Martin Bryant

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2009) (Find sources: Martin Bryant – news, books, scholar)

Martin Bryant
Birth name	Martin John Bryant
Born	7 May 1967 (1967-05-07) (age 42) Tasmania, Australia
Penalty	35 life sentences + 1,035 years without parole
Killings
Date	28–29 April, 1996
Location(s)	Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia
Killed	35
Injured	21
Weapon(s)	AR-15, L1A1 SLR

Martin John Bryant (born 7 May, 1967) is an Australian convicted murderer serving 35 life sentences in a Tasmanian prison. He murdered 35 people and injured 21 others in the Port Arthur massacre, a shooting spree in Port Arthur, Tasmania in 1996.^[1] He is currently serving 35 life sentences plus 1,035 years without parole in the psychiatric wing of Hobart's Risdon Prison.^[2] His rampage ranks among the deadliest of the 20th century.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Port Arthur massacre 2.1 Aftermath 3 Imprisonment 4 Media coverage 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Early life

Martin Bryant is the elder of two children born to Maurice, an English immigrant from Dunston,^[3] Tyne and Wear in the North East, and Carleen Bryant. Although the family home was in Lenah Valley, Martin Bryant spent most of his childhood at their beach home in Carnarvon Bay. Carnarvon Bay locals remember him as a quiet and well mannered teenager, although he once pulled the snorkel from another boy while diving, and cut down trees on a neighbour's property. He also had reportedly set himself on fire on one occasion. He was described by teachers as being distant from reality and as unemotional. At school he was a disruptive and sometimes violent child, and suffered severe bullying by other children. After he was suspended from New Town Primary School in 1977, psychological assessments of Bryant note his torturing and harassment of animals. He returned to school the following year with improved behaviour but he persisted in teasing younger children. He was transferred to a special education unit at New Town High school in 1980 where he deteriorated both academically and behaviourly throughout his remaining school years.^[4]

Descriptions of Bryant's behaviour as an adolescent show that he continued to be disturbed. He was revealed to have an IQ of 66,^[5] equivalent to an 11-year-old and in the bottom 1.17 percent of the population. On leaving school he was assessed for a disability pension by a psychiatrist who wrote: "Cannot read or write. Does a bit of gardening and watches TV ... Only his parents' efforts prevent further deterioration. Could be schizophrenic and parents face a bleak future with him." Bryant lived on the pension for some years, though he worked as a handyman and gardener.^[6]

In early 1987 when Bryant was 19, he met then 54-year-old eccentric recluse Helen Mary Elizabeth Harvey, heiress to a share in the Tattersall's lottery fortune, whilst looking for new customers for his lawn mowing service. Harvey, who lived with her mother Hilva, befriended Bryant who became a regular visitor to her neglected New Town mansion and assisted with odd jobs such as feeding the 40 cats living in her garage.^[6] In June 1990 someone reported Harvey to the health authorities and medics found both Harvey and her mother in need of urgent hospital treatment. Seventy-nine-year-old Hilza Harvey died several weeks later.^[7] A clean-up order was placed on the house and Bryant's father took long service leave to assist in cleaning the interior. Harvey now invited Bryant to live with her in the mansion and they began spending large amounts of money which included the purchase of more than 30 new cars in less than three years. The couple began to spend most days shopping, usually after having lunch in a local restaurant. Around this time Bryant was reassessed for his pension, and a note was attached to the paperwork "Father protects him from any occasion which might upset him as he continually threatens violence ... Martin tells me he would like to go around shooting people. It would be unsafe to allow Martin out of his parents' control".^[6]

In 1991, as a result of no longer being allowed to have animals at the house, Harvey and Bryant moved together onto a 29 hectares (72 acres) farm called Taurusville that she had purchased in Copping. Neighbours recalled he always carried an air gun and often fired it at tourists as they stopped to buy apples at a stall on the highway and that late at night he would roam through the surrounding properties firing the gun at dogs when they barked at him. They avoided him "at all costs" despite his attempts to befriend them.^[6]

