Royal Family
Royal Family
  • 8 months ago

Category

😹
Fun
Transcript
00:00 [no audio]
00:07 Tonight, terror in Tasmania.
00:09 It was the worst gun massacre ever.
00:11 No words can express the horror and disbelief in this little Tasmanian tourist centre tonight.
00:16 The worst massacre by a single civilian in world history.
00:19 There is still no motive, no inkling as to why the gunman visited this horror on a quiet Tasmanian community.
00:27 The sudden and appalling slaughter now added to the region's already dark history.
00:32 [applause]
00:38 We did the gunshots.
00:39 I'm pretty sure somebody's got a gun.
00:41 I could be bloody positive of it.
00:44 There's somebody going crazy shooting people here.
00:47 [gunshot]
00:48 [no audio]
00:50 [music]
01:08 Today's case takes us to Tasmania, Australia.
01:12 The small southeastern peninsula of Port Arthur in Tasmania has a rich and long history,
01:18 making it one of Australia's favourite tourist destinations as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
01:24 Once the location of a penal colony for offenders transported from Britain during the mid-19th century,
01:30 the intimidating penitentiary with its castle-like stone walls,
01:34 shadowy walkways and eerie Gothic architecture was often witness to all kinds of brutality.
01:40 Prisoners were routinely made to wear thick black hoods over their faces,
01:44 and a strict rule of silence was constantly enforced.
01:48 At the time, the penal colony was believed to be inescapable.
01:51 Surrounded by shark-infested waters and an unforgiving terrain,
01:55 the surrounding grounds were patrolled around the clock by armed soldiers and guard dogs.
01:59 By 1877, Port Arthur had fallen into disrepair and had been abandoned by the government and penal system,
02:05 who left the buildings to rot.
02:07 However, due to the booming fishing industry and the beautiful scenery of the coastal town,
02:12 many people began buying up small plots of land and making the port and its surrounding areas their home.
02:18 On 31st July 2010, the popular tourist attraction now boasting over a quarter of a million visitors every year,
02:26 was finally honoured with the designation of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
02:31 Just 14 years before, Port Arthur had become infamous again.
02:36 It would become the site of one of the deadliest mass shootings the world had ever seen.
02:42 Martin John Bryant was born on 7th May 1967, in the small suburb of Newtown in the Tasmanian capital of Hobart,
02:55 to parents Maurice, a waterside worker, and Carleen, a housewife.
03:00 Martin was slow to develop speech as an infant, and had difficulties with forming relationships with others from a young age.
03:07 His mother later said that Martin often displayed destructive tendencies from a very young age,
03:12 and would deliberately break his toys and leave the broken pieces scattered around the house.
03:17 He attended the local primary school and quickly gained a reputation as a difficult and disruptive student.
03:24 He disliked attending school and was bullied by other pupils for his lack of social skills.
03:29 Children often chanted "Silly Martin, no sense, no feeling" whenever they spotted him wandering around the playground.
03:36 He would later tell a psychologist, Paul Mullen, "No one wanted to be my friend."
03:41 In a misguided attempt at bringing his son out of his shell, his father gave him a pallet air rifle,
03:49 which only exacerbated Martin's antisocial tendencies, as he would spend hours torturing and killing birds and other small animals.
03:57 He took great enjoyment in shooting birds out of the trees, and then killing them at close range.
04:03 In early adolescence, Martin set himself on fire, and was featured on local television news reports.
04:13 Going up to the bedroom and I wanted to see, I had this light and I had this coloured skyrocket and I wanted to see if the wick went quick,
04:28 so I lit it and it went fast and I tried to make it go out but I couldn't, and I tried, I broke the stick trying to get it out but I couldn't,
04:41 and it made a hole through my jeans.
04:45 You'll be in here for a while longer, won't you?
04:47 Yeah, about a week.
04:49 Do you think you'll be playing with firecrackers anymore?
