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Leslie
Alfred CAMILLERI
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Kidnapping - Rape
Number of victims: 2
Date of murders:
October 6, 1997
Date of arrest:
October 28, 1997
Date of birth:
May 31, 1969
Victim profile:
Lauren Margaret Barry, 14, and Nichole Emma Collins, 16
Method of murder: Stabbing
with knife
Location: New
South Wales/Victoria, Australia
Status:
Sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders, never to
be released, on
April 27, 1999
The Bega schoolgirl murders refers to the
abduction, rape and murder of New South Wales schoolgirls, 14-year-old
Lauren Margaret Barry and 16-year-old Nichole Emma Collins of Bega,
New South Wales on 6 October 1997.
The girls were abducted by Leslie Camilleri and
Lindsay Beckett, both from the town of Yass on the outskirts of
Canberra, ACT. The men subjected the girls to repeated rapes and
sexual assaults on five or more separate occasions, while driving them
to remote locations throughout rural New South Wales and Victoria.
Over a twelve-hour period the girls had been driven several hundred
kilometres from Bega, New South Wales, to Fiddler's Green Creek in
Victoria, where they were stabbed to death by Beckett under the order
of Camilleri.
The girls were reported missing on the day of their
disappearance, and a massive manhunt consisting of family, friends,
police and members of the Bega community combed the area but failed to
locate any sign of the missing girls.
Police investigations lasting several weeks
eventually led to Camilleri and Beckett, career criminals with over
200 criminal convictions between them. Camilleri, who claimed he was
innocent of any crime and insisted Beckett acted alone, was facing
existing charges relating to other sexual assaults against minors at
the time of the schoolgirl murders.
Perpetrators
Leslie Camilleri
Leslie Alfred Camilleri (born 31 May 1969) was born
to a family of six children in Liverpool, New South Wales. He did not
meet his natural father until he was 13 years of age. A psychiatric
report prepared in 1993 spoke of Camilleri's deprived childhood, and
"a pattern of theft and vandalism which have been his reaction to
social ostracism, leading to frustration, which because of poor
impulse control has ended in explosive outbursts of destructive
behaviour."
Camilleri was considered "uncontrollable" as a
child, and spent a large part of his childhood in juvenile detention.
He escaped the institution and between the ages of 10 to 12 lived on
the streets of King's Cross in Sydney as a street kid. He was
eventually taken before the Children's Court by police and ordered to
return to the institution where he remained until he was 15.
Four days prior to the abduction of a girl,
Rosamari Gandarias, in Canberra and three weeks prior to the
schoolgirl murders, Camilleri appeared in the District Court of New
South Wales on trial for charges relating to sexual offences against
his defacto's daughter. After two days the trial was aborted and
Camilleri was released from custody on bail. Camilleri had 146 prior
convictions for offences such as dishonesty, theft and wilful damage.
At the time of the murders Camilleri lived in Yass, New South Wales.
He had known Beckett for a period of two to three years and would
often associate with him to steal cars.
Lindsay Beckett
Lindsay Hoani Beckett (born 27 March 1974) was born
in New Zealand and lived in the town of Opotiki before coming to
Australia. At the time of the murders Beckett lived in Yass and had
come to associate with Camilleri, five years his senior, in criminal
pursuits. It would be Beckett who would eventually break and confess
to police about the schoolgirl murders, and leading them to the bodies
of the victims.
It was claimed Camilleri exerted a strong influence
over Beckett. In sentencing Beckett to life imprisonment, Justice
Vincent described Beckett as having "quite a low IQ" and as someone "who
had fallen under the influence of an older individual of much stronger
personality". Beckett was 23 at the time of the murders. He will be 59
when eligible for parole.
Events
Abduction of Barry and Collins
On 3 October 1997, a camp site was set up by the
father of Nichole Collins at White Rock, near Bega, for his teenage
daughter to invite friends over for the coming Labour Day long weekend.
The camp site was located three kilometres from the Collins' home.
The girls would regularly call at the house while
camping to change clothing, shower and eat. Collins' father regularly
called at the camp site to check on the children and did so on the day
the girls disappeared. At approximately 9pm on 5 October 1997, Collins,
wearing her high school jacket, and her younger friend Barry, left a
group of friends at the camp site and walked off for a nearby party.
A Ford Telstar belonging to Camilleri's defacto
partner and driven by Camilleri was nearby with Beckett alongside him
in the passenger seat. Camilleri had an argument hours earlier with
his defacto partner and talked to Beckett about his feelings of
depression. He and Beckett were consuming beer and injecting each
other with amphetamines while driving aimlessly.
According to Beckett, it was Camilleri who spotted
the girls walking single file along the Bega-Tathra Road in Evan's
Hill and stopped to offer them a lift. At approximately 10pm, after a
brief discussion with the men the girls entered the car willingly,
according to Beckett. A pink portable television set, which had
earlier been taken by Camilleri and Beckett from a friend in lieu of a
drug-related debt was removed from the back seat of the vehicle and
discarded at the side of the road to provide room for the girls to sit.
