Nexus - 1305 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

Everything that happened after he set out for Seascape is Bryant so well that he could avoid being taken in by a double, extremely obscure. Indeed, after Nubeena, Bryant's narrative of while the double did not know Bryant's background so well that he the day's events dissolves into what seems more of a nightmare knew he ought to behave more familiarly. Second, Gary King said sequence than anything else, for Bryant implicates himself in in his statement that the "Bryant" he'd encountered on the Sunday criminal acts which, as we shall see, he cannot possibly have morning commented that he [King] served him "a nice cup of carried out in reality, including an act that we know was actually coffee" the previous Tuesday. King did not confirm that he'd had a perpetrated by someone else. previous encounter with "Bryant". Whether or not this is a As we have already seen, Bryant's recollections of his doings on memory lapse on King's part, there is nothing on record to suggest the morning of 28 April 1996 are not implausible; what's more, that the real Bryant visited Forcett on the Tuesday. they are almost certainly true. There are no witness statements from staff at either the Sorell Bakery or the "little shop" in Incident at the Fortescue Bay turnoff Nubeena contradicting Bryant's claim to have been there that day. The bizarre twist in Bryant's narrative begins "At the Fortescue It is also difficult to envisage a motive for Bryant to lie about the Bay turnoff, just, ohh, about three or four minutes away from the stops he made between Hobart and Roaring Beach. What would Martins’ farm" on the Hobart side of Seascape.* Bryant confessed, he have had to gain by denying that he had stopped at Midway "unfortunately I held up a car, I took ahh, I saw this car I liked and Point, Forcett and Taranna? Whether he made four stops or just got, umm, held up the person in the car and kidnapped him". The the one at Sorell made no difference to the allegations against him. car was "a nice-looking BMW" occupied by three people, a male, Why would he lie about where he stopped to buy a coffee? His a female and a child. Bryant says he ordered the man inside the statement contradicts that of Gary King, a casual employee of the boot of the car and made the female and the child get inside his Shell service station at Forcett, who told police that he sold a Volvo. Why did he take the man hostage? "I was a bit worried coffee to "a young bloke" with "long that if he didn't go, he'd go off in my blonde [sic] curly hair" who was car," Bryant explained. After driving a Volvo with "a surf board on commandeering the BMW solely top". But what does it matter whether because he "liked" it (he states that his Bryant bought a coffee at Sorell or H H i H intention was simply to take it for a Forcett? No matter where he bought it, Bryant implicates himself in drive), Bryant sped off towards it sheds no light on his alleged criminal acts which, as we Seascape at 140 km/h. responsibility for the massacre. A What is striking about this story is Bryant also told Inspector Warren shall see, he cannot possibly that it combines elements from two that he had paid for his coffee with have carried out in reality. different events that took place shortly gold coins from the glove compartment after the massacre inside the Broad of his Yet Gary King says the man Arrow Café: the PAHS gunman's paid in five- and ten-cent coins. hijacking of a gold-coloured BMW Another discrepancy is that Bryant told sedan belonging to Ken and Mary Rose Warren that he had had no more than Nixon and his subsequent taking of a $10 to $15 with him that day, and all the money was in gold coins hostage, Glenn Pears, who had been the driver of a white Corolla in the glove box of his car. Yet according to service station with a female passenger, Zoe Hall, outside the Port Arthur General attendant Christopher Hammond, the "Bryant" who bought petrol Store. Bryant is not simply being forgetful here: at Taranna paid $15 in two notes. Why would Bryant lie about Inspector Warren: Do you remember seeing a white, ahh, these trivial matters? small Japanese car, like a Corolla? But if it is hard to see what Bryant had to gain by lying about his Bryant: Corolla, no. Not at all. trip from Hobart, it is easy to see what a Bryant impersonator would have stood to gain by making four stops along the way to But if Bryant's story about hijacking a car at the Fortescue Bay Port Arthur. While Bryant stopped just once, which is not at all turnoff does not resemble any one incident in the official narrative unusual for a trip that would only have taken an hour and a quarter, of the massacre, it matches perfectly an incident discussed by the impersonator would have wanted to attract as much attention to "Jamie"—protagonist of the Seascape siege—in a telephone himself as possible within this short period. Thus he made conversation with police negotiator Sgt Terry McCarthy that took pointless purchases—items that he could easily have brought with _ place shortly after 5 pm on 28 April: him from Hobart if he needed them—and paid for three out of four Sgt McCarthy: Now you were talking just a little bit about the, of them with small change in order to increase the likelihood that um, Rick having come from Fortescue Bay. Can you just shopkeepers would recall the incidents afterwards. The multiple enlighten me as to what happened there? stops were necessary to ensure that after the massacre, a body of Jamie: Yeah, yeah; I got him and managed to get him, his wife, evidence existed that seemed to confirm that Bryant had travelled she, he wanted to participate, um, in the kidnapping in, instead of to Port Arthur that morning. The theory that an impersonator his wife. I thought alright, quick...get in, get into the car and I've made four stops on the way to Port Arthur makes a good deal more _ got him as a hostage. sense than the idea that it was necessary for Bryant to conceal McCarthy: Okay, okay, now you were in your, your car there, having made those stops. were you? Two further circumstances invite the conclusion that the stops Jamie: Yes. were those of a Bryant impersonator. First, one of the four McCarthy: Right. You're in your car and you wha, what, witnesses, Angelo Kessarios, who sold "Bryant" a cigarette lighter pulled them up? They were driving along in a car, is that correct? at Midway Point, recalled being perplexed that "Bryant" did not Jamie: That's correct. recognise him. The most plausible explanation is that Kessarios McCarthy: Alright, and and what, how did you stop them, had encountered an impersonator. Clearly, Kessarios did not know — Jamie? Bryant so well that he could avoid being taken in by a double, while the double did not know Bryant's background so well that he knew he ought to behave more familiarly. Second, Gary King said in his statement that the "Bryant" he'd encountered on the Sunday morning commented that he [King] served him "a nice cup of coffee" the previous Tuesday. King did not confirm that he'd had a previous encounter with "Bryant". Whether or not this is a memory lapse on King's part, there is nothing on record to suggest that the real Bryant visited Forcett on the Tuesday. Bryant implicates himself in criminal acts which, as we shall see, he cannot possibly have carried out in reality. But if Bryant's story about hijacking a car at the Fortescue Bay turnoff does not resemble any one incident in the official narrative of the massacre, it matches perfectly an incident discussed by "Jamie"—protagonist of the Seascape siege—in a telephone conversation with police negotiator Sgt Terry McCarthy that took place shortly after 5 pm on 28 April: Sgt McCarthy: Now you were talking just a little bit about the, um, Rick having come from Fortescue Bay. Can you just enlighten me as to what happened there? Jamie: Yeah, yeah; I got him and managed to get him, his wife, she, he wanted to participate, um, in the kidnapping in, instead of his wife. I thought alright, quick...get in, get into the car and I've got him as a hostage. McCarthy: Okay, okay, now you were in your, your car there, were you? Jamie: Yes. McCarthy: Right. You're in your car and you wha, what, pulled them up? They were driving along in a car, is that correct? Jamie: That's correct. McCarthy: Alright, and and what, how did you stop them, Jamie? NEXUS * 13 AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2006 www.nexusmagazine.com