Abdallah
was critically wounded and died after 40 days in a coma from complications
arising from a bullet wound to the back
of the head.
When Gary Abdallah was shot
and eventually died there was a large amount of media attention
paid to the circumstances of his shooting.
The Abdallah family and their
solicitor were vocal in
questioning the police version of events and demanding an independent public
inquiry.
Other influential groups and
individuals also publicly questioned the shootings.
The fact
that Gary Abdallah was shot at seven times and had a bullet wound in the back of
his head were not matters
that could be readily explained.
It was announced that there would be
a special series of coronial inquiries into the shootings.
The inquest has
examined the circumstances of
the shootings in a way that has never been done previously.
The Deputy Ombudsman
began an inquiry into the circumstances of the shooting of Abdallah and
after an eight-month investigation
suggested that the two detectives at the fatal shooting appeared
to have agreed to corroborate each other's false accounts.
One level of criticism against
police suggested that in the wake of the killing of the two police officers
revenge overcame reason in the
police force.
A lawyer representing a man charged in relation
to the Walsh Street killings said in court, while objecting to his client
being held in custody, 'he is
probably safer in Pentridge than on the streets where he could be subjected
to a bullet in the back of his head'
The coroner was told that 'After
the two young policemen were killed, it was if the police
had some kind of vendetta'
In 1989, the
Victorian government appointed state coroner Hal Hallenstein to conduct an
inquiry into police killings following the death of Abdallah.
Abdallah's family
asked the deputy ombudsman, Dr
Barry Perry, to investigate the shooting.
His 329-page report was completed
shortly before Christmas 1989.
It said that “the evidence seems to provide
some basis for believing that there was criminal conduct” in the police
shooting.
During the inquest,
the Abdallah family lawyer expressed a more direct view: the pistol was a plant
and Abdallah was on his knees, his hands behind his head, when he was shot like
a dog on a short lead.
In Victoria there
were eleven fatal shootings by police in the two year period up to April 1989.
This compares to only ten fatal shootings by police in the previous thirteen
years.
The number of fatal
shootings by police had increased from only two in 1985 and one in 1986
to five in 1987 and five in 1988.
The fatal shooting of Abdallah led to
growing demands for a judicial inquiry into the shootings.
Those calling for
such an inquiry included families of some of the deceased, the Federation of
Community Legal Centres, the Victorian Council of Civil Liberties, Member of
Parliament Mr Neil Cole, Pentridge prison chaplain, Father Peter Norden, and the
Bar Association.
These demands were
based on the growing number of shootings, the circumstances surrounding some of
the shootings and the belief
that the usual investigation by the Homicide Squad overseen by the police
Internal Investigation Department and an inquiry by the coroner would not be
sufficient to uncover any wrongdoing by police involved.
The shootings became
the subject of growing media
attention and a public meeting was organised by the families of the deceased
and the Flemington Legal Service.
Hundreds of people attended the public meeting
and passed a motion calling on the government to set up a judicial inquiry into
the shootings and police
accountability.
In a surprising move, Bernard
Bongiorno, QC, deemed there was enough evidence to directly present Lockwood and
Avon to stand trial without committal hearings.
Avon was acquitted and continued
working as a policeman while Lockwood, who was also acquitted, retired from the
force soon after, an embittered man.
On October 1, 2005, The
Age published a story in which Wendy Peirce said
she lied to save her husband from a life in prison.
The star witness who refused to testify against
four men charged with the Walsh Street ambush
murders of Constables Steven Tynan and Damian Eyre admitted that Victor
Peirce was guilty as charged — 17 years after the murders that changed the
way police around Australia perform their duties.
She said the murders were carried out as as a
payback after detectives killed Peirce's best friend, Graeme
Jensen, during a botched arrest in Narre Warren a day earlier.
Mrs
Peirce said her husband showed no remorse
over the police killings.
"He just said, 'They deserved their whack.
It could have been me.'
"It (Walsh Street)
was spur of the moment, we were on the run. Victor was the organiser," Mrs
Peirce told The Age.
She said she was staying in a Tullamarine motel
with
Peirce but he left during the night to join members of his gang to set up
the Walsh Street murders.
Mrs
Peirce named the shooters as Jedd
Houghton, who was later shot dead by police, and Peter McEvoy.
She also said the car abandoned in Walsh
Street was stolen by Gary Abdallah.
Mrs
Peirce said her husband always believed
police would never prove he led the ambush team.
"He covered his tracks and
he didn't think he'd get pinched," she said.
Wendy
Peirce was persuaded by police to become a
prosecution witness against her husband, but after 18 months in protection,
costing nearly $2 million, she refused to give evidence in his Supreme Court
trial.
She was later sentenced to 18 months' jail with a
minimum of nine months for perjury.
Mrs
Peirce claims she was never going to give
evidence and planned to sabotage the police case from within by failing to
testify.
But senior police say she changed her mind
because the court process took too long, she didn't like witness protection and
Peirce and his family persuaded her to return to them.
The joint head of the investigation taskforce,
Inspector John Noonan, said he had no doubt that if Wendy
Peirce had given
truthful evidence the four accused men would have been convicted.
Mrs
Peirce said she had finally decided to tell
the truth because she wanted to sever all ties with the underworld.
"I don't want my children connected to the
criminal world," she said.
"I loved Victor, but now that he is gone I
feel I have been freed. Now every time I hear a car door slam I don't have to
worry that it is the police about to raid us. I think of all the murders and
feel so sorry for their families. No one deserves this."