The television set would later become important evidence and implicate
the two men in their crimes to follow.
Beckett told police the group travelled to Tathra
Beach and spent some time there before returning to the camp site at
White Rock. On the road leading to the camp site, Camilleri became
disturbed at the car bottoming out on the uneven gravel road and
became angry at the girls. The rear doors of the vehicle had been
previously locked using the vehicle's child locks and there were no
window winders, preventing the rear doors from being opened by
passengers inside. Camilleri produced a knife and told the girls they
would be stabbed if they tried to escape. Beckett also produced a
knife and went along with Camilleri in threatening the girls.
"Whilst Les (Camilleri) was going off, he pulled
his knife out of a pocket in the driver's door. This was a black
handled pocket knife with a serrated edge. Les turned around to the
girls and showed them the knife. He told them to shut up and not to
say anything. Les said if they did not do what he said, he would
stab them. During this Les told me to get my knife. I got my knife
out of the glove box. I have a black handled knife with a jagged
edge. I showed the girls I had a knife, too. I said to the girls to
do as Les says."
Camilleri reversed away from the camp site and
drove onto Old Wallagoot Road
Assaults
Rather than being returned to the camp site as
earlier promised, the girls were driven to a rubbish dump off Old
Wallagoot Road, not far from their homes in Kalaru, and raped. They
were then driven further south, passing through the town of Merimbula
until the car stopped at Ben Boyd National Park and the girls were
further assaulted. A black rubber torch belonging to Barry and a
tampon were later located at the scene by police.
They continued through the town of Eden, where the
men again raped the girls in an area south of Eden. Camilleri then
ordered Beckett to drive, while Camilleri continued to force Barry to
perform oral sex on him in the back seat. They drove towards Orbost
before turning off and eventually stopping at Wingan Point in
Victoria, where the girls were again assaulted.
Camilleri slept, but later woke up and realised he
was deep into the state of Victoria. Beckett recalled in his statement
to police,
"I drove down the highway and just before Cann
River Les woke up. He wanted to know where we were. I told him we
were in Victoria heading to Orbost. Les cracked the shits and was
abusing me. He was saying he wanted to go to Sydney. He kept saying
'the bridge'. I took this to mean he wanted to throw the girls off
the bridge because he had spoken about this before (a reference to
Rosamari Gandarias). There are some bridges on the way to Sydney on
the Hume Highway which have great drops."
The girls began to question the men, asking if they
were going to be murdered. Camilleri assured the girls they would only
be tied up so the men could make their escape. During this time
Beckett recalled Camilleri repeating the words "They can't go back",
referring to his intention to murder the girls to avoid detection for
their crimes
Double murder
The final stop, at approximately 8am the following
morning, was at Fiddler's Green Creek, located just south of the
Victorian border with New South Wales. The girls' hands were tied and
they were ordered along a remote bush track over rugged terrain to a
creek. The group walked alongside the creek for several hundred metres.
Camilleri ordered the girls to remove their clothing and wash their
vaginas thoroughly to remove any evidence of the prior sexual assaults.
After washing, the girls were then ordered to lie
on their stomachs before being retied and gagged. They were then
separated by a distance of approximately 30 metres as Camilleri and
Beckett discussed what to do next. Camilleri demanded Beckett drown
the girls but Beckett protested, saying it was unfair that he had to
kill both. Beckett eventually complied when an argument occurred and
Camilleri threatened to stab Beckett if he did not do as wanted.
Murder of Lauren
Barry
Beckett attempted to first drown Barry, who was
tied up near the creek. After a struggle, he became angry when his
knee became wet. He reached for his knife and stabbed Barry in the
neck, accidentally cutting his thumb. Beckett described the scene to
police as follows,
"I went over to Lauren and dragged her down to
the water. I held her head under the water. She was struggling and
she knocked me into the water. One of my knees, I think the left
went into the water. This pissed me off a little bit and I opened my
knife, it was in my left hand and I stabbed Lauren in the left side
of the neck. I said in my interview that it was the right side of
the neck with my right hand but I am been thinking since. It wasn't
my right thumb which was cut but my left. After a couple of seconds
after I stabbed her she stopped moving."
Murder of
Nichole Collins
Beckett then ran up the embankment towards Collins
who was tied to a tree and out of view of Barry who now lay dying in
the creek bed. Beckett slashed Collins to the throat several times
then began to punch and kick her when he realised she had not died
instantly from the knife wounds.
"After I stabbed Lauren, I ran up the bank to
where I tied Nichole up. She must have heard what I had done to
Lauren because when I got to her she said, 'you're going to kill me,
aren't you.' I said 'shut up' and walked around to her left side and
I cut her throat two or three times. This was across her throat. The
knife was in my left hand. Nichole was sitting down when I cut her
throat.
After this she was thrashing around on the ground.
