounds to the left chest, five or six stab wounds to the upper abdomen, two or three stab wounds on each arm, more stab wounds on her right leg, and a wound to the ear, over the angle of the jaw. Ms Razi was hospitalised for ten to 15 days, and her scars were still visible some four months later.

Mr Aala, in his defence, stated that Ms Razi had in fact inflicted these wounds upon herself, or at least partly, and that she also stabbed herself by accident when she fell down.

The jury, by its verdict, found that the wounds were all deliberately inflicted by Mr Aala, but they were not satisfied that he intended to kill her, or cause her grievous bodily harm.

Mr Aala set out his appeal in a letter to the Principal Registrar of the Appeal Court, which did not contain any real legal principle, and instead amounted to a repetition of his case at trial, namely that Ms Razi’s wounds were all self-inflicted, and that she had lied about what had occurred.

In particular, he asserted that his wife had attacked him on many occasions in the past, and that she had a financial motive to lie about this incident, because she had demanded $300,000 from him that he had not paid.

These reasons were rejected by the Appeal Court. Putting aside any alleged prior attacks, or extortion attempts, the Court found that it was extremely unlikely that such extensive and serious wounds were caused accidentally, or even deliberately, by Ms Razi’s own hand.

Mr Aala’s appeal was dismissed.

A lesson for Mothers-in-law

At about 5am on the morning of 21 April 1998 Son Tran broke into the home of his estranged wife Minh Pham. He smashed the bedroom window where Minh, their son, and her mother-in-law Sahn Nguyen were sleeping. Sahn grabbed the phone to call the police, but Son managed to wrestle it from her grasp. She then ran into the hallway, but Son followed her and stabbed her repeatedly with a pair of broken scissors. His wife Minh attempted to pull him away from her mother, but she was also stabbed in the back of her left shoulder. Sahn managed to walk back into the main bedroom, but she collapsed there and died shortly after. She had received 25 stab wounds, four of which were lethal.

Son took his wife Minh and their son into the bathroom, and bound up their wrists and ankles. He tied Minh to the toilet, and put his son in the shower recess. He put a jacket over his son’s head, so that he wouldn’t see his grandmother’s body. He then untied Minh and attempted to treat her wound, after which he retied her wrists.

Son stayed in the house for another 12 hours or so, in a state of considerable distress. He thought of killing himself, and his wife. He wrote out a list of possessions that were to be given to his son. Minh eventually said that she would tell the Police she had been the victim of a home invasion. She told him to wipe down all the surfaces to get rid of his fingerprints, and then leave, so she could call the police.

Son did as she asked, and left the house. Minh and her son broke free of their restrains and went straight to a neighbour’s house. Minh was taken to Bankstown hospital to have her wound treated. She spoke to police there, and told them three men had broken into her home and stabbed her mother to death.

However two days later, Minh gave another statement to police, this time saying that her husband Son Tran was the killer. He was arrested shortly afterwards and agreed to be interviewed. He denied any knowledge of the killing, and gave police an alibi. This was quickly disproved.

He was charged with the murder of Sahn Nguyen, and the malicious wounding of Minh Pham.

Son was born in South Vietnam, and was 37 years old at the time of the killing. When he was 14 years old, the North Vietnamese government came to power in the South, and Son was placed in a labour camp. He was there for five years - once he tried to escape, but was caught and spent months confined alone in a small dark room with his legs chained.

He was eventually released from the camp in around 1984, when he met and married Minh Pham. They tried to escape Vietnam, but were arrested. Son spent one year in custody, while Minh was pregnant with their son. After his release, they attempted to escape again, this time on a refugee boat. They were successful, landing in Indonesia, where they were put in a refugee camp. Conditions here were poor, and they were detained for five years, before being returned to Vietnam. These hard years built a strong bond between Son and Minh, as well as their son.

Eventually they were sponsored to come to Australia by Son’s family. They arrived in November 1996 and stayed in Melbourne with Son’s relatives. After three months Minh left for Sydney, taking their son with her. She said she wanted to separate from Son, and stayed with relatives in Bonnyrigg.

After 10 days Son left Melbourne to join his wife and child in Sydney, and they were reconciled. They moved to Cabramatta and worked with a clothing manufacturer. Son worked the steam press, and Minh made garments. They were a hard-working couple.

In 1997 Son and Minh organised for her mother Sahn Nguyen to come to Australia. She arrived in November 1997 and moved into their Cabramatta home.

The clothing factory closed for Christmas, so Son went to Melbourne to visit his family. In that time, a man named Vanny So moved into the Cabramatta home, renting a room as a male boarder. This became a source of tension between Son and Minh when he returned from holidays.

Minh’s mother Sahn also began to undermine her daughter’s marriage, for a variety of reasons. A good friend of Sahn’s gave evidence that Sahn complained that Son did not buy her anything, while Vanny So was showering her with gifts. Vanny would openly take Minh and Sahn out from time to time, without any regard for Son.