04:52 Yes.
04:54 Don't you think you've learned a lesson from this?
04:56 Yes, but I'm still playing with them.
04:59 Around this time, Martin was also suspended from school for violent behaviour towards other pupils.
05:07 By now deeply concerned with their son's behaviour, Martin's parents decided to have him assessed by a childhood psychologist,
05:14 who found that he had an IQ of 66, and displayed what was referred to as schizophrenic tendencies.
05:21 Maurice and Carlene were at a loss as to what to do.
05:24 They tried their best, and Maurice spent extra time with his son, taking him on fishing trips and nature walks.
05:30 However, things didn't get better as he grew older.
05:33 The problems he'd had in primary school only continued into high school,
05:37 and he quickly gained a reputation for peculiar and aggressive behaviour.
05:41 He was dubbed 'the shadow' by other students, as he would silently creep up behind them in corridors and hallways,
05:47 or attack them, completely unprovoked.
05:50 Forensic psychologist Paul Mullen later explained Martin's aggression as
05:55 "the struggles of a child who felt helpless, in the face of the demands of the world,
06:00 and who sought to gain some sense of power and restore some sense of self-esteem through ridiculing or hurting others."
06:07 One teacher recalled of Martin at the time, "There was a deep-seated resentment building up."
06:12 The only classes Martin seemed to take any kind of interest in were the subjects where he could work by himself creatively,
06:19 such as woodworking or art.
06:21 It wasn't just school where Martin had gained a reputation as an antisocial and aggressive young man.
06:27 It was also around the town of Port Arthur where he would often ride his bike,
06:31 or walk his parents' dogs aimlessly around the ruins for hours.
06:36 He was banned from the Broad Arrow Café, a quaint restaurant popular with visitors and locals alike,
06:42 situated close to the Port Arthur jetty where his younger sister Mindy worked during the school summer holidays.
06:48 Martin had been banned from the café as he was frequently in trouble for shooting his air rifle at tourists' vehicles,
06:55 or for spitting at people on the street.
06:58 In 1983, at the age of 16, Martin left high school after finishing his final year of special education classes.
07:05 He was still unable to read and write.
07:09 He received a disability pension from the welfare department due to his mental age being much younger than his actual age.
07:16 With poor social skills, a lack of qualifications and no career path,
07:20 his father decided to help get his son on his feet any way he could.
07:24 He purchased Martin an array of gardening tools from a hardware store,
07:28 and encouraged his son to go door to door in the neighbourhood,
07:31 asking if anyone needed any help with maintaining their gardens.
07:35 Martin seemed to enjoy this style of work very much as it gave him the chance to work outside on his own.
07:41 After a few months had passed, Martin had gained a steady stream of customers, who he enjoyed working for.
07:48 He would happily chat with them as he cut their grass or trimmed their hedges.
07:52 Martin even managed to make a few friends.
07:55 One of the friendships that Martin had struck up would change his life forever.
08:00 In 1987, at the age of 19, Martin befriended a reclusive and eccentric lottery heiress named Helen Mary Elizabeth Harvey,
08:13 who was living in a large but messy mansion with 14 dogs and 40 cats in Newtown.
08:19 Helen employed Martin to maintain her gardens, which had been left to grow wild, and the pair grew extremely close.
08:27 It wasn't long before Helen even asked Martin to move in with her,
08:30 and they were often seen around town spending large amounts of money on restaurants, clothes and cars.
08:36 Neighbours of Helen quickly learned to steer clear of Martin,
08:40 as he was often witnessed strolling around the gardens brandishing his air rifle,
08:44 as though he was guarding the property and shooting at passing motorists.
08:49 In 1991, Helen and Martin moved to a large farm in Copping, an hour's drive from Newtown, and a 40 minute drive from Port Arthur.
08:59 Various animals, including pigs, were allowed free reign within the farmhouse,
09:04 and Martin had a favourite pig that he kept in his bedroom at night.