On 20 October, 1992 Harvey died when her car veered to the wrong side of the road and hit an oncoming car head on. Bryant was in the vehicle at the time of the accident, and was hospitalised for seven months with severe neck and back injuries. He was briefly investigated by police for the role he played in the accident as Bryant had a habit of lunging for the steering wheel and Harvey had already had three accidents as a result. She often told people that this was the reason she never drove faster than 60 kilometres an hour (37mph). Bryant was named the sole beneficiary of Harvey's will and came into possession of assets totalling more than half a million dollars. As Bryant had only the "vaguest notions" of financial matters, his mother subsequently applied for and was granted a guardianship order, placing Bryant's assets under the management of Public Trustees. The order was based on evidence of Bryant's diminished intellectual capacity.^[6]

After Harvey's death, Bryant's father Maurice moved into the Copping farm to look after it. Bryant returned to the farm after leaving hospital the following year, and two months later, on 14 August, a man calling on Maurice found a note saying "call the police" pinned to the door and several thousand dollars was found in his car. Police were called and began a search of the property but could not find him, divers were then called in to search the four dams on the property and on August 16, they found his body in the dam closest to the farmhouse with one of Martin's diving weight belts around his neck. Although ruled a suicide by drowning, police described it as an "unnatural" death. Bryant inherited the proceeds of his father's superannuation fund valued at $250,000.

Bryant sold the Copping farm for $143,000 but kept a house in Glenorchy and the Hobart mansion.^[4] While living at Copping the white overalls he habitually wore were replaced with clothing more in line with Harvey's financial status. Now that he was alone his dress became more bizarre. He often wore a grey linen suit, cravat, lizard skin shoes and Panama hat while carrying a briefcase during the day, telling anyone who listened that he had a well paying job. He often wore an electric blue suit with flared trousers and a ruffled shirt to the restaurant he regularly used. The restaurant owner recalled: "It was horrible. Everyone was laughing at him, even the customers. I really felt suddenly quite sorry for him. I realised this guy didn't really have any friends."

With Harvey and his father gone Bryant became increasingly lonely. In the two years to the end of 1995, he visited various overseas countries 14 times and a summary of his domestic airline travel filled three pages. He hated the destinations as he found that people there avoided him just as they did in Tasmania but he enjoyed the flights as he could speak to the people sitting next to him who had no choice but to be polite. Bryant later took great joy in describing some the more successful conversations he had with fellow passengers. In 1995 he became suicidal after deciding he had "had enough": "I just felt more people were against me. When I tried to be friendly toward them, they just walked away". Although he had previously been little more than a social drinker, his alcohol consumption increased and, although he had not had a drink on that day, had especially escalated in the six months prior to the massacre. Bryant's average daily consumption was estimated at half a bottle of Sambuca and a bottle of Baileys Irish Cream supplemented with Port and other sweet alcoholic drinks.^[4] According to Bryant, he thought the plan for Port Arthur may have first occurred to him 4 to 12 weeks before the event.^[4]

[edit] Port Arthur massacre

Bryant has provided conflicting and confused accounts of what led him to kill 35 people at the Port Arthur site on 28 April 1996. It appears his desire for attention (he allegedly told a next door neighbour "I'll do something that will make everyone remember me"), as well as mounting frustration at his social isolation had made him unbearably angry.