Two months after Sahn arrived in Sydney, Minh and Son separated once more. In February 1998 Son moved out of the Cabramatta home and stayed with a friend in Canley Vale. Minh gave evidence that after Son left the house, she would sneak out after her mother and her son were in bed, so that she could meet Son. She said she still loved him, and cried in court that “my husband is the only man I love”.

There was evidence that Son had become depressed since separating from Minh. His productivity at work had declined. He was staying with his employer Doan. Doan returned to Vietnam to get married, and Son became even more lonely: “I just felt that I fell off from the sky to a very deep pit. I was agonising”.

Son would also come to Cabramatta each day, and sometimes slept outside the house. He repeatedly told Minh he loved her very much, and could not live without her. Minh felt torn between her love for her husband, and her loyalty to her mother. She told him to stay where he was for the time being, at least until her mother went back to Vietnam. After that, he could move back in to Cabramatta.

When Son would call in to see Minh at Cabramatta, Sahn would call the police. Sahn also intercepted Son’s phone calls to Minh. On two separate occasions, when Son was visiting, she assaulted him - once with a hammer, and once with the flat side of a metal cleaver.

Son persuaded Minh to leave the Cabramatta house, to minimise contact with Sahn. They moved to a house in Yagoona, but Sahn followed, and decided to move herself into Minh’s bedroom so could sleep with her daughter: “She moved to my bedroom and we stayed in one bedroom and I could not go out to meet my husband any more”.

Sahn persuaded Mihn to take out a restraining order (AVO) to stop Son phoning and visiting her at home: “My mum told me to go the Court to apply for the AVO so my husband would not be able to come see me anymore. I loved my mother but I also loved my husband, and I was in the middle of the two of them, but I loved my mother and I listened to her. Wherever she told me to go, I would go”.

On the 17th April Minh was granted an AVO at Fairfield Local Court. However she continued to contact Son. Vanny So also became a regular visitor to the Yagoona home.

On the night before the killing, Son had stood outside the Yagoona house, and while there he overheard a conversation between Minh and a friend. He heard her say that Vanny had taken her to Parramatta to file for a divorce. From this, Son guessed that his wife had begun a relationship with Vanny.

He left Yagoona, went to a friend’s place, and drank. He drank with his friend Lee and elsewhere in Cabramatta, and then returned to the Yagoona house in the early hours of the 21st. He managed to get into the garage, and tapped on the internal wall between the garage and the bedroom, hoping to wake up Minh. He wanted to talk to her, because he was thinking of going back to Melbourne and killing himself. He could get into the house through the door from the garage, but waited to hear from Minh.

Sahn was the one who heard the tapping, and got up. Son heard her coming, and left the garage. Sahn then picked up the phone in the bedroom to call the police, causing Son to smash the window and break through to grab the phone from her, even though he had already decided to leave.

He said his reason for grabbing the phone was only to stop Sahn calling the police, as he would be in trouble for breaching the AVO. When he followed her down the hallway, it was dark, and she struck him with something. He grabbed whatever it was from Sahn - it turned out to be the broken scissors. Son did not remember anything after that.

There was no evidence that Son had come to Yagoona armed. He had also been drinking, so his level of intoxication was taken into account when considering whether he really intended to kill Sahn. In addition to his depression and suicidal state, there was medical evidence that amnesia is not uncommon where people are in highly emotional or violent situations.

Psychiatrists gave evidence that at the time of the killing, Son had been suffering from a major depressive episode which was very severe. The various events leading up to the killing were considered to be psycho-social stressors, that had all contributed to the state of mind Son found himself in on that morning.

On the evidence, the jury found that Son lost control, as a result of a substantial impairment of mind. This allowed them to return a verdict of not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter, on the basis of ‘diminished responsibility’.

He was sentenced to six years in prison for the manslaughter of Sahn Nguyen, with a non-parole period of three years and six months. He was sentenced to 12 months prison for maliciously wounding Minh Pham - to be served at the same time.

Son Tran was released on 22 October 2001.

A Manipulative Attention-Seeker - Part II

At about 4:00 in the morning on April 6th David Barac arrived at Ashfield Police station in Helen Cusack's car. He was interviewed by Detective Sergeant Mellini about her disappearance. David said Helen had arranged the meeting in Canberra to talk about their situation, and he travelled down by bus to meet her at the Greyhound terminal. He said that Helen booked and paid for his ticket, and he was going to get some papers from the Department of Immigration, as well as a resume and a drug and alcohol certificate. He said they met up and talked, then went to a motel, where Helen rang her friend Erica.

