Verdict on Aussie killed by Khmer Rouge

AAP  September 18, 2012

The Sydney Morning Herald

Questions surrounding the 1994 murder of Australian backpacker David Wilson (pictured) by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia may finally be answered, 15 years after a coronial inquest into his death began.

Mr Wilson, 29, Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet and Englishman Mark Slater were kidnapped during an attack on a train in which they were travelling in Cambodia in July 1994.

The Khmer Rouge demanded a ransom of $US50,000 in gold for each of the hostages, but the three men were murdered in September after negotiations between the Cambodian and Australian governments and their captors broke down.

The Australian government maintained its policy of not paying ransoms and refused to accept private offers of the money.

Mr Wilson's father, Peter Wilson, has previously criticised the government for not doing enough to save his son and believed they had not given the full story about his murder.

At a coronial inquest that began in 1998, several criticisms of the handling of the negotiations were raised, including a detailed account by former Australian diplomat Alastair Gaisford, who was stationed in Cambodia at the time of the kidnapping.

He claimed the government had covered up crucial details surrounding Mr Wilson's death and said several files containing nearly 3000 pages at the Australian embassy in Cambodia could provide substantial evidence to the inquest.

The inquest reopened last year after a 13-year adjournment as it waited for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to produce requested documents.

Findings from the inquest into Mr Wilson's death will be handed down in Melbourne on Wednesday by Deputy State Coroner Iain West.

Three former Khmer Rouge guerrillas, including the commander of the group that kidnapped Mr Wilson, have been convicted of his murder.