September 19, 2012
WA Today
By Andrea Petrie
Coroner findings 'shallower than Wilson's grave'
Coroner's inquest "riddled with errors", according to the
Australian diplomat in Cambodia at the time of David Wilson's capture by
the Khmer Rouge.
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A Victorian coroner has ruled that the federal government did
nothing wrong in its handling of the 1994 murder of Australian tourist
David Wilson in Cambodia.
Mr Wilson, 29, Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, 27, and Briton
Mark Slater, 28, were kidnapped on a train in Cambodia on July 26, 1994,
and murdered by the Khmer Rouge two months later.
The men’s kidnappers demanded a ransom of $50,000 in gold for
each of the hostages for their safe return, but the then Keating
government did not meet their demands, saying that Australia did not
negotiate with kidnappers.
David Wilson with one of his Khmer Rouge captors in his jungle prison.
In handing down his inquest findings today — 14 years after
it began — Victoria’s deputy state coroner Iain West said it was
necessary to be mindful of the ‘‘exceptionally difficult circumstances’’
confronting the Australian officials at the time.
‘‘Mr Wilson was being held in a foreign country that was embroiled in
a complex civil war, with shifting alliances and unstable social,
economic and political dynamics,’’ Mr West said in his 23-page finding.
‘‘In these circumstances, it was appropriate that the
responsibility for conducting negotiations with the rebel group remain
an internal matter for Cambodia.
David Wilson.
‘‘During the relevant period the mission staff of the
Australian embassy, numbering 10 people, treated the efforts to secure
the release of Mr Wilson as their highest priority.’’
Mr West said he was satisfied there was no legitimate reason
for criticising the Australian government for opposing or not
co-operating in the payment of a ransom to General Nuon Paet.
‘‘The principle for not doing so is sound and internationally acknowledged,’’ he said.
‘‘Similarly, there is no basis for criticising the decision
to abstain from taking diplomatic measures involving threats to limit or
cease provision of foreign aid as a means to manipulate or place
pressure upon the conduct of another soverign nation. There is no
evidence before the court that such efforts would have assisted in
securing Mr Wilson’s release,’’ Mr West said.
‘‘I do not believe it is appropriate to make recommendations
or comments which are critical of the handling of negotiations or the
taking of measures directed toward securing the release of Mr Wilson
from the Khmer Rouge forces.
‘‘I find that General Nuon Paet, Commander Chhouk Rin,
Commander Sam Bith and a person or persons unknown, responsible for
inflicting the head injuries, contributed to the death of David John
Wilson.’’
The three senior members of the Khmer Rouge were convicted
over the trio’s deaths, General Paet and Commander Rin for murder and
Commander Bith for conspiracy to murder, terrorism and other offences.
Multiple appeals by the killers have all been dismissed.
An autopsy on Mr Wilson, who was a Melbourne youth worker who
also coached a soccer team for underprivileged children, found that he
died from severe skull fractures to the right side of the head.
The
pathologist expressed the view that the fractures were brought about by a
heavy blow or blows with a blunt instrument, which were inflicted while
Mr Wilson was alive.
The coroner said the most reliable account of what happened,
which had come from Khmer Rouge members who testified at the killers’
trials, was that General Paet had ordered the hostages to be brought to
his camp at Vine Mountain where four of his men were waiting, armed with
AK rifles.
The hostages were said to have been taken behind a house
where their hands were bound, before a number of shots were fired. The
French and British tourists were shot dead and put into graves that had
been dug at the site.
The coroner added: ‘‘It is not now possible to determine
definitively who applied the blunt instrument force that caused Mr
Wilson’s death or why he was not shot, while Mr Slater and Mr Braquet
were’’.
Mr Wilson was also then placed into a shallow grave.
Mr West ruled: ‘‘I find that David Wilson was brutally and
tragically killed close to General Paet’s house by members of the Khmer
Rouge early in the morning of 28 September 1994 in the Knach Prey area,
Touk Meas district, Kampot Province, Cambodia, on the orders of General
Paet.’’
After the kidnapping, the first Prime Minister of Cambodia,
Prince Ranariddh, announced that his government took full responsibility
for the safe return of the hostages and each of the three foreigners’
governments adopted the position that the responsibility for the conduct
of the negotiation rested with the Cambodian government.
After Cambodian officials received ransom letters, the
Australian government reiterated the long-standing policy adopted by
most Western countries not to pay, as it would only encourage further
kidnappings.
But despite earlier assurances from the Cambodian Foreign
Minister Prince Sirivudh that no military attack would take place until
the hostages were safe, the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces intensified
shelling in the region. Australian officials believe this enraged
General Paet and almost certainly adversely affected his attitude
towards negotiations in Mr Wilson’s release.
In today’s findings, the coroner added: ‘‘It is likely that
the development which precipitated the order of General Paet to kill the
hostages was the escalation in the military offensive by the Royal
Cambodian Armed Forces. Such a step was inconsistent with promises to
the contrary that had been made at the highest levels of the Cambodian
government on multiple occasions. It was appropriate in all the
circumstances for the Australian government and its representatives in
Cambodia to rely upon these representatives which were honoured for a
significant period of the hostages’ captivity.’’
Mr Wilson’s father, Peter Wilson, has been critical of the Australian government for not doing enough to save his son.
In a 2006 letter to the coroner he complained the response
was ‘‘insufficiently interventionist’’ that the government never
protested in order to stop the bombing of the area near General Paet’s
camp and that the government’s trust in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces
to ‘‘do the right thing’’ was naive and misplaced.
He was also critical of the government’s police not to pay
ransoms and its failure to facilitate his private payment of a ransom to
General Paet.
He said he was not surprised by today’s findings as it was
the ‘‘same old story, we did everything possible and the government
couldn’t do anything more’’.
Outside court today, former Australian diplomat who was
employed in the North Asia Division of DFAT, Alastair Gaisford, slammed
the coroner’s finding, saying it was riddled with mistakes and factual
errors, including the date the men were murdered, which he said was
September 8.
Mr Gaisford — who was labelled in the coronial finding as an
unreliable witness and historian whose credibility was in question ‘‘as
an aggrieved former member of DFAT — described the findings as ‘‘an
absolute travesty of justice’’.
‘‘This coroner took 870 weeks to whitewash DFAT and the
government,’’ he said. ‘‘The coroner clearly did not read the file as
his predecessor Graeme Johnstone said he would.’’
Mr Gaisford said Mr Wilson’s family did not bother to turn up
to hear the finding ‘‘because nothing was going to be done today’’.
He said the inquest needed the fearless coroner who presided
over the Balibo Five inquest. NSW deputy coroner Dorelle Pinch found
Indonesian forces had deliberately killed five Australian journalists to
cover up their invasion of East Timor.
‘‘What Victoria needs is a fearless coroner. What Victoria
needs is for attorney-general Mr (Robert) Clark to get Dorelle Pinch
down here to redo this inquest to get to the truth,’’ Mr Gaisford said.
‘‘It is possible to reopen the inquest if new material or factual errors as riddled as this set of findings today are there.’’
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