Bryant in the cafe

 

The gunman rose from his chair at one of the tables in the Broad Arrow Cafe, removed the AR15 and spare magazine from a sports bag, immediately killing Mr. Yee Ng with a shot to the upper neck, and Miss Chung with a shot to the head.

Swiveling on the spot and firing from the right hip, the gunman fired at Mr. Sargent who was wounded in the head, then killed Miss Scott with a shot to the head. The gunman continued through the Broad Arrow, next killing Mr. Nightingale with a shot to the upper neck and Mr. Bennet with a shot to the upper neck, with the latter bullet passing straight through and hitting Mr. Ray Sharpe in the head with fatal results. Next Mr. Kevin Sharpe was killed by a shot to the head and was also hit in the arm, with shrapnel and bone fragments from the second intermediate strike on Mr. Kevin Sharpe then apparently wounding Mr. Broome, and possibly Mr. and Mrs. Fidler.

Still firing from the hip the gunman swiveled and killed Mr. Mills and Mr. Kistan with single shots to the head, with shrapnel and skull fragments from those shots apparently wounding Mrs. Walker, Mrs. Law, and Mrs. Barker. Again the gunman turned, shooting and wounding Mr. Colyer in the neck, before swiveling and killing Mr. Howard with a shot to the head. Next he shot Mrs. Howard in the neck and head with fatal effect. The gunman turned back, killing Miss Houghton with a shot to the head, and wounding Mrs. Loughton in the back. Moving towards the rear of the building the gunman shot Mr. Elliot in the head, causing serious injuries.

 

Totally amazing shooting

The above sequence is the best the forensic scientists could deduce from the crime scene and there may be small variations, but in the final analysis they matter little. What does matter is that at this precise juncture the gunman had killed twelve victims and wounded a further ten in 15 seconds flat, using only 17 rounds fired from the right hip. Such a staggering performance is on a par with the best combat shooters in the world, and two retired counter-terrorist marksmen ruefully admitted they would be hard pressed to equal such awesome speed and accuracy. Both agreed that attributing such a performance to an intellectually-impaired invalid with an IQ of 66 and severely limited cognitive functions, amounts to nothing less than certifiable insanity on the part of Bryant's accusers. In military terms a fatal shot to the upper neck counts as a head shot, so for all practical purposes those who died during the first 15 seconds were killed by head shots fired with lethal accuracy from the gunman's hip.

Next the very professional gunman moved towards the area of the souvenir shop and killed Nicole Burgess with a shot to the head, then shot Mrs. Elizabeth Howard through the chest and arm with fatal consequences. Swiveling around, the gunman killed Mr. Lever with a shot to the head, and killed Mrs. Neander with another shot to the head. Temporarily distracted, he fired back into the cafe area and wounded Mr. Crosswell. Turning again he shot Mr. Winter twice, killing him with a shot to the head. On his way back to the souvenir area the gunman wounded Mr. Olson, then proceeded to the kill-zone near the locked door where he killed Mr. Jary, Pauline Masters, and Mr. Nash, all of them with single shots to the head.

Changes clips

At this stage the gunman had killed twenty and wounded another twelve with a total of 29 rounds. He then stopped firing and changed magazines in a most professional way. The magazine fitted to the AR15 held 30 rounds total, so by changing magazines after firing only 29 shots the gunman ensured that he still had a live round in the breech in case anyone moved, enabling him to kill that person instantly if caught unawares. Such professionalism is well known to counter-terrorist personnel. Critically, the gunman then waited motionless in the Broad Arrow Cafe with a fully loaded magazine, which brings us back to the differential between the verified time estimate of four to five minutes, and the inaccurate official claim of 90 seconds.

It is easy to see why government and media continued to rebut Wendy Surr and her colleagues' insistent claims about the elapsed time and the door that refused to open. Either or both had the potential to open a Pandora's Box with catastrophic results, for there was no way the Tasmanian Government could openly and honestly investigate these matters without running the risk of “accidentally” proving that its villain of choice, Martin Bryant, was innocent of all charges. In addition, the drugs decoy and the stunning accuracy of the gunman in the Broad Arrow had to be swept under the carpet, before informed members of the public had the chance to realise the “lone nut” massacre was in reality a highly planned paramilitary operation with geopolitical motives, designed from the outset to undermine Australian national security.

