Bourke Street Attack

A few days ago there was a tragic incident in Melbourne where a disturbed man drove a car at high speed through parts of the city including the Bourke Street Mall. The end result was that 5 people were killed and more than 20 injured, not counting the trauma suffered by those not physically injured. The dead included a 3 month old baby and a 10 year old girl.


Shortly after the event, it became known that the perpetrator, Dimitrious “Jimmy” Gargasoulas, had been released on bail a week earlier and that police had opposed bail. In the aftermath of the attack, this became a significant issue in the public mind, with many calling for a review of the bail system and more than a few suggesting that bail should be determined by the police; meaning that if police oppose bail, then bail should not be granted.

The other issue of significance that arose was that police had opportunities to intercept Gargasoulas prior to the attack, but declined to do so. There was a great deal of criticism over this and many questions as to why they had not acted earlier. Police Commissioner Ashton noted though that police need to make split second decisions in such cases and said that “I absolutely back them 100 per cent”.

A final point of interest was that the vehicle was seen doing ‘burnouts’ or ‘doughnuts’ at the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets prior to the attack in Bourke Street. In footage of this, it can be seen that two men attempted to stop or slow the vehicle, bashing it with a club of some sort (some are reporting it as a baseball bat, but it doesn’t look like that to me). Also during this period, it can be seen that at least two police officers are at the scene.

In line with most matters, I have opinions on these issues and I’m not afraid to share them.

Bail Issues
Less well known is that Gargasoulas’s earlier arrest, for which police had opposed bail, was for traffic offences. He had been speeding and driving on the wrong side of the road. His bail hearing was conducted out of hours and in Victoria, that means it was heard by a bail justice. A bail justice is not a judge, but a lay person approved to act as such. The qualifications required to act as a bail justice are not especially onerous, they simply need to be over the age of 18, an Australian citizen, not insolvent and complete a Justice of the Peace course.

I am not especially concerned at the fact that Gargasoulas was on bail at the time of his crime, bail hearings require a careful balance of individual rights and the right of the accused to prepare for his case, likelihood of a custodial sentence and the likelihood of the offender being a danger to society. In the case of a traffic offence, I would expect that only in the most extreme circumstances would bail be refused.

Accused persons that are detained without bail are held “on remand” and are held separately from the general prison population. Government statistics show them as “unsentenced prisoners. There has not been any noticeable decrease in the number of unsentenced prisoners held in Australia, so I consider the cries of  the legal system allowing criminals to run free to be a little overblown at best.

I do think there is a need for the use of bail justices to be minimised. The best person to sit a bail hearing is a qualified judge or magistrate and using a bail justice should be the exception. The Victorian government is considering a system of night courts for just this purpose.

I would be very concerned about any tightening of bail laws and don’t see any need for it. My first instinct in these matters is to preserve individual liberties and a person applying for bail, by definition, is still considered innocent of their crime.

Police Pursuit
In a similar way to bail issues, there are points here that have been reported, but not widely so. One of those points is that police were in pursuit of the vehicle for more than 2 hours before the fatal incidents in Bourke Street. The police attempted arrest on at least one occasion and the police union alleges that on a second occasion they were denied permission to arrest while the car was stuck in traffic.

Furthermore, the pursuit was called off on several occasions in line with police policy. Police in Victoria are restricted to pursuing only when there is a threat to public safety or when a serious offence such as murder has been committed. There was much dispute when this policy was introduced and I find it more than passing bizarre that any discretion to pursue has been taken away from police in the field. Naturally enough this policy is widely known among offenders who take full advantage of it.

There is currently a ‘review’ underway of the policy, but there is no doubt to me that it’s a direct result of the police bashing that goes on every time a police vehicle is involved in an accident. I am old enough to remember the Fitzgerald enquiry and the police corruption that existed in most states through the 1970s and 80s, but I fear that the pendulum has swung too far and our police are now so restricted that they struggle to do the job we demand of them.

Prevention of Attack
There were indeed two police officers on the scene outside Flinders Street Station where Gargasoulas was doing burnouts. There was also a mounted police officer there. Nonetheless, they simply watch on while Gargasoulas did his thing. Two young men, who to the best of my knowledge have not been identified, did indeed try to stop the vehicle before it did any more damage, but were unable to stop him.

I can’t help but wonder whether events would have unfolded differently if one of the bystanders was in possession of a gun. Unfortunately in Australia now, the only members of the general public that carry guns on the street are criminals. These guns, I might add, include weapons much more powerful than any available to law abiding citizens.

I’ve written about this before, but the fact is that the draconian gun laws in Australia have achieved nothing except to remove guns from those least likely to use them for harm. Homicide rates are unaffected, assaults are unaffected, the only affect is that a decent citizen is left helpless in the face of a criminal with a gun.

Photo courtesy Lakeyboy at en.wikipedia (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons