Under Siege

by Belinda Neil

  This was one of the most gruelling negotiations I have ever undertaken. After ten hours of abuse another negotiation team came to relieve us. I saw that one of my friends, Nic, was going to have the pleasure of speaking with the man; I think she took one look at my face and realised it was not going to be easy. Nic later told me that while he was throwing furniture out of the window, he managed to grab three vintage wall ducks from their hangings and in quick succession hurled them out of the window. Flying ducks were among the last things the negotiators and the Tactical police had expected to see. The man eventually did fall asleep and was arrested.

  The next afternoon, 6 August, there was another negotiator callout, this time a suicide intervention at Chatswood where a young man wanted to throw himself off a building. Fortunately, after a few hours he agreed to surrender to police and get help to set his life back on track. I was finished by 8pm.

  From the moment I started at the Homicide Unit my life became a blur: work, sleep, callouts, work. I did not see much of my husband during this time as I was either away or working ridiculous hours, and I wondered whether anyone outside the police force would have accepted these working conditions.

  In the middle of August I finally had some down time; I took on the job as relieving staff officer of the Major Crime Squad and undertook a Homicide course. It meant no negotiations and no late-night callouts to negotiations or homicides. Two weeks of peace, but that didn’t last long.

  CHAPTER

  9

  Overload

  On the morning of Saturday 7 September, a day off, I received a phone call at home. A short time later I was heading to Bondi to provide specialist Homicide assistance to local detectives. A British tourist had been bashed to death.

  Brian Hagland, a twenty-eight-year-old backpacker, had been walking home with his girlfriend Connie Casey when two young men approached them near Campbell Parade. Twenty-two-year-old Aaron Martin had been drinking at the North Bondi RSL Club, becoming increasingly violent and aggressive. After he broke a glass pane in the toilet door and threatened to throw a stool at the bar Sean Cushman, his twenty-three-year-old mate, knew he needed to get Martin out of there. When they left the club Martin broke the glass panel of a restaurant door and smeared blood from a cut on his hand all over some walls. He was extremely abusive towards people he encountered; he was looking for a fight.

  Soon the two men came across Brian and Connie, walking from the other direction. After a verbal confrontation Martin and Brian became embroiled in a serious physical fight. At one point they fell onto the roadway and Martin was strangling Brian to the point where the whites of Brian’s eyes were showing. Connie, petite and fighting to save the man she loved from a drunken violent assailant, tried to get Martin off Brian by hitting him with her handbag before running to get help. Martin continued assaulting Brian and then threw or pushed him in front of a bus, and he and Cushman ran off. Brian Hagland later died of massive internal injuries.

  When I arrived at Bondi police station with my work partner Wayne we were given a short briefing then a tour of the crime scene. At that stage nobody had been identified as the assailant. I met Connie, Brian’s girlfriend. She was a wreck, in shock, having just watched her boyfriend of seven years being brutally beaten and strangled. Her life had been changed forever and she had no family support in Australia. The Homicide Victims Support Group was called to give her some assistance.

  The fact that Brian Hagland’s family were all based in England made it especially difficult for them to come to terms with what had happened. I was nominated as the Victim Liaison officer, my job being to phone Brian’s family in England daily to update them on the progress of the investigation. I mainly spoke with Jane, Brian’s sister, who had been delegated as the spokesperson for the family, and we had many long conversations. My job was sometimes made more difficult because the international media would sensationalise various aspects of the investigation or contact the Hagland family with information before I could tell them personally. This upset the family even further, and it was exhausting for me but I knew it was a very difficult time for them.

  Over the next few days, especially after the press conference involving Connie Casey, information came pouring in from the general public eager to provide help. In one of these many calls the names of Aaron Martin and Sean Cushman came up. Both were known to police and had extensive criminal histories for dishonesty and motor vehicle offences. Martin had been convicted of a similar attack on a young man a few years earlier, when he had grabbed the young man’s headphones from his head, punched him in the face so hard his nose bled; when the victim fell to the ground he kicked him in the head several times.

  Within three days I was working on a listening device application for Sean Cushman’s home. I rang the Office of the Solicitor at police headquarters, and knowing the pressure we were under due to the international media frenzy they provided wonderful and speedy help. Within five days the application had been approved and we installed the bug.

  I had been working many fifteen-hour days and had just started an on-call week as a negotiator. Not being the officer in charge of the murder investigation, I had decided to continue with this on-call week. Within half an hour of finishing work at Bondi my negotiator pager activated; drug dealers had kidnapped an eighteen-year-old youth. I no longer felt tired, the adrenalin kicked in and my mind was going a hundred miles an hour. I headed straight to Macquarie Fields about an hour away to the southwest to meet with my team leader Goody.

  We were told that the youth, Andy, had been kidnapped by some drug dealers to whom he owed money. They had telephoned Andy’s father Jim and demanded $4000 for the safe return of his son, telling Jim that if he wanted Andy to return safely, he should not involve the police.

  My role as the primary negotiator was to provide strategy, advice and support to Jim, since the kidnappers were not aware of police involvement. I became very focused on Jim. He was extremely upset, as what parent wouldn’t be. He told me about the phone calls he had received from the kidnappers, said that Andy had been allowed to speak with him and how upset Andy had been. He broke down as he told me he had heard Andy being bashed by the kidnappers and how he could do nothing but listen to his son’s screams.

  We had to instill Jim with confidence that we would do everything we could to get his son back, and to give him support to speak with the kidnappers. Goody and I stayed with him until 2.30am, when another negotiation team relieved us. I felt I was abandoning Jim, but this was a high-risk situation, not a day in the office. Fatigue could severely hamper my ability to provide the right assistance to Jim and the investigation, which could result in loss of life. Even though I had been working for almost nineteen hours straight, the adrenalin pumping through my system prevented my being able to relax and fall asleep.

  The next morning, after a few hours’ sleep, I was back at Bondi at 8am working on the Hagland murder. I remember playing cat and mouse with the media, who were trying to follow us to obtain the latest information. I was trying to get to the listening post in a block of units near the Cushman home without being followed while not letting the media know we had methods of covert surveillance already in place.

  My rest day the next day was cancelled; the kidnapping case was still in full swing. Goody and I were to go into Andy’s family home at Hinchinbrook, otherwise called the ‘stronghold’. Two heavily armed Tactical police were sent in with us in case the kidnappers came to the house looking for the ransom money. I was told that Jim, his wife and another child would be home so on the way we stopped off so I could pick up some food supplies for lunch. This might sound unusual but I knew we would be entering a very stressed household and I had to ensure that Jim had eaten, as he needed his strength for the ongoing negotiations. I also wanted to try and establish some type of normality in the household, again to break the tension.

  We were dropped off at the rear of their home and had to scale a 1.8-metre paling fence surrounding the sides and rear. The Tact
ical guys almost broke the fence because of the amount of equipment they carried. This, I am sure, could have started a small neighbourhood war. Fortunately, I only had a small gun, a handbag and food.

  The family were in a very agitated state, wandering around aimlessly not knowing what to do, just waiting on the next phone call, whatever and whenever that might be. They couldn’t remember when they had last eaten. Goody corralled Jim while I made lunch for the rest of the family and spoke with Jim’s wife and child. We all ate lunch together, Goody and I being the surrogate family for the day. Our presence served to calm the family and allow them to regain some confidence, knowing they had help. We needed Jim to be as clear as possible in his thinking, we needed him in the best frame of mind to continue negotiating with the kidnappers.

  Not long after we had eaten, Jim received a phone call from Andy saying he had been dropped off at a local petrol station and wanted his dad to come and pick him up. Andy was very distressed on the phone.

  We had a very quick briefing. We were not sure if this was a setup, whether the kidnappers were with Andy or watching him and waiting to ambush Jim. It was decided that Jim would go in his car and I would sit in the front passenger seat, pretending to be an aunt who had provided the money for Andy’s safe return. I would be armed with my trusty five-shot revolver. Goody and one of the tactical police officers would be hidden in the rear passenger area of the car in case things did became difficult. God only knows how they managed; it was a tight squeeze in the back and they were not small men.

  I went over the plan with Jim as we drove towards the petrol station. It was a nerve-racking drive and I needed Jim to be feeling calm and confident. My hand was on my revolver, ready in case I needed to use it, and I had the bag with the money in it. We had no idea what we would find.

  A short time later we arrived at the petrol station. Andy was there by himself. I scanned the area but didn’t see anyone who appeared to be taking an interest in him, so Goody pulled him into the rear seat of the car on top of the guys. We drove off quickly in case the kidnappers were still around.

  As soon as we were out of sight of the petrol station and it appeared we were not being followed, Goody and our Tactical officer were able to sit up properly. Introductions were made all around. Andy was a mess. When we got back to the house, he showed us where he had been bashed. His kidnappers had beaten him literally black and blue; his skinny, pale white body was covered in multicoloured bruises.

  Later that evening, investigators traced the kidnappers and their organisers to a townhouse in Moorebank. Goody and I were still in the area in case negotiators were required for any high-risk arrest. Once the location of the kidnappers had been verified, we were to wait until Tactical police were in position and then, as primary negotiator, I would telephone the kidnappers.

  My role now changed from one of providing strategies, advice and support to Jim in his negotiation with the kidnappers to ensuring the safe exit of each of the kidnappers out of the townhouse into police custody. With Goody standing next to me so he could relay my conversation to the Tactical police, I rang the telephone number the kidnappers had been using to contact Jim.

  A male voice answered, ‘Hello.’

  ‘Hello. My name is Belinda Neil and I am a police negotiator.’

  ‘Yes, ahh, police?’

  ‘Yes, police. Police are investigating a kidnapping. Do you understand that?’

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘Police currently surround your townhouse. Do you understand that?’

  The man replied, ‘Yes.’

  I said, ‘What is your name?’

  At the same time I could hear Goody’s police radio advising that the front door of the townhouse had opened and an Asian man was looking out. We knew the kidnappers were armed, so to ensure that nobody was hurt as they left the townhouse they had to follow strict procedure. A wrong move could have somebody seriously injured or even killed.

  In a very clear and firm voice I said, ‘Do not go outside but leave the front door open. Do you understand that?’