David said that he and Helen had sex, but afterwards they had a fight about her family. He left Helen in the hotel room in Watson and drove away in her car. He said he was sorry he had left her and was worried about her. David was then asked about the cut on his hand, and he said he hurt it in a park in Rozelle when accidentally smashing a beer bottle, after returning home from Canberra. David then appeared to become ill and said "you just want me to say I killed and buried her" to which D.S. Mellini replied "no-one's said anything about killing and burying Helen." He was taken to hospital.

David was placed under arrest for breaching his parole conditions, one of which was to stay away from alcohol, and sent to Maitland Correctional Centre. A listening device was placed in his cell om 23 April and monitored for the following week. He was interviewed by Detective Sergeant Brian McDonald of the AFP on 26 April but again denied any knowledge of his wife's whereabouts. However the listening device recorded several important conversations between David and his cellmate Becerevic.

David admitted to Becerevic that he killed Helen and dumped her body at Mooney Mooney. He said Helen was his wife, and that she had been very cross, abusing him over money. He admitted that when he put Helen in the boot of the car while she was still alive and conscious, so he stabbed her again. David then made what was described as "a chilling request", asking Becerevic, when he got out, to make sure Helen's body would never be found. He referred to Helen's death and her body in a "dramatically callous fashion", urging Becerevic into the gruesome task of disposing of the remains. David drew him a map so he could find the body, and they worked out a code so Becerevic could write to him and let him know when the job was done.

After listening to these conversations police found Helen's body off the old Pacific Highway at Mooney Mooney, about 4km north of the Brooklyn Bridge. The white shirt and grey suit Helen had taken with her in the car were found 35m away, stained with her blood. When Becerevic got to Blacktown Court on 3 May, he handed the police a note saying he had information about Helen Cusack. He also gave police David's hand-drawn map and code.

The post-mortem revealed Helen had died from knife wounds to the chest and neck. There were four notable bodily injuries caused by knife wounds, with matching holes in her clothing. David had told Becerevic that he'd taken a knife with him to the hotel room, and that he'd brought it from home. Douglas Kuhl noticed around April 6 that a kitchen knife with a 9-inch-long blade was missing from his Rozelle kitchen, where David had been staying until Sunday 2nd April. The knife had been last seen on about 30 or 31 March, when Kuhl had been sharpening it. No-one else in the house had taken the knife.

Helen's car was thoroughly inspected and her blood was found in the boot and the inside of the car, and her hair was found in the spare-tyre well and surrounding area, as well as on the rear parcel shelf of the hatch, and the hinge.

Detective Sergeant Llewellyn began to interview David at Maitland Police station on 2 May. David told him that he really loved his wife, but that her family had caused the break-up. He said her brother had turned her against him, telling her things that were untrue, to stop her from seeing him, and that the brother had threatened to kill him unless he stayed away from Helen. After receiving legal advice David then terminated the interview. The only other accounts he gave of the events were to his jail psychologists, which were varied, but can be reasonably summed up:
They had left Canberra at about 4:00am and were travelling back to Sydney when a violent argument developed between them. In various accounts this fight either started at the hotel, after 20 minutes, or after an hour and a half. He said that "she wanted to have a baby". When asked who began the argument he said "both went the same way - I was suicidal... she wanted a child but wanted to die too". He said that she had wanted to die "when we were making love in Canberra". Apparently he did not know why she wanted to die but "I said to her the same". They were "sick of the family interrupting, only six weeks after marrying".

David said the argument went for a good fifteen minutes "till I decided OK now is finished". She said "yeah". He said that's when he stopped the car at the side of the highway. He said "I was, this is what I can't remember, drink and cocaine and all that... I think I want - the voices started calling me". He told another doctor it was "Satan's voice... it was like I was possessed... Everything went black".

He went to the boot of the car, "I had to pull the knife from there". He said this was because "I want to kill me". He said the knife was always in the car as he worked as a cook and always had to have cutlery. He said he started to slash himself, to show Helen how much he loved her, and that he did not want to live without her. He showed the Doctors a very small scar on his left wrist and also one which was "scarcely obvious" near his right elbow.

Helen apparently panicked at this behaviour and told him to stop. He said he dropped the knife and she grabbed it, and a struggle broke out between them. He then had the knife in his left hand when 'she pushed my hand'. He demonstrated how the point of the knife had been pushed towards his throat by his wife and he had put his right hand in front of it. He showed Doctors an irregular scar on the palm of his right hand.

When asked why she had picked up the knife he said "I think she was doing to do to herself". He also said that she was going to stab his neck, because "I wanted to die still". David then demonstrated how he had stabbed her with what appeared to be several backhand blows with the knife held in his left hand pointing downwards. He had done this as "she wanted to die too". He said that she was dead when he stopped. He said he was confused and mixed up, and could not believe what he had done. He said he was not in his normal mental state.