She was trying to scream but nothing was coming out. I think I
kicked her because she wouldn't keep still. And then I put my foot
on to her to keep her still. This didn't work so I stabbed her in
the throat. I aimed and stabbed at the hard thing in her neck. I
pushed the knife all the way in but she still wouldn't keep still so
I worked out where her heart would be and I stabbed her on the left
side of the chest.
She still didn't stop moving so I stabbed her in
the front of the chest. I was aiming for her heart. I needed two
hands to get the knife through her chest. She kept moving so I
kicked her in the head a couple of times. She still kept moving but
she was slowing down. I waited until she stopped moving which didn't
take long."
After the murders, Camilleri, who was not present
during the murders and was waiting in the car, asked Beckett "Did you
see the demon?". The pair quickly left the crime scene with Beckett
driving and returned to New South Wales.
Disposal of evidence
Beckett drove from the murder scene while Camilleri
slept in the vehicle, and woke as the pair approached Canberra. They
stopped at Theodore Lookout on the Monaro Highway to the south of
Canberra and burned their blood-stained clothing, ropes and gags used
to restrain the girls. The knives used by the pair were later thrown
from the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge into Lake Burley Griffin before
returning to their homes in Yass, New South Wales.
On 8 October 1997, Camilleri and Beckett drove from
Yass to Sydney and stayed with Camilleri's brother for several days.
While in Campbelltown in Sydney's south-west, they spent six hours
cleaning the car at a Car Lovers car wash, going as far as
removing the vehicle's seats and carpets to clean them thoroughly.
The pair then returned to Canberra to destroy
further evidence, before returning to Bega on an unsuccessful search
for the discarded pink television set which Camilleri believed would
lead police to them as the abductors of the missing schoolgirls. The
television set was earlier removed by a local council worker.
Arrests
On 25 October 1997, police located a car earlier
stolen by Beckett in Canberra. The vehicle was searched and police
discovered maps of the Bega area and items belonging to Beckett.
Members of the Australian Federal Police arrested Beckett on 27
October 1997 on car theft charges and remanded him in custody. Police
interviewed Camilleri the following day. Both men denied any knowledge
of the girls' abduction and murder. The pair also denied discarding a
television set by the roadside, however Camilleri admitted travelling
with one that he had dropped at a St. Vincent De Paul store.
On 12 November 1997, police again interviewed
Beckett, who made a full confession. He agreed to take police to the
crime scene at Fiddler's Green Creek where the remains of the girls'
bodies were discovered.
Camilleri, who was at this time also remanded in
custody for breaching bail conditions, was awaiting trial at Goulburn
Correctional Centre. He was again interviewed by police regarding the
schoolgirl murders. Police informed Camilleri of Beckett's confession.
Camilleri again denied any involvement in the murders, and attempted
to implicate Beckett as the lone murderer. Camilleri insisted he was
in a drug induced stupor for most of the time the girls were in the
car.
"We picked up the girls and went to the beach. I
had a shot behind the shed. While the girls were drinking I was
trying to OD. We drove around with them. I was asleep most the time.
Beckett told me he dropped them off at home. I remember waking up
and seeing the girls and then later I asked Beckett where we were
and he said Victoria, on the main road somewhere. And I went off my
head. I told him to go home, get the fuck out of here. Then I saw
him walking out of the bush. He had blood all over him. Told me he
cut his finger."
Police later charged Camilleri and Beckett with
multiple counts of abduction, rape and murder.
Trials
Leslie Camilleri
The trial of Camilleri for the murder of Barry and
Collins began on 15 February 1999 and ran until 10 April 1999. A total
of 70 witnesses were called. Prosecution evidence included a shirt
belonging to Barry containing semen matching the DNA profile of
Camilleri. The shirt was discovered at the rubbish dump in Old
Wallagoot Road where the pair had first taken the girls. Police
recovered evidence from almost every location the pair had taken the
girls and assaulted them. Beckett was called to give evidence against
his co-accused and spent five days in the witness box.
Camilleri claimed he was in a drug induced stupor
when the girls were with the pair, and that he barely remembered them,
hoping to lay the entire blame for the murders on his associate
Beckett. He was found guilty by the Supreme Court jury and on April
27, 1999 was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders, never to
be released.
In sentencing Camilleri to life imprisonment, never
to be released, the judge remarked
"Using the control which you clearly had over
your weaker willed but equally evil companion (Beckett), you
instructed him to perform acts that, in a somewhat perverse way, it
could be said that you probably did not possess the courage to
perform yourself."
"It is terrible to contemplate the prospect that,
as a consequence of the order which in my view justice and a proper
appreciation of sentencing principles would require in your case,
you may never be released from prison. However, I consider that my
duty is clear. Through your own actions, you have forfeited your
right ever to walk among us again."
Camilleri was 28 at the time of his crimes and 29
when sentenced. Camilleri appeared before the Supreme Court in 2001 to
appeal his sentence; the appeal was unsuccessfu . He later appealed to
the High Court in May 2002 and again his appeal was dismissed.