In the view of this author, and others, the 5.56-mm Colt AR15 was deliberately selected for three specific reasons, one of which was its known ability to inflict horrific and highly visual injuries at close range, caused by its low-mass bullets traveling at extreme velocity. The nature of those wounds caused revulsion among police, emergency service workers and medical staff, thereby assisting the immediate drive by anti-gun lobbyists to have all semi-automatic weapons outlawed. As the leader of the National Embalming Team wrote, “Approximately 90% of all deceased persons had severe head trauma. The bullet wound was normally inflicted to the head with the resultant smaller entry wound and larger exit wound. Some of the deceased persons had an entry wound with no exit wound, the result of this was an explosion of the skull...” Despite her thirty years of ambulance experience, Wendy Surr still remembers being shocked when she accidentally trod on shattered skull fragments, before being confronted with a human brain lying in a bowl of chips.

In the medium to long term the lobbyists and international power brokers will be unable to sustain their claim that Martin Bryant was the villain, because there is simply too much hard evidence proving the “official line” to be criminal scam. Some American video evidence submitted to the Supreme Court has already been scientifically proven a forgery, deliberately submitted to the court in order to secure the conviction of Martin Bryant on all counts, in the event that he continued to plead “Not Guilty.” Due to the seriousness of this offence, copies of the scientific proof have been sent by registered mail to departments which should take active steps to have the material reviewed and struck out of evidence, and then urgently implement strategies to ensure the future integrity of Australian national security.

The gun dealer Terry Hill

 

 Hill would be the “fall guy” who provided `murderer' Martin Bryant with the weapons he allegedly used at Port Arthur.

Terry Hill was first (officially) noticed by the authorities two days after the massacre, when he recognized a picture of Martin Bryant, known to him earlier as "Martin" RYAN. Doing his duty as a responsible citizen, Hill immediately contacted the police and told them what little he knew about the man.

On 27th March Terry Hill and assistant Greg Peck were working at “Guns and Ammo” in New Town when "Martin" Ryan entered with a package wrapped in a towel, presenting the package muzzle-first with the comment “Something is wrong with it”. When Hill unwrapped the towel he found that ‘it’ was a Dutch AR10 assault rifle fitted with a clip containing 15 rounds of high velocity .308 Winchester (7.62-mm NATO) ammunition. Terry Hill worked the action, and watched horrified as another live round ejected from the breech of the weapon.

Martin Bryant a.k.a. "Martin" Ryan had calmly walked into the store with a fully-loaded and unsafe assault weapon, blissfully unaware he had done anything wrong. His actions that morning demonstrated with chilling clarity that "Martin" had absolutely no idea how to load, cock, aim, fire, or unload, assault weapons of any kind.

 But despite his ignorance Martin Bryant presented a licence that day in the name of "Martin" Ryan, correctly endorsed for prohibited and fully automatic weapons. Where Martin Bryant obtained this highly unusual licence has never been properly investigated.

Having done his civic duty things went from bad to worse for Terry Hill, and he was later interrogated by Inspector Paine on the suspicion he had supplied the weapons used at Port Arthur.

Inspector Paine was one of only two police officers responsible for interrogating Martin Bryant in Risdon Prison. During his extended interrogation by Inspector Paine, Hill was escorted by lawyer John Avery, the same man who later represented Martin Bryant during the phase of his incarceration when he inexplicably decided to change his plea to guilty.

That the police were determined to pressure Terry Hill into making a false confession was revealed in a letter sent to him by Avery shortly after the interrogation.

In part that letter reads:- “... In a private conversation that was had between the writer and Inspector Paine, Inspector Paine made it abundantly clear that the police have very strong evidence to suggest that you did in fact sell guns to Bryant and unless you are prepared to in effect change your story, they will press on and try to find sufficient evidence to charge you with some offences. However, it was also made abundantly clear that the Director of Public Prosecutions is prepared to offer you an indemnity against prosecution if you are prepared to accept that you did sell guns to Bryant...''