David was asked what happened next. He said Helen was still in the passenger's seat of the Mazda, slumped back on the seat. He decided to try and look for a hospital as she had "lost her voice" and was not breathing. Instead he drove all the way back to Lilyfield Road in Rozelle with the body of his wife in the boot of the car.

He saw his friends and told them he had a fight with someone. He said one friend took him to Newcastle. Helen's car had been left in Rozelle with her body in the boot. He said he wanted the police to find it there. He told a friend, Troy, what he had done, who told him "he did not want to hear about it". David returned to Sydney, returned to the car (with the body still in the boot), drove it to Newcastle and dumped the body on the way, at Mooney Mooney. He then continued his journey to Newcastle and spoke to Peter Hillman, another friend, and the next day returned to Sydney where he handed himself in at the Ashfield police station. He said the car was left at the police station.

David pleaded guilty to murder. At the sentence hearing, the Crown submitted that the maximum sentence of life imprisonment should be imposed, bearing in mind David's attack upon his former wife, and the fact that the killing was clearly premeditated - he had lured her away under false pretences, and taken a knife with him. The Crown also pointed to the many inconsistencies in David's versions of events.

David told the court he was born in Peru in 1966, and began using cocaine, cannabis and tranquilisers during his teenage years at school there. He began using heroin and acid in Israel in the 1980's. He said his father abused drugs and alcohol and frequently assaulted his mother. He said he often turned to religious communities, in particular the Pentecostal Church. He stated that he had been hearing voices from the age of 13, and had been placed in a psychiatric hospital in Peru after he heard voices telling him to shoot people. In Israel he had heard voices telling him to destroy a disco, and had spent six months in a psychiatric hospital as a result. None of this could be independently confirmed.

David's medical files noted that he had a possible antisocial personality disorder, often making up 'facts' about himself. He would often state that his brother committed suicide, or his father committed suicide, or his sister attempting suicide. He would also state that his mother was dead in Columbia, although it appeared she was alive and living in Israel. This was confirmed by his psychologists, who described him as demanding, impulsive, prone to attention-seeking behaviour often accompanied by requests for medication. All agreed that there was no evidence of psychosis. They felt that his claims of hearing voices were manipulative and attention-seeking. He had a tendency to get very angry when things did not go his way:
"He is a person who is highly jealous, possessive and insecure, the subject of a pattern of self-pity, dejection and stubbornness punctuated periodically by angry outbursts. [I do] not accept his instances of hearing voices or assertions of being led by Satan and that his personality disorder makes him extremely susceptible to rejection and thus feelings of depression, fear and anger. Since his separation from Helen, [he] appears to have been attempting strategies to be reunited with her."

There were disturbing similarities with David's attack on his first wife - in both cases the relationship had broken down, the offences were premeditated and involved him arming himself with a knife, "with revenge in his heart". He also showed a complete disregard for court orders restricting his behaviour, be it the use of alcohol, or approaching his wife. Therefore the prospect of him re-offending once released seemed high.

Further: "He tends to be rather histrionic, manipulative and over-embellishes." They agreed his stories needed to be corroborated before they could be believed. It was concluded that "it was at least possible that he was attempting to simulate a major psychiatric disorder". None were prepared to say they would support a defence of mental illness.

David Barac was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 20 years. The earliest date for his release is 25 May 2017. However the Judge was at pains to note that there was no guarantee he would be released on this date unless the authorities were of the view that he would be appropriately rehabilitated, and would comply with supervision orders. He would be 61 years of age.

Postscript: In 2004 a three-year visitation ban was imposed on Ms Mercedes Barac (presumed to be a relative) for smuggling contraband items to David in Lithgow Jail. In 2002 CDs were found in an underwear parcel, and again in 2004 a mobile phone was seized, also hidden in underwear. Mercedes claimed she made a mistake. She applied to have the ban lifted in the Supreme Court, however it was rejected.

A Manipulative Attention-Seeker - Part I

David and Joanne Barac's relationship was marred by frequent episodes of violence. They had separated in the past, and on one occasion Joanne was forced to seek shelter in a women's refuge. By 1992 the marriage was clearly breaking down, and this could largely be blamed upon David's serious alcohol problem. In December 1992 he was convicted of a domestic violence assault upon Joanne, and in March 1993 he breached a restraining order by making threats against Joanne's life. Upon being arrested and getting bail, he immediately breached it again. He had a total disregard for the "shackles" of court orders that prevented him from approaching his wife and their 18-month-old baby. He freely admitted spying on them on a regular basis.

On 21 September 1992, David became particularly enraged by this continual denial of the access that he wanted (and felt was his right), so he dressed in black, armed himself with a knife and headed to Joanne's home "with revenge in his heart." He had, of course, been drinking - two 750mL bottles of spirits, as well as smoking pot and snorting cocaine. When he got there, he saw a man who was also living in Joanna's house, and became even more enraged. He began circling the house, trying to figure out a way to get to the man. When Joanne and their baby arrived home he attacked her instead, striking her with blows to the head and knocking her to the ground. He began stabbing her with such force that the blade of the knife broke away from the handle.