Camilleri has received numerous death threats from other prisoners and
remains in protective custody.
Lindsay Beckett
On 26 June 1998, Lindsay Hoani Beckett, who
confessed to the murders, appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria
where he was arraigned and pleaded guilty to the murders of Lauren
Barry and Nichole Collins. On 20 August 1998, Beckett was sentenced to
life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 35 years. At the time of
Beckett's sentencing, his non-parole period was the longest ever given
to a Victorian prisoner. After sentencing, the mother of one of the
schoolgirls yelled to Beckett, "I hope you rot in hell" as he was led
from the courtroom to begin his sentence.
Abduction of Rosamari Gandarias
On 14 September 1997, 19-year-old Rosamari
Gandarias was abducted in Canberra. She was held captive for over 12
hours and driven to a number of locations and raped repeatedly by two
men in their twenties.
Gandarias escaped when the vehicle stopped at a
rest area on a highway near Bowral and she asked her abductors if she
could go to the toilet. Wearing only a t-shirt and shoes, she evaded
the pair by hiding in bushland and later sought assistance from a
nearby farmhouse. This crime would contain many similarities with the
murder of the Bega schoolgirls just three weeks later.
Wikipedia.org
The murders of
Lauren Barry and Nichole Collins
I believe that the
case of the abduction and sexually motivated murders of Lauren Barry
and Nichole Collins is one of the worst in Australia's criminal
history. To date their story has not been told, and their memory is
fading, they were two pretty young girls who had not a care in the
world. They were trusting and loving, it was these traits that may
have attributed to their murders.
Lauren Barry
Lauren Margaret Barry
was born on October 11, 1982 to Garret and Cheryl Barry. She grew up
in the town of Bega and enjoyed the close-knit group of friends she
had through out her short life. Lauren enjoyed life and was extremely
close to her best friend Nichole Collins. Lauren was in Year 9 at the
local Bega High School while Nichole was in year 11.
For Lauren’s
fifteenth birthday she and Nichole planned a camping party at the
local camping area at White Rock near Kalaru where they lived. With a
public holiday on the Monday it was a perfect time to have the party.
It meant the party could last all weekend long.
Lauren was taller
than her best friend Nichole even though she was younger. She had
shoulder length brown hair. She enjoyed the sun and had a little pink
freckled nose in summer to prove it. Her smile was full of warmth and
her eyes were full of a future that would never come.
Nichole Collins
Nichole Emma Collins
was born to Graeme and Delma Collins on November 14, 1980. She was
older then her best friend but the age difference did not worry the
girls. The families lived in the small hamlet of Kalaru. Kalaru was a
small town of Bega. It's residents numbered only 400.
Nichole was
physically quite different from her best friend. Nichole was shorter
than Lauren and had fair skin and golden hair. She wore glasses and
her smile was often hidden behind her shyness. Nonetheless the girls
found their kindred spirit in each other.
Camilleri
Leslie Alfred
Camilleri was born in May 1969 in Liverpool, a south-western suburb of
Sydney, NSW, where crime and unemployment were high. So it was quite
natural that Camilleri would follow others into a life of crime.
By the time he was
twelve-years-old he was in trouble with the police and brought before
the juvenile courts. His first appearance in Minda Children's court
was for breaking and entering and stealing. He was not deterred by his
arrest and continued to steal for the next several years adding
several more criminal offences to his record including theft, motor
vehicle offences, carrying a weapon, possession and absconding.
In 1986, Camilleri
decided to illegally leave NSW while on a good behaviour bond and
headed to Queensland to start fresh, attempting to leave his criminal
record behind him. However he was not in Queensland long before he was
again in front of the court.
In 1989 he was
charged with a various number of offences including 15 motor vehicle
thefts, eight break and enters and 92 counts of stealing. He was a
compulsive thief who stole everything he could. For the accumulation
of crimes he was sentenced to three year in prison
When Camilleri was
released from prison he met and moved in with Helen Souvlis and her
nine-year-old daughter. The relationship had only been going for four
months when Camilleri decided to move back to NSW. He travelled to the
small country town of Binnalong near Yass. Helen and her daughter
followed Camilleri and soon the couple were together again. By March
1994 Helen gave birth to Camilleri’s daughter Jade and the family soon
moved to a bigger house in the town of Yass.
In Yass, Camilleri
met Lindsay Beckett who was called "Kiwi" by all who knew him. The two
became friends. You could say as thick as thieves.
Beckett
Lindsay Hoani Beckett
was born in March 1974 in a small New Zealand North Island town called
Opotiki. According to some his father was a rapist who had raped his
mother when she was 15-years-old. His mother later married a man who
would drink heavily and beat and abuse her and the children.
One day his step-father
stabbed Beckett in the hand when he could not find the car keys. When
the family car was stolen, Beckett's step-father took his anger out on
the Lindsay by beating him with an electrical cord and kicking him
mercilessly into unconsciousness.
