The officers involved in the shooting of violent murder suspect Wayne Joannou have asked the coroner to disqualify herself from the ongoing inquest
Wayne Joannou.
The officers involved in the shooting of violent murder suspect Wayne Joannou have asked the coroner to disqualify herself from the ongoing inquest stating that she will not bring a fair and unbiased mind to the inquest proceedings.
Coroner Jane Hendtlass had heard 14 days of evidence into the fatal police shooting of suspected killer Wayne Joannou when she referred the incident to the Director of Public Prosecutions to consider whether criminal charges should be laid against any or all of the four elite cops who fired shots.
Joannou, a known violent drug addict armed with a shotgun, was shot dead in the back seat of a vehicle in Bank St, South Melbourne, on February 18, 2005, after multiple SOG crews intercepted the vehicle. Detectives had received information that Joannou - suspected of having shot a man named Brian Bottomley before dismembering him with a power saw - was totally paranoid and armed with a pump-action shotgun.
Det-Sgt Michael Daly, of the homicide squad, had been assigned the Bottomley case.
"It was established that Joannou had a lengthy violent criminal history with ready access to firearms,'' Det-Sgt Daly said in a statement tendered during the inquest into Joannou's death.
"He was at the time on bail for an aggravated burglary involving the use of a .38 calibre revolver. It was also established that Joannou had previously been arrested by members of the Special Operations Group regarding violence and firearms offences.''
On February 9, 2005, a man informed police that Joannou was armed and looking for cash and was not prepared to go quietly if confronted by the cops. On February 18, detectives learned that Joannou was holed up in a Deer Park house armed with the shotgun. About 6:30 pm surveillance officers informed the SOG that Joannou, along with another a man and a woman, had left the house in a Toyota Camry. Joannou was lying across the back seat, shotgun in hand. SOG crews moved in and shadowed the Camry as it headed towards the city.
"We followed along in our mobile intercept configuration,'' SOG operator 36 said in his tendered statement.
The Camry ended parked in Bank St, South Melbourne with Joannou still lying low in the back. The three occupants had just scored some drugs. After consideration was given to "snatching'' Joannou from the car, the SOG members were given the green light to move in and arrest him.
"I had the very real possibility that Joannou was waiting to commit some type of harm on a person he now lay in wait for,'' officer in charge of the SOG, John Noonan, said of his concerns at the inquest.
SOG operator 40 drove his vehicle into the rear of the Camry.
"I heard operators yelling, 'Police don't move!''' operator 36 said in his statement.
"I was aware of gunfire from outside the police vehicle.''
The Camry's female passenger would say at inquest: "There was a lot of smoke and glass shattering.''
Operator 18 was in the same vehicle as operator 36.
"I heard several gunshots outside and observed impacts to the (Camry's) rear passenger side window, which caused it to shatter,'' operator 18 stated.
From the front passenger seat inside that SOG vehicle, an operator opened fire on the Camry through his own front windscreen.
"As I attempted to open my door I heard a gunshot from within our car,'' operator 18 stated.
"I momentarily looked up and observed large cracks across (our) front windscreen.''
By that stage operator 36 and others were out with weapons up.
Stage operator 36 took up a kneeling position near the back wheel of his vehicle, taking a bead on the Camry.
"I noticed it had bullet holes through the back window.''
According to operator 44, SOG members "were calling words to the effect of maintain cover, there's movement in the back, and watch your arcs''.
Operator 14, too, had taken up a position outside his vehicle.
"I had switched the safety on my weapon to fire,'' he said in his tendered statement.
"I then shouted to my team members to hold their fire and watch out for any crossfire.''
As ordered, the Camry driver and front female passenger crawled from the car shaken but unharmed.
Under the cover of a rifle, operator 55 smashed the Camry's rear door window with a battering ram, before drawing his handgun on Joannou while barking instructions.
Joannou was not moving; his breathing laboured as he lay slumped with "massive trauma to his face''.
He was still holding the shotgun. Joannou did not survive his wounds.
A letter he wrote to his family the day he died stated in part: "If you are reading this I'm most likely not alive. All I am doing is running and if they catch me, well I will fight.''
The four SOG members are yet to give evidence at the inquest.
Source: The Age / Herald Sun
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