09:08 Their relationship was sometimes volatile, and Helen later told neighbours,
09:12 "One of these days, the little bastard is going to kill me",
09:16 going on to say that Martin sometimes acted aggressively towards her,
09:19 often dangerously grabbing the steering wheel while Helen was driving down the street.
09:23 She stated that three of her vehicles had been badly damaged in crashes due to this behaviour,
09:28 and she always drove a lot slower whenever Martin was in the passenger seat.
09:32 In spite of this, Helen named Martin in her last will and testament,
09:37 as the sole beneficiary of her estate,
09:40 and Martin often made comments to the neighbours about hoping Helen would hurry up and die,
09:44 so he would get the inheritance quicker, which she always insisted were just jokes.
09:49 It seemed to those who knew Martin, he was standing on the edge of a very dangerous precipice.
09:55 Many, including his psychologists, were worried that if something unsettling happened in his life,
10:01 it could send him over the edge, into serious acts of violence.
10:05 Another psychologist who assessed Martin around this time,
10:09 in regards to his disability pension, made an extremely worrying notation on his file.
10:14 "Father protects him from any occasion which might upset him, as he continually threatens violence.
10:20 Martin tells me he would like to go around shooting people.
10:23 It would be unsafe to allow Martin out of his parents' control."
10:27 After over a year and a half of living together,
10:31 Helen and Martin were involved in a serious road traffic collision,
10:34 in late October of 1992, when Helen's car veered into the path of an oncoming vehicle.
10:40 Helen was killed instantly.
10:43 Martin suffered serious injuries to his back and neck, and was hospitalised for seven months.
10:49 After receiving numerous tips from Helen's neighbours,
10:53 police investigated both the car crash and Martin,
10:56 but after finding nothing incriminating, the case was dropped,
11:00 and Martin inherited assets totalling $550,000.
11:04 Due to his additional needs, Martin's mother and father were made trustees of the inheritance,
11:09 while Martin was still recovering in the hospital.
11:12 His father moved into Helen's farm and began selling off her belongings, and all of the farm animals.
11:19 This was something that angered Martin,
11:21 and put a strain on the already tumultuous relationship with his father.
11:28 In August of 1993, almost a year after Helen's fatal car accident,
11:33 another death occurred close to Martin.
11:36 Martin's 60-year-old father, who disappeared from the farmhouse one day,
11:41 just leaving a note pinned to the front door that read, "Call the police."
11:45 After being called by a neighbour who had spotted the note,
11:49 police arrived at the property, and found Martin cutting the lawn,
11:53 apparently unaware of his father's disappearance.
11:57 Maurice was later found by police divers, drowned in a dam close to the farm.
12:01 Police ruled the death as unnatural, but not suspicious,
12:05 as Maurice was known to be on antidepressants at the time of his death.
12:09 Again, Martin inherited a large sum of money and assets from his father,
12:14 and after selling Helen's farm, he was now close to being a millionaire.
12:19 Over the next couple of years, Martin changed the way he acted and dressed,
12:24 buying expensive suits and travelling around the world,
12:27 to countries such as the United States, New Zealand and Japan.
12:31 He started to learn to surf, and later took on a surfer-style appearance,
12:36 which he had always admired, growing his blonde hair longer,
12:40 although he never really improved at surfing,
12:43 and his expensive surfboard rarely left the rack on the roof of his yellow Volvo sedan.
12:48 Martin also tried to start dating, something which had always been difficult for him,
12:53 and none of these relationships seemed to last very long.
12:56 With the failure of his romantic relationships, his difficulty in making new friends,
13:01 and the deaths of two people he was closest to,
13:04 Martin began to feel increasingly isolated and alone.
13:07 He was shunned around town for attempting to forge relationships with children much younger than himself,
13:12 and he was warned to stay away from the local Catholic girls' school multiple times,
13:17 for loitering around the school premises.