  ‘Yes.’

  The police radio crackled again to say the front door had been left open but the Asian man had gone back inside the house, having seen the Tactical police.

  I said, ‘I will get you to leave the house soon but there are some things we need to discuss to ensure your safety. Do you understand that?’

  He did. I again asked him his name, which he provided.

  I said, ‘How many people are in the house?’

  He said, ‘Three.’

  I said, ‘Can you tell me their names?’

  He supplied them. I said, ‘Are there any weapons in the house?’

  ‘No, no.’

  I said, ‘I will get each of you to leave the house one at a time. You will be first and I will also speak to each of the others before they leave the house. Do you understand that?’

  ‘Yes.’

  I could hear other voices in the background. The man I was speaking to said something to them in a language I did not understand.

  I said, ‘I would ask that you speak English, okay?’

  He replied, ‘Okay.’

  So the Tactical police could tell who was exiting the house, I said, ‘Can you tell me what you are wearing?’

  He gave me these details and Goody passed them on to the Tactical team.

  I said, ‘This is what I want you to do. Firstly, prior to leaving the house you will pass the telephone to the next person. Do you understand that?’

  ‘Yes.’

  I said, ‘Leave any weapons inside the house. Do you understand that?’

  ‘No weapons.’

  I said, ‘You will place your hands on your head and walk straight out of the front door down the path. Do you understand that?’

  ‘Yes.’

  I said, ‘You will keep walking very slowly until you are met by the police and follow their instructions. Do you understand that?’

  ‘Yes.’

  I said, ‘Before you go, please repeat back to me what you have been told to do.’

  He repeated the instructions. I confirmed with Goody that this man was ready to leave the house and he passed this on via the radio.

  On receiving the go-ahead, I said, ‘You can leave the house now. Please pass the phone to the next person.’

  My instructions and conversation were being passed on to the Tactical team who had surrounded the unit. I could not see what was happening, I only had feedback from this team via Goody and the radio. I was told that the first man had left the townhouse and been arrested by the Tactical team without incident. From the information we had, this kidnapper had been incredibly forthcoming on the telephone and I didn’t have a fight on my hands. In fact, once he opened the front door and saw one of the Tactical police, he became very compliant, doing exactly what I asked him to do.

  I gave the other kidnappers the same instructions with the same results. I am still surprised that these very tough kidnappers allowed themselves to be arrested so easily and we didn’t have a siege on our hands. However, once they looked at the heavily armed Tactical police, they must have realised just how outgunned they were.

  These types of investigations use many police resources. In this case more than one hundred police were involved, including Local Area Command investigators, Major Crime Squad investigators, surveillance police, Police Airwing, State Protection Group Tactical Operations Unit and negotiators, technical police, Dog Squad, Crime Scene police, fingerprint police, and the Video Unit. It is such a relief and so satisfying when all these resources work together for a successful outcome: the return of the kidnapping victim, albeit very bruised, and six persons arrested and charged.

  The boy’s father Jim later wrote letters to the Commissioner of Police and the commander of the operation, thanking them for what they had done. He added, ‘To Belinda and Goody, what can I say, you guys are just beautiful. Keep in touch, and here come the tears. Mark and Belinda, thanks.’ When I found this letter ye
ars later I was the one who cried. This was such an emotionally charged situation and my feelings in knowing I had made such a difference to someone cannot be described in words.

  I also had a chuckle at another part of Jim’s letter, ‘To the State Protection Group, guys, the back fence and compost bin will never be the same again, but who cares? You are all welcome back anytime to watch Rambo. But please leave the pump action shotguns and automatic weapons at the station. My neighbours have experienced enough action for this year.’

  After all that, plus having very little sleep and working on the Hagland murder investigation at the same time, I was so looking forward to my day off, until my negotiator pager activated about 12.30pm. I was called out to a siege at Mt Druitt, a forty-five-minute high-speed drive for me. The situation took eight hours to resolve and I drove home to try and get some much-needed rest.

  The following day, Monday 16 September, I was back on the Hagland murder investigation. It was time to interview suspects. At that stage the bugs we put in the Cushman house had confirmed Martin’s involvement and contributed to Cushman’s guilt in helping Martin flee the crime scene. This supported evidence from eyewitnesses to the assault.

  I interviewed Sean Cushman, with his solicitor present, at the office of the Major Crime Squad South. In the meantime Aaron Martin, accompanied by his high-profile solicitor, presented himself to the officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Sergeant Adam Purcell at Bondi police station. Martin was charged with the murder of Brian Hagland. The next day I organised for blood and hair samples to be taken from Sean Cushman to confirm that he was not the person who had smeared blood in various places on the way to the Hagland assault. We also executed a search warrant at his home. On Wednesday 18 September I charged Sean Cushman with being an accessory after the fact of murder.

  I was mentally and physically drained from the murder and kidnapping investigations. I needed some time out to recharge my batteries. I took four days off, then returned to work to put together the brief of evidence for the Hagland investigation with Detective Sergeant Purcell. This was a major and complex project, which involved organising all witness statements, the listening-device transcripts and police statements doing whatever follow-up work was necessary.