Joanne pretended to be dead (or at least unconscious) in the hopes that he would give up and leave her alone, but he was undeterred. He forced her to stand, tied her up and forced her into the car. He briefly allowed her to attend to their crying baby, then drove her to another house where he detained her for hours. He spent that time continually threatening her with knives, before eventually releasing her.

David was arrested and charged with malicious wounding with intent, and kidnapping, made all the more serious by the fact that he was at the time under the restraining order, and had just been given bail for breaching it. The maximum penalty was 25 years imprisonment. In court he claimed he was completely and utterly remorseful for his actions, and promised to take steps to come to terms with his alcohol problem. He was sentenced to just four and a half years in prison, with a non-parole period of two years.

While serving his sentence at Junee in 1993, David met 23-year-old Helen Cusack. She was working at the jail as an English teacher and librarian, and she helped him improve his English while he in turn taught her Spanish, his native language. She couldn't help falling for him, and they began a relationship.

When he was released in September 1994, they moved in together in Potts Point. She was working at Coopers & Lybrand, and he was a chef at the popular Mezzaluna restaurant. They married almost immediately, and stayed in Sydney for another six months. In February 1995 they planned to move to Adelaide together while he applied to study as a minister of religion in the Wesley Mission in Adelaide. On the way, they stopped off at the Cusack family home, a property called 'Corio' in Eurogilly in the Riverina.

It was here that things began to take a turn for the worse, as it became increasingly obvious that Helen's family were not happy about her new husband, and according to David they began to disrupt their lives, because they did not accept him. He decided to leave his new wife and return to Newcastle, where he stayed with some friends. Helen remained at Corio with her mother Celia, phoning him after a few days to say she wanted a month or so to think things over.

That month David got a temporary job at the National Training Board, starting on 21 March. He was also required to attend alcohol rehabilitation programs as part of his parole conditions, and he enrolled at Kedesh House in Wollongong in March 1995. He commenced the course, but left on 30 March and never went back.

On 1 April, a Saturday, David phoned Helen at Corio and spoke with Celia, asking her to give Helen a message to contact him. Helen then made several attempts to get in touch with David, who was now staying with friends in Lilyfield Rd, Rozelle (Douglas Kuhl and Gus Laviano). She eventually spoke to him at about 8:00am on Sunday 2nd. David told her that he had to be at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Canberra on Monday 3rd about possible deportation to his home country of Peru. He was going to take the bus that day to Canberra, and Helen agreed to meet him at the Joliment bus terminal in Canberra City. Helen also spoke to Doug Kuhl and said she'd organised David's bus ticket and booked a motel. David told Gus he had to go to Canberra for a breach of parole hearing.

Needless to say, there was no deportation hearing scheduled for Monday 3rd, or indeed for any other day. Nor was there any breach of parole hearing. Helen had apparently contacted the Department of Immigration back on March 7, stating that she wished to support the deportation application, but it was not clear whether David knew of this or not. At his request she prepared a letter stating that she and David had separated on March 2nd, but were on friendly terms.

David left Rozelle at about 6pm on Sunday night to catch the bus to Canberra, and Helen left home at about 9:45pm. She had ironed a white shirt for David to wear at the non-existent hearing. She hung this and a grey suit over a coathanger and took it with her in the car, a silver Mazda 626 hatchback. Her flatmate Erica Stevens confirmed all of this. She then drove to Joliment bus terminal, where she met David, and they drove to the Carotel Hotel in Watson, arriving at around 11:30pm. They registered under the name Barac, and were given room 32. Helen phoned Erica at about 12:45 am and told her she would be spending the night at the hotel with David.

She was never heard from or seen alive again.

David arrived back at Lilyfield Rd at about 10:00am on Monday 3rd. His first words to Doug Kuhl were "All hell's broken loose." He showed Doug a large open wound on the palm of his right hand, which was bleeding. Doug also saw a 3cm blood stain on the front of David's T-shirt. He said "Where's Helen?" David replied "She's at the hospital." He then asked if he could wash the car, and without waiting for an answer immediately began doing so in the back courtyard of the house.

A short time later Gus Laviano arrived back at the Rozelle house and asked David "What happened?" David said "I got into a fight and got stabbed in the hand". He then held out his hand and Gus saw a wound that appeared very deep and needed medical attention. He said "Why did you get into a fight?". David told him:

"When I got off the bus I was met by Helen and another fella. I said to Helen 'Who's this fella?' and he said 'Who are you talking to you piece of shit?'. I said to him 'Who are you calling a piece of shit? Your words are quite tough, lets see how tough you are - I'll give you a run'. All of a sudden this guy put his hand behind his back - I was puzzled - and the next thing I knew he had a knife". Later David told Gus "When I had the fight with the bloke, Helen threw me the keys".

David didn't give any more details after that. He gave the car keys to Gus, who put them in his own glovebox. The keys were in an Oroton leather case, and belonged to Helen.

Robert Longbottom, the security guard working at the Joliment bus terminal on the night of April 3rd, reported no fights or other incidents that night.

David then asked Gus to drive him to another friend's place at Wallsend, near Newcastle, which he agreed to do. On the way they stopped at about 11:45am at a medical practice belonging to Dr Chew in North Sydney, where David had the wound in his right palm stitched. Dr Chew's opinion was that the wound (2 lacerations) was a few hours old at that stage, and was inflicted by a knife. David told Dr Chew that he had arrived home at about 8:00am to find his wife in bed with another man, and that he punched him but the man stabbed him back.

Gus then continued driving David to the house of his friends Kim and Angela Maybury in Wallsend. They arrived at around 2:30 in the afternoon. David spent the afternoon there, and Kim drove him to Broadmeadow Railway station at around 7:30-8:00pm. David next turned up at his friend Troy Power's house in Mayfield, where he asked if he could stay the night. He left again at about midday the next day, saying he was going to catch the train back to Sydney.

On Tuesday 4th April, Celia Cusack phoned the Major Crime Squad of the Australian Federal Police, concerned for her daughter's welfare. This message was relayed to the State police. At about 3:30pm police arrived at the Lilyfield Rd address and saw Helen's car in the back courtyard. There was damage to the front bonnet, along with some blood stains. The car was locked, so were not able to search inside, but they saw a handbag on the front seat, which later turned out to be Helen's. The police then spoke to other occupants of the house, Paul Bocska and John Devitt, and asked them to tell David to contact Ashfield police.

David arrived back at the Rozelle house around 4:30pm, and Paul told him the police had visited, asking who had the keys to the car. David asked Paul if they had looked inside the car, and when Paul said yes, David started to panic. He climbed into the car and backed it out of the driveway, hitting the gatepost on the way. He drove quickly away. Little did they all know, the body of Helen Cusack (pictured below on her wedding day) had been in the boot the entire time.

To be continued...

"If I can't have her, no-one else will"

Josef Plevac was a Czech immigrant who arrived in Australia in 1977 with his first wife, and daughters Eva and Martina. They divorced one year later, and he married his second wife Dana in 1984. They separated in October 1988. He remained living at their former home in Bossley Park, while Dana and their 5-year-old daughter moved into a flat on the 14th floor of a building in Parramatta. The marriage had been a violent one, and although Josef claimed to be on good terms with his wife, she had taken out a restraining order against him. She was particularly worried Josef would take Natalie away from her, and return to the Czech Republic to live with his mother and other family there.

In February 1989 there was a fire at the Bossley Park home, which destroyed it completely. Josef suffered severe burns and was in hospital for some time, and continued to have regular treatment for his burns. He was initially charged with arson, but the prosecution was later abandoned.

Dana was getting on with her life - she worked as a paymistress, and through this she met Timothy Sullivan. Tim had been in WA looking for a new job and a new home, and Dana had gone over to join him for some time. She came back to Sydney in September to make arrangements for a final move over to WA with Natalie to join Tim. Josef, who worked as a milkman, had also begun dating again, occasionally seeing a woman named Betty Corbis.

At about 8:30am on the morning of September 22nd, Dana and Natalie left their apartment. Dana would take Natalie to school as usual, then head off to her work. As they were making their way to the lift, they were surprised by a man wearing a balaclava. Before they could move, he doused Dana in petrol and set her alight with a match. Screaming, Natalie ran to the closest apartment and was pulled inside to safety. Dana fell to the ground and crawled into the lift. The building manager, alerted by the alarm system that there was a fire on level 14, pressed the lift button. When it arrived at the ground floor, the doors opened to he saw Dana "was very much alight and screaming for help. She came out of the lift, she stopped and she fell over and the flames blew up ... and she was lying there. She was pretty much burning."

Still alive, she was rushed to Westmead Hospital. Before lapsing into unconsciousness, she said she did not know who the masked attacker was, but she was sure it was not her husband Josef, or her boyfriend Tim. She could not be revived, and died in hospital later that day, as a result of third-degree burns to 90% of her body.

A resident of a 2nd-floor unit was about to walk down the stairs when she smelled smoke, and heard a woman crying for help. She saw a man who was naked from the waist up running down the stairs. She saw burns on his back and a bandage on his arm, and he was carrying clothing. He continued running out of the building.

Josef was pulled over by police on Woodville Rd, Parramatta at about 4.20pm that afternoon. He immediately denied killing his wife, and told police he had bought some petrol at a service station that morning, then headed to Katoomba where he had a haircut, before returning to Sydney to visit a friend. He told police he had not seen his wife for several days.