By 14 years of age,
Beckett was a heavy smoker and would often turn to marijuana to block
out the pain of his family life. When he was 16, he left school and
fled his father’s beatings and moved to Australia to live with his
mother's relatives
Beckett first lived
with an uncle in Colac but was unsteady and soon began to travel along
the New South Wales coast. He was sometimes caught for damaging
property or assault on his travels.
By 1992 he had began
going out with a young girl called Lauralee Tatt. When she became
pregnant Beckett moved in with her. The couple lived together in
Griffith and over the ensuing years produced three more children. The
relationship was not a steady one. The couple often fought and Beckett
would often beat his girlfriend. By 1995 the couple moved to Yass
where Beckett met Les Camilleri.
Camilleri and Beckett
Together the two men
were an extremely dangerous combination. Camilleri was the smarter of
the two men and enjoyed the power he had over Beckett. Beckett would
do whatever Camilleri told him to do like a lost puppy.
Yet Camilleri was
always being charged for crimes. On 4 October 1995 he was charged with
10 counts sexual crime - including six of sexual intercourse with a
child under 16 and one of indecent assault - allegedly committed
against an 11-year-old girl.
By the beginning of
1997 the two men began taking harder drugs. Before then they had both
smoked marijuana but now they found a better thrill with amphetamines
and speed. The men had been a menace before taking the harder drugs.
With the drugs they were terrifying.
In April 1997
Camilleri was again in front of the court charged with receiving and
being in possession of stolen goods. At the same time Beckett was
suspended for driving after being stopped by police with a high-range
alcohol limit as well as being charged for improper conduct and drugs
found in his car.
As 1997 continues the
two men appear time and time again in court for a range of charges. A
charge that is later dropped, against Camilleri by a young girl who
claims that he forced his way into her home and tried to rape her.
With all of the
mounting charges Camilleri finds himself sentence to periodic
detention. He is to attend prison every weekend for four months. His
first days at Campbelltown detention centre were September 5 and 6,
1997. He hated doing the weekend detention and changed the days to mid-week.
The change did not mean much to Camilleri he rarely turned up anyway.
The sexual abuse case
was heard on Monday 8 September 1997 before Judge Frederick Kirkham in
the Queanbeyan District Court. The child gave evidence that over a
period of 12 months he had molested and penetrated her a number of
times. Once, she said, he made her perform oral sex on him. "He was
counting while I sucked him and every time my tooth touched it he said
I had to do those ones again,'' she claimed. The trial was aborted due
to a speech made by the Police Minister about child abuse in the
media.
Camilleri was free to
enjoy himself again. With Beckett, Camilleri decided they should go
for a drive to Canberra.
Rosamari Gandarias
On Saturday night, 13
September 1997, the two men found themselves at Garema Place, it is a
junkies' hangout in Canberra. There they met a young woman called
Rosamari Gandarias.
She was nineteen
years old but looked several years younger. Camilleri introduced
himself as Les and asked her if she would mind doing the speed
injection for him and his mate "Kiwi" neither of them really knew how
to do injections. Les told Rosamari the drugs were in the car and
would she mind coming out to the car to do it, perhaps even go for a
drive. She felt that the two men were paranoid about being there with
the drugs and she went with them when they drove to Canberra
Showground. When she had finished doing the drugs for the men, she
asked to be taken back to Garema Place. But the men ignored her
request and drove away towards Yass.
As Beckett drove the
car, Camilleri climbed into the back of the car with the woman. The
ordeal was only beginning. Camilleri looked at the woman and told her
"We're going to fuck you now" The young Rosamari replied that she did
not want to have sex with him. Then he pulled out a 10-centimetre
folding knife, like a pig-hunting knife, and there was no more arguing.
For the next twelve
hours Rosamari was held captive by the two men who took turns in
orally, vaginally and anally raping the woman. Camilleri who would
threaten to tie her up if she did not comply with their demands
repeatedly bashed her around the head.
"If you don't do as
you're told we'll drag you behind the car"
He said Camilleri
forced her to perform oral sex.
"Do it properly don't
use your teeth."
Camilleri would tell
Lauren the same thing during her ordeal.
Beckett continued to
drive the car towards Sydney at each stop the men raped the woman. At
a rest area off the Highway near Bowral, Rosamari told her captors
that she needed to use the toilet. They unassumingly let her go alone.
Rosamari saw her opportunity and fled for her life. She ran into the
nearby bushes only wearing a t-shirt and shoes. The branches tore at
her body but she continued to run. The men spotted her running and
gave chase.
Rosamari hid in a
large wombat warren as the men ran past her. Once they were out of
sight, Rosamari came out of her hiding spot and ran to a farmhouse
where she raised the alarm. According to Beckett Camilleri had planned
to kill the woman when they were finished with her. The plan was to
drop her off a bridge.
The police were
called to the farmhouse, but Rosamari did not want to make a statement
especially after the two men had arrived at the scene with their own
version of events. They claimed that the sex was consensual and was in
return for drugs.