13:19 He later told a psychiatrist, "I just felt people were against me.
13:24 When I tried to be friendly toward them, they just walked away."
13:27 He was prescribed a tricyclic antidepressant,
13:31 to help him cope with the manic mood swings he was experiencing.
13:34 It was around this time that Martin suddenly started collecting rifles,
13:39 purchasing an AR-10 semi-automatic rifle from a local newspaper ad,
13:43 and at some point later, a Colt AR-15, an L1A1 self-loading battle rifle,
13:49 and a USAS-12 automatic shotgun.
13:52 Martin also started blaming his father's suicide on a local couple, David and Nolene Martin,
13:59 who had bought a small bed and breakfast called The Seascape near Port Arthur.
14:03 It was a property that Martin's father had also wanted to buy,
14:07 but at the last moment, while he was preparing capital for the purchase,
14:11 the Martins quickly bought it. Maurice had been devastated.
14:15 Martin came to believe that the elderly couple had deliberately acquired the property to hurt his family,
14:20 and remembered his father complaining bitterly about losing it to the couple multiple times.
14:25 Investigators believe that the issue surrounding the purchase of The Seascape
14:30 may have been one of the contributing factors that pushed Martin over the edge.
14:39 On the morning of Sunday 28th April, Martin was awoken by an alarm clock at 6am.
14:45 This was something that was highly unusual, as Martin never used an alarm clock
14:50 according to his current girlfriend, who was staying with him at the time.
14:53 The couple had breakfast together at around 8 o'clock, and then his girlfriend left for home.
14:58 A little while after her departure, Martin took out a large blue sports holdall and packed his rifles into it.
15:05 He then left his home placing the holdall of guns in the back seat of his yellow Volvo,
15:10 the surfboard still secured to its roof, and drove towards Port Arthur,
15:14 stopping a couple of times on the way at two separate gas stations to buy a cigarette lighter,
15:19 and then a $15 canister of gasoline.
15:23 At the second gas station, Martin also bought a cup of coffee,
15:27 and sat drinking it slowly whilst chatting to the station attendants,
15:30 telling them he was going surfing, a fact they thought was strange as the ocean was calm that day, and there were no waves.
15:37 Something that has never been fully explained by Martin or the police investigators
15:42 was why after leaving the second gas station and continuing on to Port Arthur, Martin stopped again,
15:48 this time at a supermarket, where he purchased a bottle of tomato sauce
15:53 and placed it in the back seat with the holdall of guns.
15:56 What he intended to do with it remains unknown.
16:00 At approximately 11.45, he arrived at the seascape.
16:05 He forced his way into the building brandishing the Colt AR-15 from his holdall,
16:10 and hit 69-year-old Nolene over the head, with the stock of the rifle knocking her to the ground.
16:16 He then gagged 72-year-old David, before stabbing him multiple times with a knife he had taken from their kitchen.
16:22 He then shot them both dead at point-blank range.
16:26 He cleaned his hands in the kitchen sink and ransacked the building,
16:30 stealing a couple of firearms that had belonged to David.
16:33 Around 40 minutes after murdering them, as Martin was locking the front doors to the building
16:38 and returning to his vehicle which was parked outside the front,
16:41 a young couple arrived and, mistaking Martin for the owner,
16:45 asked him if they could take a look at any of the available rooms.
16:49 At first, Martin ignored them, placing the holdall of guns back into the rear seat of his Volvo,
16:55 and when the young man and woman persisted, he told them they couldn't go inside
16:59 because his parents were away at the moment, and his girlfriend was relaxing inside.
17:04 The couple, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable by Martin's demeanour,
17:08 decided to leave and drove away from the seascape at around 12.35.
17:13 Martin stood by his car and watched them go.
17:16 They had no idea just how close they had come to something awful,
17:20 until they later saw Martin on the news.
17:25 That day seemed to go as any other for the people of Port Arthur.