However at his trial he agreed he was in her apartment building that morning. He claimed that Dana still did his ironing, and he had arranged to pick up some shirts from her that morning before going to work. Because he didn't want to be seen breaching his restraining order, he said Dana had told him to wait in the stairwell. He did so, and took his shirt off, so he could put a fresh one on straight away.

Josef said that while he was waiting in the stairwell he heard his wife and daughter screaming, and when he opened the door he saw a man "in black - in blue tracksuit, towel over head - over neck, on the left shoulder, jumping and running down." He saw a fire and panicked, running back to his car. Many witnesses saw a shirtless man running in the area near the apartment, and Josef did not deny that this would have been him.

He then headed to to Katoomba where he went to a hairdresser at about 11:30am. The hairdresser was interviewed, and said that she detected a sooty-like substance in his hair. An assistant at the salon also said he smelt like petrol. Afterwards phoned Betty, and dropped in to visit her at around 3:30pm. She immediately remarked upon his haircut, as she'd seen him the night before. He said he'd had his hair cut in Fairfield. While he was there, he asked her to phone Dana's work for him. She did so, and was told what had happened. When she told Josef Dana was dead, she said he looked shocked, and said "I don't believe it. It can't be"

The police noticed some burns on Josef, and he said these were old burns, from the fire at Bossley Park back in February. A medical officer was called, and gave his opinion that the raw, weeping burns he saw on Josef's upper arm and left side of his chest and abdomen had occurred within the last 24 hours. Josef then agreed that he had received those burns that morning. He said "I saw Dana, and how she was holding clothes - it must have been my clean clothes, it was in the fire. I jumped towards her because I got bandage on my hand. I pull everything out and I must have been burnt, I don't know, and at that stage I completely lost it. I know now, but at that stage I lost it, panicked and I ran. I ran to my car."

Further evidence began to emerge regarding the state of the relationship between Josef and Dana. Eva, Josef's daughter from his first marriage, had visited him in hospital shortly before September 22, where he was receiving continuing treatment for the Bossley Park burns. She said Josef had found out about Dana's relationship with Tim, and complained that he wanted his wife back. He said he felt she had rejected him because he was scarred and ugly and said he wished "she could feel one bit of the pain he was in." Josef agreed he made these comments, but said he was referring to emotional pain, not physical pain. "I was thinking about pain which was in my heart and how I was missing her, nothing else. I didn't kill my wife, I am innocent and if they do a proper job they will find the real killer. That is all what I think."

Garage-owner Antony Valenti knew Josef, who was a regular customer and chatted to him often. Josef had said on many occasions "I can't live without her. I wont let her stay without me. If I can't have her, no-one else will."

The console-operator of a local service station also knew Josef as a regular customer, and said he had called in at around 6:30am on the morning of 22 September and bought about 15L of petrol, but he didn't notice whether Josef put it into his car, or a container. 15L was more petrol than would have fitted into the container found at the crime scene.

Natalie Plevac gave evidence at trial, and said she remembered a man splashing something out of a bucket upon her mother and that she went up in flames. The man said nothing, and she saw him go out through an exit door close to the lifts. She ran to get help:

"Q: Can you describe that man any more than in the way you have described him?

A: No

Q: Are you able to recognise that person?

A: Well sort of.

Q: What do you mean 'sort of'?

A: Well I could tell it could have been - it was my dad because, well my mum was wearing high heels and he was about the same height was her, and because of the build.

Q: That is as far as you can say that it could have been?

A: Well, and there was a phone call the night before and it was my dad."

In cross-examination Natalie confirmed that all she could remember was that the man seemed to be dressed all in black and she could not see his face, which was totally covered except his eyes, nor could she see his hair:

"Q: Now, would I be right if I said to you that when you saw that happen on the day you did not know who that man was. Would that be right or not?

A: Yes

Q: And would I be right in saying that you did not know who it was because, well I guess you did not see him for long enough, would that be right?

A: Yes

Q: Would it be right that there was nothing about him that you saw that brought to your mind any person that you knew?

A: No

Q: See, was it the situation that when you saw him on that day and got yourself into the unit of these other people, that you did not know who that man was. Would that be right?

A: Yes."

She confirmed that she told police that she did not know who the man was.

At trial the defence objected to any reference to the restraining order, submitting that it was not relevant to the case. Josef claimed that Dana had no fear of him, and that he had only agreed to the order because of her fear that he would take Natalie to the Czech Republic, which he said was completely unfounded. This was overruled, particularly in light of the evidence of several witnesses who had observed their relationship and testified that Josef had been particularly violent towards Dana. Josef stated "it is true that I called Dana by bad names, ill-treat her, but I was always sorry and apologised to her. I don't looking for any excuse because there is no excuse for my behaviour."