She was lucky to
escape with her life. With Rosamari not making a formal statement the
men escaped any retribution. Had the incident been pursued, Lauren and
Nichole may still be alive.
The events unfold
On Friday October 3,
1997 Nichole's father helped the two girls set up a tent and other
camping equipment at White Rock, near Tathra Bega Road. It was a
popular camping ground and the girls often enjoyed camping out on
their own and aware from the parents. They were normal teenagers who
enjoyed the freedom.
It was the start of
the school holidays and the perfect time for a party. There were
parties happening all over Bega in conjunction with the Music
Festival. So Nichole and Lauren thought it would be good to combine
Lauren's birthday party with all of the merriment.
The first day, Friday
was spent horse-riding. The girls had camped her often. They would
head home occasionally to wash and get fresh clothes. Their parents
dropped in to check on them. They went horse riding or swimming down
at Macarthur, rode down to Boulder Bay, but mainly kept to the camp,
listening to music, talking, reading magazines with their friends
Sarah Darcy, Malcolm Denning and Damien Brown and, off and on,
Lauren's brother Nathan and a friend from Sydney, Todd Hadenham.
The next morning,
Saturday October 4, the two girls enjoyed more of the same before
Lauren rode home to wish her mother a happy birthday. The trip to and
from the campsite was not far and Lauren did it in no time.
Lauren ate birthday
cake with her family and another school friend Rebecca Kemble before
kissing her family goodbye and heading back to the party at the
camping ground.
When she arrived back
at the camp, Lauren found Nichole in a reflective mood. Though she
felt she still loved her boyfriend Andrew Irving she thought maybe the
time was not right and wanted to break off the relationship with him.
Nichole chatted with Lauren about Andrew but decided to stay to
celebrate her friends coming 15th birthday.
October 5, 1997
Camilleri decided
that he and Beckett should leave the area and decided to drive to
Rose's new house in Bega. They used the same banged up old Ford
Telstar for the drive that they used to abduct Rosamari. The car's
back doors did not open from the inside and the two men always kept
various knives in the car. The car had been stolen from Andrew Smart,
a friend on Camilleri's who had owed him money. Camilleri also took
the man's pink portable colour TV and a cheque book.
About 10am on Sunday
October 5, 1997, Beckett cashed a cheque made out to him in the name
of A.J. Smart for $44 and bought a bottle of Bundaberg rum and a slab
of VB stubbies at the Monaro Pub in Cooma. The manager had a bad
feeling about the man and watched him walk to a car and took down the
number QUX-928. There was a taller, blond-haired man sitting in the
driver's seat of the car.
The men then took the
alcohol back to Helen Souvlis' house and began drinking and doing
drugs. By 8pm that evening Helen threw the men out when she got sick
and tired of their lazy and abusive ways.
So the two men left
the house in the car and went driving around Bega. They continued to
drink and inject each other with "speed".
Nichole was still
thinking about Andrew late on Sunday evening and decided maybe she
should go and talk to him about their relationship. She knew he would
be at a party at the nearby suburb of Jellat Jellat 8kms away.
She left the camp
saying she was going to sort out her life. Lauren was concerned about
her friend walking that far at night on her own and decided to join
her. With the two girls chatting together the trip won't seem nearly
as long. The two girls did not get far before a car pulled over.
At around 10pm on the
evening of October 5, 1997 the men saw two girls walking single-file
along the Bega-Tathra Road. Camilleri was driving the car and Beckett
was in the front passenger seat. Camilleri pointed out the two girls
on the side of the road and did a u-turn, pulling up beside them.
The men appeared
friendly enough when they began to strike up a conversation with the
girls. They asked them about the music festival in town and if they
wanted to go down to a beach party the men knew about.
For some unknown
reason the two teenagers got into the car with the two men, Camilleri
was 28 at the time, Beckett four years younger. Beckett opened the
back door for the girls to get in, but had to take out the pink TV set
that was in the back sat. There wasn't any room in the boot for the TV
so the men decided to just leave it where they were.
The four in the car
drove to Tathra Beach and stayed a little while before the girls
decided to head back to the camp. Camilleri said he would gladly drive
the girls back to the site and headed along the dirt track back to
White Rock. The road was quite rough and soon the rocks that the car
was throwing up banged out the bottom of the car. Camilleri stopped
the car and in his frustration at the damage began to yell at the
girls.
Camilleri produced a
knife he had secreted into the car's door and told the girls, `Just
shut up and don't say a word. He looked at Beckett and told him to get
out his knife as well. The girls sat frozen. The fear obvious on their
faces.
Camilleri reversed
the car out along the dirt-track and turned left driving towards
Kalaru. He continued driving along Old Wallagoot Road and towards the
Sapphire Coast Highway. The men spotted a small clearing and Camilleri
parked the car.
Beckett grabbed
Lauren and got her out of the car. The frightened girl complied with
the man's demand of taking off her pants and underwear. Lauren tried
to prevent the man from having sex with her by telling him that she
currently was having her periods (menstruation) and that she was
virgin. The reasons she gave did nothing to stop Beckett raping the
young woman. Lauren cried in pain and fear as Beckett continued to
rape her for half an hour before ejaculating inside her.