His first victims, David and Sally Martin, owned the B & B guest house "Seascape". Bryant later described them as "very mean people" and as "the worse people in my life". The Martins had bought the B & B that Bryant's father had wanted to buy and he often complained to his son of the "double dealing" the Martins had done to secure the purchase. Bryant apparently believed the Martins had deliberately bought the property to hurt his family and blamed the Martins for the depression that led to his fathers death.^[4] He shot them in that guest house before traveling to the Port Arthur ruins. Bryant entered The Broad Arrow Café on the historical site's grounds, carrying a large blue duffel bag. Upon sitting down to eat a meal in the front balcony area, he remarked "There's a lot of wasps about today"^[8] to no one in particular. Once he finished, Bryant moved towards the back of the café and set a video camera on a vacant table. He took out an AR15 semi-automatic rifle and began shooting patrons and staff. Within a matter of seconds, he had killed 20 people and wounded 15. He then fled, shooting at people in the parking lot and from his yellow Volvo sedan as he drove away. Bryant drove three hundred metres down the road, to where a woman and her two children were walking. He stopped and fired two shots killing the woman and the child she was carrying. The older child fled, but Bryant followed her and killed her with a single shot. He then stole a gold-coloured BMW by killing the occupants. A short distance down the road he stopped beside a couple in a white Toyota and, drawing his weapon, ordered the male occupant into the trunk of the BMW. After shutting the trunk he fired two shots into the windshield of the Toyota, killing the female driver. He returned to the guest house, set the stolen car alight and took his hostage inside with the Martins' corpses. The police soon arrived and tried to negotiate with Martin for many hours before the battery in the phone Bryant was using died, ending communication. Bryant's only demand was to be transported in an army helicopter to an airport. Sometime during the negotiations, Bryant killed his hostage.

The next morning, 18 hours later, Bryant set fire to the guest house and attempted to escape in the confusion. Suffering burns to his back and buttocks, he was captured and taken to Royal Hobart Hospital where he was treated and kept under heavy guard.

[edit] Aftermath

As a response to the spree killing, Australian State and Territory governments placed tight restrictions on semi-automatic centre-fire rifles, high-capacity repeating shotguns and high-capacity rifle magazines. In addition to this, heavy limitations were also put into place on low-capacity repeating shotguns and rim-fire semi-automatic rifles. The Tasmanian state government attempted to ignore this directive but was threatened with a number of penalties from the federal government. Though this resulted in stirring controversy, most Government opposition to the new laws was silenced by media opinion and mounting public opinion in the wake of the shootings (see Gun politics in Australia for more information on the 1996 legislation).

[edit] Imprisonment

Bryant was judged as fit to stand trial, and his trial was scheduled to begin 7 November 1996. Bryant initially pleaded not guilty, but was persuaded by his court-appointed lawyer and the prosecution to plead guilty to all charges.^[5]

Two weeks later, Hobart Supreme Court Judge William Cox gave Bryant 35 life sentences for the murders plus an additional 1035 years for other crimes related to the massacre, and ordered that he should remain in prison the rest of his life.^[9]

He has attempted suicide six times while being imprisoned.^[10] For the first eight months of his imprisonment, he was held in a purpose-built special suicide prevention cell, in almost complete solitary confinement. He remained in protective custody for his own safety, until he recently moved detention centres a decade after his conviction.

On Monday, 13 November 2006, Bryant was moved into Hobart's Wilfred Lopes Centre,^[2] a secure mental health unit run by the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services. The 35-bed unit for inmates with serious mental illness is staffed inside with doctors, nurses and other support workers. Inmates are not locked down and can come and go from their cells. Exterior security at the facility is provided by a three-wall perimeter patrolled by private contract guards.^[11]

[edit] Media coverage

Newspaper coverage immediately after the massacre raised serious questions about journalistic practices. Photographs of Martin Bryant had been digitally manipulated with the effect of making Bryant appear deranged. There were also questions as to how the photographs had been obtained. The Tasmanian Director of Public Prosecutions warned the media that the reporting compromised a fair trial and writs were issued against the Hobart Mercury (which used Bryant's picture under the headline “This is the man”), The Australian, The Age and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation over their coverage. The chairman of the Australian Press Council at the time, David Flint, argued that because Australian newspapers regularly ignored contempt-of-court provisions, this showed that the law, not the newspapers, needed change. Flint suggested that such a change in the law would not necessarily lead to trial by media.^[12]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• YouTube link to the news story as it happened
• "Managing Martin: the Jailing of Martin Bryant". Radio National. March 16, 1997. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/stories/s10603.htm.