Wisely, Terry Hill was not prepared to plead guilty to a crime he had not committed and subsequently refused to do so. Just days after his refusal “Guns and Ammo” was raided by the Tasmanian police in a general trawl operation, apparently aimed at trying to find sufficient evidence to charge Terry Hill with some offences. The police scored on some technicalities, Hill and his wife's gun dealer licences were revoked, and their livelihoods destroyed.

For Terry Hill the battle was not yet over. He had refused to tug his forelock or bend his knee to authority and it must have been clear the matter would not end there, which it did not. More than a year later in July 1997 Hill was suddenly served with notice of a court action for damages and breach of statutory duty (for allegedly selling weapons to Bryant), by a Mr. Quin, with the plaintiff's case handled by Mr. Roland Brown, solicitor and Chairman of the Coalition for Gun Control.

Solicitor Roland Brown became famous long before the massacre for his strange but remarkably prophetic comment on Channel Seven Television, quoted verbatim in 1997 by The Strategy newspaper, “We are going to see a mass shooting in Tasmania of the likes you have seen in Strathfield and Hoddle Street, unless we get national gun control laws.” In the months that followed Quin's case against Hill there was a limited amount of adverse publicity, and in November 1997 Quin's lawyers indicated that he would like to back out of the case due to stress. Unfortunately, as shown in documentation supplied to this author by Terry Hill, the Legal Aid Commission and Quin's lawyers were at that time attempting to coerce Hill into paying part or all of Quin's expenses. Had he agreed, Terry Hill would have appeared to be tacitly agreeing that he had a case to answer, which he did not, so the pressure was strenuously resisted.

More months passed, and then on 5^th March 1998 an official notice of discontinuation was filed in the courts, with agreement reached that Terry Hill would pay none of Quin's expenses at all. After months of intense stress for both his family and himself, gun dealer Terry Hill was once again his own man, though his personal legal fees ensured he was considerably poorer than he had been at the start of the contrived legal action.

So what can Terry Hill do now? Despite the fact that he has never been charged with any offence relating to Port Arthur, the police refuse to restore his gun dealer licence on the grounds that he, and his wife Dorothy, are not suitable people to handle firearms.

This is rubbish, easily proved by the fact that shortly after the gun dealer licences were revoked, the Tasmanian police renewed both of their personal firearms licences without question. This is of course impossible if the Tasmanian police really believe Hill and his wife are not suitable people to handle firearms.

Evidently Terry Hill is still being punished for his refusal to provide the police with fabricated evidence.

Policemen and politicians are not (yet) above the law, and it is clear that Terry Hill must now be given his gun dealers licence back quickly and unconditionally. The legal letter from Avery to Hill, and the sudden raid on  “Guns and Ammo” which followed it, provide convincing proof that he was indirectly threatened by police in an attempt to acquire a false confession. Now that threat has failed, it is long past time for the Tasmanian Police Force to reverse its appalling behaviour. If it refuses to do so, Terry Hill should force the issue via the Ombudsman.

In the run-up to this sordid affair, it is fair to ask why Martin Bryant was sent into “Guns and Ammo” with a defective Dutch AR10. Is there any possible connection between this incident and his use as a ‘patsy’ at Port Arthur by a person or persons as yet unknown? If we examine the obscure Dutch AR10 carefully, it becomes readily apparent that there might be a very tangible connection.

Whoever planned the massacre must have known there was a slight chance that ‘patsy’ Martin Bryant might survive the slaughter, in which case a contingency plan was needed to link Martin Bryant to at least one of the weapons used at Port Arthur, and in turn link that same weapon to a known gun dealer as the `supplier'.

The planners already knew that Bryant was severely intellectually impaired, thus a generally similar weapon would suffice for the contingency, provided that this `similar' weapon could be linked to Terry Hill as the alleged supplier. Enter the Dutch AR10, which is a full-bore (7.62-mm) version of the Colt AR15, with the latter claimed by police to be the weapon used in the Broad Arrow Cafe to kill twenty and wound another twelve. The sleight-of-hand would lie in convincing Martin Bryant that he and the Colt AR15 were in Terry Hill's shop “Guns and Ammo” at the same time.