While Beckett was
raping Lauren, Camilleri was inflicting a similar assault on Nichole.
Camilleri and Beckett
forced both of the girls back into the back seat of the car and drove
away. The car headed along Old Wallagoot Road past Merimbula and along
the Princes Highway towards Eden. Just before the entrance to Eden
Camilleri turned the car into the Ben Boyd National Park. Camilleri
told Beckett he wanted to have sex with Lauren this time.
With Lauren in tow,
Camilleri walked away from the car and into the night. He tried to
rape Lauren but her vagina was "too tight" for him to be able to
penetrate her. Beckett orally raped Nichole while Camilleri and Lauren
were away.
Beckett admitted that
the two girls were too scared to even attempt to fight. The knives the
men had and the threats they told the girls kept them compliant.
After the sexual
assaults were finished, the four people got back and in the car and
Camilleri drove into Eden. They continued to a U-turn bay where again
the car was stopped and the girls were forced to perform sexual acts
for the men. This time Beckett made Nichole fellate him while he sat
in the front of the car.
Camilleri got out of
the car and stood up with Lauren kneeling down in front of him. He
kept telling the fourteen year old girl to suck his penis and not to
let her teeth touch him in any way. Any time he felt her teeth touch
his penis he would belt her very hard across the held. Lauren would
yelp in pain but she was forced to continue.
Beckett finally
stopped making Nichole suck his penis when he failed to maintain an
erection. Camilleri soon stopped as well and the girls were forced
into back seat of the car once more as the men continued to travel
south.
Soon the car was
driving into Victoria, Camilleri had fallen asleep during the trip and
woke up to find them heading towards Orbost. As they continued the
trip, Camilleri had Lauren perform fellatio, by sitting on the floor
of the car in front of him.
The car was pulled
off the main highway and onto a secluded area. Camilleri was upset
that he was unable to penetrate Lauren earlier and wanted to find a
spot where he could try again.
Beckett spotted a
property with a giant green gate. The gate was opened and the men
drove through. It was still dark and dawn was still a while away.
Camilleri told Beckett to stop the car at a clearing and got out,
forcing Lauren from the car as well. Camilleri dug around and grabbed
a piece of cardboard from a case of bear and put it on the ground as a
marker. He told Beckett to go further and have sex with Nichole and
when he returned the cardboard make-shift marker would show Beckett
where to stop.
Both of the girls
again are repeatedly raped by their attackers. According to Beckett
both of the girls were "shocked... frightened" to say the least.
Beckett returns the
car to the spot where the cardboard is and waits for Camilleri and
Lauren to return. When they do, Camilleri is shirtless. Lauren has on
his t-shirt.
Dawn soon came, the
girls had been held captive for over 9 hours and were tired, scared
and injured. They both had severe lacerations around their heads and
vaginas. They were continuously hit by Camilleri if they did not
please him.
The girls and their
captor returned to the car and again they headed towards Orbost along
the Princes Highway. Camilleri again fell asleep and when he woke he
was extremely agitated that they were in Victoria. He had plans to
throw the girls off a bridge along the highway towards Sydney.
The men began to
whisper together. They had to plan what they were going to do with the
girls. Camilleri said that the girls could not be allowed to live.
They would be able to identify their attackers.
Beckett sees a
secluded road and turns off the highway. Lauren, almost in a catatonic
state with fear asks the men if they were going to kill them.
Camilleri assure her that they just wanted to tie them up so the men
could get a head start and go into hiding. But Camilleri knew he was
not going to let the girls live.
At 8am on October 6,
1997 Beckett stopped the car near Fiddlers Green Creek in Victoria.
The girls's hands were tied with rope from the car and they were both
dragged by their captors through the brush to the creek.
Camilleri told
Beckett to untie Nichole and then demanded that she get into the water
and wash her vagina. Nichole was tired and abused Camilleri for the
way he had treated them. Camilleri again produced his knife and told
her to "get the fuck in there" and wash out her vagina. She said she
was cold in the water but she had to remain their until Camilleri was
satisfied that she had done a decent job. She was then told to get
dressed again.
Lauren was untied and
told to do the same thing. She again asked if they were about to die
and Camilleri assured her that they had planned to let the girls go
once the evidence was washed away.
Once Lauren was
dressed her hands were tied together again and both of the girls were
told to lie down on their stomachs. Camilleri had brought rope with
him from the car. He hog-tied Nichole so she was unable to move and
was tied in a crumpled ball. Lauren was taken to spot where she could
no longer see Nichole and tied to a tree. Again she asked Beckett is
they were about to die. Beckett ignored her question.
Beckett returned to
where Camilleri was standing and asked him what they were going to do
next. Camilleri told Beckett to kill the girls. Beckett baulked at the
command until Camilleri produced his knife again and said if he didn't
he kill him.