17:29 Sundays with beautiful weather were always incredibly busy for the town,
17:33 and that day was no different.
17:35 Staff members of the Port Arthur historical sites were rushing around,
17:39 preparing for a hectic day.
17:42 By early afternoon the port was bustling with crowds of families and coachloads of international tourists.
17:48 Ian Kingston, who was working as support staff that day,
17:51 along with 30 other staff members, later told a news reporter,
17:55 "It became obvious by about 11 that it was going to be busier than what they predicted.
17:59 I think about 14 coaches ended up coming in."
18:03 At around 1.30 in the afternoon Martin arrived at Port Arthur
18:07 and spoke briefly with Ian who was directing cars in the Port Arthur car park.
18:11 Ian stated that at first he didn't recognise Martin,
18:14 but then remembered him from when he used to cause trouble around the Broad Arrow cafe in his youth.
18:19 He later said, "When he drove in on the day, he wanted to park down near the jetty,
18:24 and I pointed out to him that he couldn't do that because there were already about eight coaches there,
18:29 so he got back in the car and went and parked down amongst all the coaches where I didn't want him to park anyway.
18:34 He sat there for half a minute, got out of his car, and on the back he had a golf bag type of thing.
18:40 He mucked around on the back seat, got his bag out, put it on his shoulder, then he walked up to the cafe."
18:48 It was just after the lunchtime rush, and the bustling atmosphere had calmed down,
18:54 but there were still around 60 patrons finishing up their meals or looking in the adjoining gift shop.
19:00 Martin got some food from the counter and sat down at a table in the balcony area outside the front of the cafe and began to eat.
19:08 After a little while, he made a strange comment to the people sat around him saying,
19:13 "There's a lot of wasps about today."
19:18 Investigators are still unsure if this was a comment about actual wasps or if he meant white Anglo-Saxon Protestants.
19:25 A few moments later, he spoke again to the same group of people,
19:29 commenting on the fact that there weren't many Japanese tourists in Port Arthur on that particular day.
19:34 After finishing his meal, Martin went back inside the cafe, returned his tray,
19:40 and placed the large blue holdall on one of the tables.
19:43 Before anyone could react to what was about to happen, he opened fire on the crowd.
19:48 People dived for cover or attempted to play dead on the floor as chaos and gun smoke filled the small cafe.
19:55 One man, 29-year-old Jason Winter, sacrificed himself to protect his wife and infant son.
20:01 By throwing a tray at Martin as he approached them in an attempt to distract him, he was shot and killed.
20:07 His wife and baby survived.
20:10 Another man, 44-year-old Anthony Nightingale, tried to stand up to Martin and yelled at him,
20:15 "No, not here!" but he was also killed instantly.
20:19 Martin slowly strolled around the room, shooting anyone that moved indiscriminately from the hip.
20:25 Within a matter of seconds, the boy who had once been banned from the premises for shooting his air rifles at tourists
20:31 had murdered 20 and seriously injured a further 15.
20:36 "He's very short, I'm pretty sure he's got a gun. Your body's positive, over."
20:42 "There's somebody going crazy shooting people here."
20:46 Carolyn Lawton and her 15-year-old daughter Sarah were in the cafe eating a late lunch when Martin started shooting.
20:57 Carolyn was seriously injured in the attack and later spoke of her experience, saying,
21:02 "I'm seeing parts of the wall being chipped away and I'm seeing him with a very, very long gun.
21:07 And I'm realising that we are now actually in here with a gunman.
21:10 So this is all within split seconds. There is no yelling, there is no running.
21:14 It's not like in the movies. Within split seconds people are either dead or they're flat on the floor pretending to be dead."
21:21 "He then came, walked up behind my daughter with the gun up.
21:24 He was shooting people behind me in the souvenir part of the shop.
21:28 She would have seen that and she stood up and the look of absolute terror on her face.
21:33 I stood up, lunged at her, threw my arm around her neck and we dropped to the floor.