Apart from minor technical differences and overall bulk, the AR10 looks identical to the AR15 at a distance, which was exactly the view Bryant had of the weapon when interrogated by Inspectors Paine and Warren on the 4th July 1996. So what was Bryant identifying, or what did he think he was identifying? Large tracts of the interrogation were censored at Bryant's pre-sentencing hearing so it is impossible to be certain about most points, but there is no ambiguity about who named the AR15 for the first time on the interrogation tape. It was not Martin Bryant.

The police interrogator says, "Now this is a a-h-h, point two-two-three Remington'', to which Bryant replies: “It's a mess isn't it.” Still holding the weapon at a distance the police interrogator continues, “Or a Colt AR15'', to which Bryant replies, “Yeah, Colt.” So courtesy of the police interrogator, Bryant identifies the weapon as a Colt AR15, at a distance where it would have looked exactly the same as the Dutch AR10 he knew he handled in Terry Hill's store on 27th March, one month before the massacre.

It seems most unlikely the interrogators arranged this in advance, because at that stage they probably did not know about the Dutch AR10 Bryant surrendered to Terry Hill. But intentional or not the result was the same. Martin Bryant damned himself for ever by identifying the Colt AR15 used in the Cafe, when in reality he probably thought he was identifying the Dutch AR10 he had handled in Hill's store on 27 March. But he only did so after highly suggestive prompting by the interrogators, both of whom knew very well that Bryant was an intellectually impaired invalid.

That the interrogation transcripts should be censored at the pre-sentencing hearing is inexcusable. Just a single (censored) word, sentence or paragraph could have changed the entire context of the interrogation, and probably would have done if played to the court in its entirety. Why else should it be censored if suppression was not the intent? The sheer extent of the censoring is horrifying and leaves out huge quantities of information. Pages 1-9 are deleted, pages 18 and 23 are deleted, then pages 32, 35, 40, 43, 78, 79, 80 and 81 are deleted. After this pages 91 to 98 and then pages 116 to 141. From page 145 onwards the rest of the trans-script is deleted in Toto.

It is not possible to determine how many pages followed 145 but if we assume the interrogation ended at page 150, we get a better feel for the level of deception in the courtroom. Together, the deleted (censored) pages amount to 55 out of 150, or something like one third of the entire interrogation transcript was with-held from the court. Worse still, the prosecution then explained “...the quality of sound and vision are not particularly good, there was some breakdown with the recording facility and the tape has been reconstructed using the audio from an audio tape which was recorded at the same time as the original video, so there is some lack of synchronization at times and the video is not particularly good but I would now seek your Honour's leave to have this interview played to the court.” Which interview was the prosecution referring to exactly? Fully one-third of the continuous interrogation transcript had been censored i.e. excluded from evidence, and there were breakdowns in audio and sync throughout the remainder. Without fully verified continuity, Bryant's voice could have been edited-in to say almost anything anywhere on the tape, a possibility that would have ensured the video was thrown out as corrupt evidence by any other court in the western world. But not in Tasmania... Defence lawyer Mr. Avery seemed unconcerned. When asked by the judge if he had any submissions regarding the editing and substitution of some of the audio tape involved, Mr. Avery responded: “I was not aware of it but I am not troubled by what's proposed, your Honour.” With all of the fuss and confusion over the proposed court action it is easy to miss the most important aspect of this case. If the threats directed against Terry Hill had succeeded in intimidating him into making a false confession, the Tasmanian Government would now have “patsy” number one (Bryant) in jail, and “patsy” number two (Hill) labeled as the supplier of the weapons used at Port Arthur. All very neat and tidy, but Hill did not supply the weapons used at Port Arthur, leaving the slack Tasmanian police with a major headache. The real supplier of the weapons, and indeed the real shooter(s) at Port Arthur must now be accurately identified. If this is all too much for the police in Hobart, a Royal Commissioner must be appointed to do the job for them.

The author is an independent investigator with thirty years direct experience of international military and oilfield operations

 

Martin Bryant (35) On Sunday April, 28, 1996 Martin, a 28-year-old wanna-be surfer with a history of mental problems went on a rampage through the historical town of Port Arthur in the southeastern corner of Tasmania. Packing his car with weapons and a surfboard, Martin headed to the ruins of Port Arthur's famous prison. Outside the Broken Arrow Cafe he muttered, "There's a lot of WASP's around today, there's not many Japs here, are there?" Then he entered the cafe, pulled out two expensive semi-automatic rifles from his tennis bag, and methodically shot at everyone inside.

Once they were all dead he went out and murdered the driver of a tourist bus and shot at tourists around the site. After he walked back up the main road to his car. On the way he passed a woman who worked at the site with her two daughters. He murdered the woman, her toddler daughter and chased after the five-year-old and killed her. Then drove up to the admission booth of the site, murdered the people working there, and shot at people driving by.

Next he drove to the gas station, murdered someone in a passing car, forced a driver into the trunk of his car and drove to a small bed-and-breakfast. By the time he left the colonial prison ruins and their vicinity, 32 tourists lay dead and 18 others were wounded; 20 were killed in a cafeteria, another 12 on the roads surrounding the historic ruins.

Apparently Martin knew the proprietors of "Seascape". It is unclear whether he murdered them then, or before the rampage through Port Arthur. Holed up in the quaint seaside cottage, Bryant was surrounded by 200 police officers. During the 12-hour siege an Australian journalist managed to reach Bryant by phone. He told her, "I can't talk now, I'm having too much fun. I want to have a shower and if you ring me back again I will shoot the hostage." Later that night, he killed the driver who had been kidnapped and forced into the trunk of his car.

The next morning the house erupted in flames. Bryant ran out with his pants on fire and surrendered. He was rushed to the Royal Hobart Hospital where he was treated for second-degree burns and had several skin grafts, before being transported to Risdon Prison Hospital.

Jenetta Hoani, the gunman's former girlfriend, claimed that Bryant was obsessed with bestiality, violent videos and teddy bears, of which he had 200 in his bedroom. His best friend was a pet pig with whom he sometimes shared his bed. Jenetta said Martin's favorite video was "Child's Play 2", which features a doll named Chucky that is possessed by a serial killer and comes to life after killing a boy and taking over his body. She also said that he would undergo frightening personality changes and appeared to delight in death and danger.

Police have widened their investigation to include the killer's possible involvement in five other deaths making Martin a possible serial killer as well as the most lethal gun-toting mass murderer of the Archives. Detectives are investigating links between Martin, two or more stabbings, and the disappearance of a German backpacker three years ago, the apparent suicide of his father, Maurice, and the death of Helen Harvey, his family friend and possible lover. Dad's body was found in a dam with his son's diving weight tied round his neck. Helen died in a car accident in which Martin was a passenger. With her death Bryant inherited about $500,000. Neighbors said Martin used to grab the steering wheel when Helen was driving and several times the car had gone off the road.

On December 22, 2000, Bryant tried to kill himself again in his maximum security cell in Hobart's Risdon Prison. He was found bleeding after trying to cut his femoral artery in the groin region and making several cuts to his inner arms with a razor blade. A doctor was called in to the prison about 9.30pm Monday to stitch Bryant's wounds.

Bryant is known to have made at least four suicide attempts since his arrest, but this was the first for three years. On other occasions he reportedly took an overdose of sedatives which were supplied to him by another prisoner. He also attempted to strangle himself with bandages and tried to choke himself by swallowing a rolled-up tube of toothpaste.

Mass murderers

 Good summary  Good  Anotherddd  vv  Source  encyclopedia

Sgt Dyson

Interestingly, we learn from the Inquiry transcript, that when Michael Dyson left the SOG unit in 1995 - before the Port Arthur terrorist attack - he was posted to a special section in the Tasmania Police who were involved directly in, “counter terrorist exercises”. It was in this rather covert section, that Dyson spent his remaining time in Tasmania Police, being “involved in the development of the violent incident management plan.” (VIMPs)- “more strategic level and became involved in the overall command of violent incidents which is my passion…”

In other words, Sgt Dyson in the 2000 Royal Commission told us that he was posted to a unit directly involved in ‘ Counter Terrorist exercises’, and that he was involved in that unit’s planning aspect for ‘Violent Incident Management Plan’ the plans mentioned and used by Superintendent Fielding, Geoff Easton, and all the other players in Australia’s worst massacre. Dyson describes his move as a ‘more strategic level’, and then describes his involvement in regard to command of violent incidents as a passion. I would suspect that he means his passion would be in regard to the command and management of violent incidents rather than the victim thereof, so consider this aspect.

Sgt Dyson not available?