Tim Sullivan in particular gave evidence that Josef had previously tried to run him off the road. He said he was driving near Natalie's kindergarten, when Josef pulled up alongside him and swerved at him, causing Tim to mount the median strip to avoid a collision. The defence objected to his evidence, but was overruled by the Judge, who felt Josef's reaction, upon seeing Tim with Dana and Natalie, was relevant given Josef's statement that if he couldn't have Dana, no-one would.

Josef was convicted of murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He immediately appealed the verdict. In addition to the objections mentioned above, Josef claimed he had been denied a fair trial because a letter written by Dana had not been used in his evidence, apparently at the advice of his lawyers. He stated that his mother sent him this letter in August 1994, saying she had received it from an anonymous person in Australia. It was an undated, typed letter signed "Dana" and addressed to "Jitka". Josef said Jitka Klasek was a friend of his wife's who was now deceased, and that he recognised his wife's signature at the bottom:

And why am I writing to you? I am now having problems with Pepa [Josef]. He will be going to court in three weeks over the house fire and the problem is in that he knows who has done it and also has evidence. For this reason it would be good if you could extend your holiday stay until such time that Pepa's court hearings are over. He now runs wild, searching for more evidence. You do not have to worry. I talked to Robert [Jitka's son] today and he would visit me on Friday with his friend. They already worked out a plan how to stop Pepa and get him finally to prison. As you know, Pepa is presently alone and everybody is against him. However, he trusts me and therefore it will be no problem. The only problem is with Natalie who talks about Pepa all the time and wants to be with him. However, she will forget about him in time, the same way Eva and Martina forgot [Josef's daughters from his first marriage].

When you ring me on the telephone please be careful because I do not know what Pepa is doing now. Even Pepa's solicitor does not want to talk to me any more about Pepa's problems and it takes me a bit of time to learn everything.

Make the best of your holiday and do not worry at all as I and Robert have everything under control. On Friday I will write you another letter about the outcome of all this.

The 'court proceedings' referred to are the arson charges relating to the Bossley Park fire, which were abandoned after Josef received the life sentence for Dana's murder. Josef felt this letter was proof of a conspiracy by his wife to frame him for her murder.

The Crown submitted that the letter was a fake. The Appeal Court found that Josef's theory was "quite fanciful", and that the jury would still not have acquitted him if they had seen it. The Court confirmed his conviction and life sentence, confirming the Judge's view that this was a "callous, planned and appalling murder."

In 2004 Josef Plevac applied to have his life sentence re-determined under the new "Truth in Sentencing" regime, which was brought in to do away with the existing sentences of 'life'. These life sentences were now thought to be too harsh for human beings, giving them no prospect of release, no light at the end of the tunnel to encourage them to rehabilitate themselves. Previously, almost everyone convicted of murder received a life sentence (i.e. for the term of his/her natural life), unless significant mitigating circumstances could be demonstrated. Now, only a handful of extremely serious cases warrant a life sentence. The Anita Cobby killers are one example.

Josef's lawyers pointed out that by now Josef had spent 15 years in prison, and was 56 years old. During his incarceration he had been a 'model prisoner'. He had completed a manufacturing and engineering program through TAFE, and received good reference from the prison workshop. He was described as polite, co-operative, and a good worker. He also completed a Christian instruction program and had references from an Anglican chaplain and a Catholic priest. His daughter Natalie was being cared for by his first wife, and had minimal contact with him, although he knew she was at university.

Nonetheless he maintained he is innocent of his wife's murder, and that she was involved in arranging the fire at the Bossley Park house, and wanted him dead. "The more Mr Plevac was questioned about the offence, the more evasive he became. Eventually he stated that he knew the true facts about the murder but could not disclose them to a government worker."

A psychologist reported that "he does not seem to have any social support and may be quite lonely. He is grieving over the loss of contact with his daughter from his second marriage as she is now in the custody of his first wife... Furthermore, he has to live with the fact that he is serving a life sentence when he claims he is innocent."

The Crown opposed Josef's application, submitting that the life sentence should stay in place, but if the court was going to set a non-parole period, the remainder of his sentence should still be for life, so that he is effectively on parole forever. The Crown reminded the court that the killing was pre-meditated and planned, with little regard to his daughter's safety, and the fact that Josef had taken active steps to hide his involvement by going to Katoomba to have his haircut, in order to destroy incriminating evidence, as well as distance himself from the scene of the crime. He had shown no remorse for his actions, and there was a risk he could re-offend, particularly if he became involved with another woman.

The Court granted Josef's application. It set a sentence of 25 years, with a non-parole period of 19 years. He appealed this sentence as still being too harsh, but the appeal was rejected.

Josef Plevac was eligible for release on 21 September 2008.