21:38 Her head was exposed, but her body wasn't."
21:41 Tragically, Sarah, Carolyn's daughter, was one of the 20 to lose their lives in the Broad Arrow cafe.
21:48 Martin then reloaded his rifle and left the building.
21:52 "It's getting into a yellow car."
21:58 "It's getting into the Porsche's mower."
22:02 "He did the gunshots."
22:11 Outside, Ian Kingston, who had spoken to Martin and witnessed him entering the Broad Arrow cafe that afternoon,
22:20 had heard the gunfire and was desperately trying to get tourists away from the area.
22:25 He said, "That time we had a couple of coach loads of American tourists
22:29 and they thought it was just some sort of show and they were all flocking around outside to see what was going on.
22:35 I got as many as I could together in the front.
22:38 I looked around and saw him come out of the cafe and he shot a couple of shots across the oval towards the penitentiary."
22:44 Lynn Beavis, a nurse, bravely risked her own life when she ran towards the Broad Arrow cafe
22:51 to help as soon as she saw Martin leave the building.
22:54 The first victim she gave aid to was Sarah Lawton.
22:58 Lynn later said, "I was at the far end of the penitentiary.
23:02 I saw him come out and being a nurse, I just kind of had thoughts of how I could help those people
23:08 and I went into the cafeteria and there were people everywhere.
23:11 Bodies. It's just so indescribable what had happened in there.
23:15 I thought at the time being a nurse I've seen dead people, I've seen blood, I've seen things like this.
23:20 But what I saw in there, nobody, perhaps only a soldier would know what it was like.
23:25 It was awful. One of the hardest things I remember was finding a young girl
23:30 that was of a similar build to my daughter and a similar age to my daughter
23:34 and one woman was asking for her daughter.
23:37 She said, 'You'd know her, she's got a black hat on.'
23:39 I couldn't tell her that her daughter was dead."
23:42 "Helicopters began ferrying the injured to Hobart from Port Arthur
23:45 after a gunman opened fire there this afternoon."
23:48 "We've had a gunman run amok on the Port Arthur Historic Site.
23:51 That's 85km from Hobart. It happened mid-afternoon.
23:55 There were at least 12 confirmed dead, if not 22."
23:59 "Locals near the site cringed in fear inside their shops and homes as the gunman opened fire."
24:05 "Everyone's just freaked out."
24:08 "What do you understand he may have done?"
24:10 "Kill lots of people."
24:12 "Any idea why?"
24:14 "No, no idea."
24:16 "Any idea who he was?"
24:18 "No, no idea. Not a local, I don't think."
24:21 "Do you know if any tourists have been involved?"
24:23 "Yes, there have been."
24:25 "That just sounds awful."
24:26 "It is awful. It's very, very awful."
24:28 "Outside the cafe, Martin opened fire on the crowds of tourists running for cover
24:35 and hiding behind vehicles, killing four more and injuring another six.
24:40 He then calmly got into his Volvo and switched the Colt rifle
24:43 for the L1A1 self-loading battle rifle
24:46 and slowly drove away from the ruins of the penitentiary.
24:50 But he was far from done.
24:52 As he was driving away, on the road leading to the Port Arthur jetty,
24:56 he was waved down by a 36-year-old mother, Nanette Mickatch, and her two children.
25:01 Nanette had mistakenly thought Martin was also fleeing the massacre.
25:05 Martin stopped his car next to the family, got out,
25:09 forced Nanette to her knees and killed her in front of her children.
25:13 He then murdered her two daughters.
25:15 "It was here, as the gunman drove out of the park,
25:18 that he shot dead a mother and her two children, sisters aged three and six."
25:24 "Police came across the body of a woman and her three-year-old daughter
25:30 lying on the roadway, and the body of the six-year-old daughter was behind the tree."