In regard to the Port Arthur Massacre, the most violent incident ever to occur within Australia, let alone Tasmania, the first and only time that the Plans for an ‘Anti-Terrorist’ situation were implemented, Sergeant Michael Dyson, the former SOG Assault Team Leader, the only SOG member with any siege experience, was not available to assist the SOG’s in their part of the exercise, and the required drills that had been planned by Dyson.

Dyson would have known the area around Seascape, having previously been involved with the various SOG training exercises carried out in the area, he would have been aware of all the difficulties such as topography and radio communications that would beset the SOG’s, but it appears that Dyson’s passion would not be fulfilled on that particular day or was it?
 

Bryant has accomplice

We are aware that Martin Bryant had a mate with him in Seascape Cottage, a mate called Rick. When we read of the various comments made by Martin in regard to Rick, then we become aware that they were old mates, and perhaps they had even shot together at one of the various shooting ranges in the area. We are also aware that whoever was with Martin, that person was well aware of the various tactics and drills performed by the Tasmania Police SOG’s, and had similar equipment to the SOG’s such as night viewing equipment, and laser sights. This equipment was not discovered in the charred ruins of Seascape Cottage, and so presumably must have left with ‘Rick’.

It is questionable as to why Martin Bryant changed his clothing at least three times, as his clothing on the journey to Port Arthur was different to the clothing worn by the gunman at the Historic Site, and when Martin Bryant emerged from Seascape he was dressed in black. Funnily enough the SOG’S were also dressed in black. Is it beyond the realms of possibility that Rick was also dressed in Black? Complete transcript
But, back to Martin Bryant in Seascape and talking with the Police Negotiator;
 

Reporter Conference

But let us consider another little piece of information given by Mr Easton: “at 0830 I was able to fly by helicopter to the PFCP with the Deputy Commissioner as news came through to us that a man had emerged from the flames of the Seascape Cottages. 

I conferred with Peter Hazelwood who had spent a chilly night at the PFCP assisting the Forward Commander to facilitate as much media inquiry to around 80 journalists as he could, with regular briefings throughout the night.  We decided that journalists in Hobart would be placed on a chartered coach from there and brought to Port Arthur to join those at the PFCP, to use a chartered coach that had already arrived for other purposes.  (10)

Now the Coroner has already told us that he received a telephone call on behalf of a government Minister prior to 0800 hours in regard to permitting a bus load of journalists to tour the Port Arthur Historic Site around 0900 hours.  Who was this Minister?  It could only be the Minister Responsible for Port Arthur, Mr Ray Groom MHR.  That a government Minister would interfere with an ongoing situation is preposterous.  Just how could a government Minister interfere with a coronial or police investigation that may in some manner jeopardise the final outcome, unless of course the government Minister was aware of what the final outcome was to be?  Does this smack of an exercise in terrorism?

Also the media gave extensive coverage of the massacre, but then that should be expected as someone had thoughtfully booked 700 journalists into Hobart for a media conference that was to start the following day.
Those pre-arranged buses sure proved their worth in transporting all the media personnel around on the media tour of the Port Arthur site (Iraq wasn't the first use of "embedded journalists").

 Gun Control advocate

It has been stated that the only media in Hobart that actually have journalists and reporters on duty on a Sunday was the ABC, and that the other media outlets simply have staff on call.  So when journalists from the ABC attended at Police Headquarters in Hobart to obtain information about the shootings at Port Arthur they were surprised to find that they were not the first to arrive at the Media Liaison Office.  Mr Roland Browne, the spokesperson for Gun Control in Tasmania had arrived before them.  The only person in a position to inform Roland Browne of the need to be at the Police Headquarters Media Office, prior to the media, would have been the Media Liaison Officer Geoff Easton, but how was he able to contact Mr Browne?  I mean was Roland Browne on duty at his office, or was he relaxing at home as most solicitors would have been doing on a Sunday?

 

The only reason Roland Browne would have been at the Hobart Police Headquarters Media Room, would have been to influence the media into accepting the anti-gun message, something the police would not have been able to comment on.  In other words the Police Media Office became a tool for propaganda services.  This demonstrates a connection between the Gun Control movement and the Port Arthur Massacre. 

BMW Bryant set on fire

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