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 The
Russell Street Bombing
It was the day before Good Friday on March 27, 1986.
A stolen Commodore
loaded with 50 to 60 sticks of gelignite, some detonators and a timing device
had been parked outside the Russell Street police station by a group of armed
robbers with a pathological hatred for police.
On that fateful day Constable Angela Taylor went to get lunch but never
returned.
It began as a mundane day for two young police officers.
Dave Yeoman and Taylor were on duty at Melbourne's City Watchhouse in the old
magistrates court.
They fed the prisoners breakfast and later checked their
cells. Lunch time came and the pair were hungry.
"Whose turn is it to get the munchies?" asked Taylor, who was
working the last shift before her holidays.
"I'll toss you for it," replied Yeoman.
They tossed a coin.
"Ange lost and I said 'A ham, cheese and tomato sandwich
thanks'," he recalled. "She went to get the lunches from
the police canteen across the road and never came back."
At 15 seconds past one o'clock, just as Constable Taylor was crossing
Russell and La Trobe streets on her lunch run, the car exploded.
"The court was still sitting and we just heard an almighty bang,"
says Sergeant Yeoman.
"I raced outside and it was just a scene of carnage
— there was a car on fire, there was glass everywhere, rubber all over the
place and people were screaming and running.
"It was like nothing else I've ever experienced."
Ms Taylor's burns were
critical and she died 24 days later.
Twenty-one people were injured in the blast.
As Constable Carl Donadio also crossed Russell Street to buy lunch that
day, he thought he had been hit by a car.
Nineteen years old, with just six
months' police experience, he was thrown about 15 metres into the middle of
the road by the explosion.
"Then I realised there was smoke and a few other incendiary explosions
followed and I saw what was left of the car," he recalled.
"When I stood up I realised my right leg was numb and I reached down
and felt the inside of my leg. I knew I was pretty badly injured and I was
having trouble breathing but I managed to drag myself to safety."
Mr Donadio had decided to enter the north door of the canteen rather than
the south because it was the only way in he knew. He thinks this "lucky
decision" saved his life.
"Otherwise I would have been right behind the car when the bomb went
off. The shrapnel came my way and the fireball went Angela's way."
Mr Yeoman, who was watching as numerous secondary explosions occurred,
remembers seeing an ambulanceman throw himself over Mr Donadio "to
protect him from the debris every time there was another blast".
Mr Donadio's lung was punctured, his right leg was badly injured and his
eardrum was damaged. Within two months he was back on light duties.
He later
joined the surveillance unit and after 15 years he left the force. He now
works in private security.
"I don't think about that day often because I decided I could either
let it wreck my life or I could accept that it happened and move on," he
says.
"I didn't take it personally because it was against the police
force, not me."
The explosion caused massive amounts of
damage to the police HQ and surrounding buildings, with damage estimated at
more than A$1 million.
The Age reported that the blast had such an
impact because of the open-floor design of the offices acted like a Claymore
mine, sending more shrapnel as the blast ripped through the floors seemingly
adding more pressure to the blast as it followed its path.
On October 7, 1985, gelignite and detonators
had been stolen from the Tryconnel Mine at Blackwood.
On March 25, 1986, a Holden Commodore was
stolen. Both crimes were later found to provide equipment needed for the
construction of the bomb.
On April 25, 1986, ten Victoria Police
officers police raided the Kallista home of Peter Michael
Reed at 5.45am.
It was alleged that upon attempting to
enforce the arrest by forcing entry to the premises, Reed produced a .455
Smith and Wesson revolver and fired at police, seriously injuring Det Sgt
Wylie.
Reed was then fired upon by Det Sgt Quinsee
and arrested.
Reed was charged with attempted murder, recklessly causing
serious injury, using a firearm to prevent apprehension and possessing
explosives in suspicious circumstances in addition to charges related to
the Russell Street bombing.
Reed later stated at his trial in unsworn
evidence that "the police started the shooting and he only used
his firearm in self defence".
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