25:38 Pauline Grenfell, who had witnessed the murder of Nanette and her children,
25:42 later told a British newspaper,
25:44 "When he got out of the car, his arm went to the mother's shoulder,
25:47 and he was saying, 'Get down, get down,' as she was begging for her children's lives."
25:51 "I saw the mother fall when he shot her, but I didn't really see the little girls."
25:55 "The little girl was behind the tree."
25:57 "He deliberately went towards that tree to murder a little child."
26:01 Martin then drove another 200 metres further down the road,
26:05 before stopping to argue with four occupants of a gold BMW,
26:09 two couples on a road trip, that was blocking off the entry to a toll booth.
26:13 He opened fire on the vehicle, killing the driver and the three passengers instantly.
26:18 He then pulled the bodies from the BMW,
26:20 placed his hold-all and the canister of gasoline in the back seat,
26:23 and fled the scene in the new car, leaving his old yellow Volvo behind.
26:28 At a nearby gas station, Martin swerved in front of a white Toyota Corolla,
26:34 and got out of the BMW, brandishing his rifle at the 20-year-old driver and passenger,
26:39 35-year-old Glenn Pierce, and his 28-year-old girlfriend Zoe Hall.
26:44 When Martin pulled open the passenger door,
26:47 and began attempting to force Zoe out of the car,
26:50 Glenn got out and tried to stop it.
26:52 However, he was forced at gunpoint into the trunk of the BMW.
26:56 When Glenn was locked inside the vehicle,
26:58 Martin returned to the Toyota and murdered Zoe as she desperately tried to escape.
27:04 Now with a hostage, Martin headed back towards the place where the massacre had first started,
27:09 the seascape Bed and Breakfast.
27:12 After arriving there, he forced Glenn out of the trunk and into the hotel,
27:16 where he handcuffed him to the stair rail,
27:19 and went back outside to shoot at passing motorists, and set fire to the BMW.
27:26 A siege is underway in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur,
27:29 where at least 25 people have been shot dead in Australia's worst massacre.
27:34 Another 26 are wounded.
27:36 The gunman is holding police at bay.
27:38 He's believed to be holding at least one person hostage.
27:41 Most of the victims are reported to be tourists,
27:43 visiting the historic penal colony at Port Arthur.
27:46 A few minutes ago, reports put the death toll at 25 dead.
27:50 Some of those killed apparently incinerated in a car near the ruins.
27:54 Another 15 people have been badly injured.
27:57 Within a few minutes, two police officers responding to the reports of gunfire at the seascape
28:04 were also fired upon and pinned down outside.
28:07 They called for backup, and after the arrival of a specially trained police unit,
28:11 a long, intense standoff began.
28:14 It's understood the siege has now moved to a cottage on the site,
28:18 the armed man apparently holding one, possibly more, hostages.
28:22 Police have surrounded the cottage as special operations group officers continue negotiations.
28:28 It's understood the gunman is a 22-year-old armed with a machine gun.
28:33 What sparked the massacre isn't known at this stage.
28:36 Special police hotlines have been set up for people who fear for the safety of relatives.
28:41 It ended the following morning, after Martin murdered Glenn and set fire to the seascape,
28:49 causing smoke and flames to eventually force him out of the property
28:53 and into the custody of heavily armed police.
28:56 The person has been taken into police custody,
28:59 conveyed to the Royal Ayobata Hospital, suffering from burns, no gunshot wounds.
29:03 The killer was taken by ambulance to Hobart Hospital, under police guard and with his head covered.
29:09 He'll appear in court as soon as doctors allow.
29:12 Hospital staff have been praised for the way they coped with the emergency management,
29:16 denying rumours that some nurses refused to treat the gunman.
29:20 Adam Moulders, 7 News.
29:22 After all the carnage had ended, 35 people were dead, and a further 23 were seriously injured.
29:32 Martin's true motives have never been clear.