Beckett decided it
was the girls' lives or his own. He chose to save his own. He went to
where Lauren was lying on the ground still hog-tied. She could not
move at all. Beckett grabbed the girl and dragged her to the water's
edge. In his confession to police Beckett calmly describes the murders.
"I held her head
under the water. She was struggling and she knocked me into the water.
One of my knees went into the water. This pissed me off a little bit
and I opened my knife I stabbed Lauren in the left side of the neck
After a couple of seconds after I stabbed her she stopped moving After
I stabbed Lauren, I ran up the bank to where I tied Nichole up I
walked around to her left side and I cut her throat two or three
times. After this she just started thrashing around on the ground she
was trying to scream but nothing was coming out I kicked her and put
my foot on her to keep her still. This didn't work so I stabbed her in
the throat. I aimed and stabbed at the hard thing (her windpipe) in
her neck. I pushed the knife all the way in but she still wouldn't
keep still so I worked out where her heart would be and I stabbed her
on the left side of the chest. She still didn't stop moving so I
stabbed her in the front of the chest. I was aiming for her heart. I
needed two hands to get the through her chest (plate). She kept moving
so I kicked her in the head a couple of time. She still kept moving
but she was slowing down. I waited until she stopped moving which
didn't take long."
Beckett then removed
all of the girls' ropes and walked back to the car where Camilleri was
waiting.
The men got into the
car and drove away. Over the next few days they burned the clothes
they were wearing and the clothes taken from the girls. They threw
their knives in to Lake Burley Griffin, one was later recovered. They
scrubbed the car to remove any traces of the girls being in the car.
The men then returned to Yass and their respective partners before
travelling on to Sydney.
On October 28, 1997
Camilleri was finally arrested for breach of his periodic detention
and remanded into custody.
On November 5, 1997
Beckett was formally asked about his knowledge of the suspected
abduction of Nichole and Lauren. At first the 24 year old denied any
knowledge of the girls. A week later when interviewed again, Beckett
gave a detailed confession about his part in the girls' abduction and
subsequent murders and also details about his partner in the crimes.
Beckett also told
police where they would find the bodies of the missing girls.
Finally the girl's
decomposing bodies were located. It was 10pm on Wednesday November 12,
1997. It had been a long six weeks wait for their grieving parents.
On November 15
Beckett was extradited to Victoria to face formal charges regarding
the girls' murders.
With Beckett's
confession Camilleri was also extradited to Victoria to face formal
charges of murder.
The girls had simply
vanished into thin air.
On October 27, 1997
Beckett was arrested by the Federal Police for unrelated matters of
theft. During the search of the stolen car he was driving a map of
Bega was found. The officers decided it may be worth forwarding the
information onto the local authorities looking for Lauren and Nichole.
The arrest of the
men, the girls are located
By this time the
girls had been reported missing. The never arrived at the party and so
the alarm was raised quickly. The girls' families, friends, the polie
and the State Emergency Services all were out searching for the girls.
For weeks the families held a vigil hoping for the safe return of
their daughters but had feared the worst.
The most amazing part
in most murder cases is the lack of a voice for the victim. In this
case Justice Vincent echoes these sentiments:
"there is silence
concerning what your young victims may have said or done or how they
felt during the hours of their captivity. It is, as I have earlier
commented, a terrible silence, filled with nightmarish images of
terror, tears, and death for their parents, family members, friends as
well as for thousands upon thousands of members of the wider community
who look at their own children, sense the pain of those close to the
girls, and wonder how they personally could endure such an event."
Beckett and
Camilleri are Sentenced
On June 26, 1998 at
his arraignment Beckett pleaded guilty to the murders of the two girls.
At his sentencing on
August 20, 1998 Justice Vincent stated:
"Lindsay Hoani
Beckett, you have pleaded guilty to the murder at Fiddlers Green Creek
in the State of Victoria on or about 6 October 1997 of two young
persons named Lauren Margaret Barry and Nichole Emma Collins You
represent the dark in which our women and children fearfully walk"
With those words
Justice Vincent sentenced Beckett to two life sentences in prison. For
being so co-operative with police by confessing and informing on
Camilleri, the judge set a non-parole period of no less than thirty-five
years. The longest non-parole period yet set.
It was not the
maximum penalty available, however Beckett was not to be released from
prison for a long time.
When the judge handed
down a life sentence, with a minimum 35 years, Nichole's mother, Mrs
Delma Collins, jumped from her seat in the gallery and shouted: "Yes."
Lauren's mother, Ms
Cheryl Barry, said to Beckett as he was led away: "I hope you rot in
hell.''
On Friday April 9,
1999 after deliberating for seven hours after a seven-week trial found
29-year-old Camilleri guilty of murdering the girls. As the verdicts
of guilty of murder for both of the girls were read out to the court,
Camilleri yawned. Completely disinterested and feeling no remorse for
his crimes.
Camilleri was given
the maximum sentence available in Australia, life in prison with no
possibility of release on parole.