29:35 It is widely believed that the drama surrounding the purchase of the seascape
29:40 and the Dunblane massacre that had occurred just over a month before,
29:44 when a man opened fire in a Scottish primary school, killing 16 children and their teacher,
29:49 were possibly two major factors that led to Martin committing such an awful act.
29:54 Although Martin has never truly explained it.
29:57 Superintendent Jack Johnson is in charge of police operations.
30:05 David Johnson spoke to him a short time ago.
30:07 Now when you arrived at the scene here, I understand that you described the scene in the tea rooms as something like war.
30:13 I was very perturbed when I went into those facilities down there in the restaurant,
30:19 because whilst I haven't seen a war zone,
30:22 that's what I've seen on the television and depicted in other arenas as being a war zone.
30:28 The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader and Democrats Leader are heading for Port Arthur this morning
30:33 to pay their respects to the victims of Sunday's massacre.
30:36 They will join the Governor-General for a memorial service in Hobart later today.
30:40 Last night at St Mary's here in Hobart, a very moving mass attended by community leaders
30:47 and people from throughout this district, including school children,
30:50 who at one stage during the mass lit a candle for every one of the 35 victims.
30:56 It was very touching.
30:58 Slowly details are emerging about Martin Bryant,
31:02 the man arrested and being held in police custody in hospital.
31:06 The picture taking shape is that of an introverted loner, prone to violent and unpredictable mood swings.
31:13 When asked in a police interview if he could explain why he had done it,
31:19 Martin simply smiled at the investigators and said,
31:22 "I'd really like to help you out, but I can't."
31:25 When he was told how many people he had murdered,
31:29 he just nodded repeatedly and said,
31:31 "It's sad, isn't it? It's horrendous. It beggars belief. It's horrific for anyone to go down there and do a thing like that."
31:39 How many people died altogether?
31:41 Including the people at Seastrake, 35.
31:45 And there was people injured too?
31:48 Yeah.
31:49 Many?
31:50 Quite a lot.
31:51 And, uh, approximately 20.
31:55 Seriously, or not?
31:59 I told you what you'd done.
32:02 What happened?
32:03 It's still 35 people.
32:07 And injured several others.
32:09 Martin, that's not funny.
32:12 I can't explain anything because I don't know anything about killing, is it?
32:16 It's not funny, is it?
32:18 No, it's not.
32:19 It is what I'm talking about. So why do you laugh?
32:22 What would you think about a person who has killed 35 people?
32:26 What would be your opinion of that person?
32:28 That's a wee bit awful.
32:32 Are they the same?
32:33 I don't know. And they reckon others were injured.
32:41 There were many injured. There were two little babies killed, shot.
32:46 There have been many witnesses who have given very graphic descriptions of you being responsible for killing those people.
33:00 It's horrendous.
33:03 I saw this car ride by.
33:06 I got up and turned up the person in the car.
33:10 Who?
33:11 Who?
33:12 Him in the boot, who had the gun.
33:15 Which gun did you have?
33:17 I had the, um...
33:19 Mr Warren Holden.
33:20 Hiya.
33:21 Hey.
33:22 See, if people didn't do these unfortunate things, you guys would never have a job.
33:29 I'm sure you'll find the person in the car's gone.
33:33 I don't find that very funny statement at all, mate. I'll be quite honest.
33:41 You should put that on recording.
33:43 It's still recording in his presence, but it is on recording.
33:47 The outrage from the public was enormous and immediate.
33:53 The senselessness of it, and how easy it had been for him to acquire the weapons, led to the then Prime Minister John Howard imposing nationwide restrictions on all purchases of rifles and shotguns, and bans on other firearms.
34:06 These laws remain in place.
34:08 Prime Minister John Howard responded immediately, bringing forward a meeting of state and federal police ministers to Friday week to implement uniform national gun laws.
34:19 There is no legitimate interest served, in my view, by the free availability in this country of weapons of this kind.
34:27 On the 22nd of November 1996, he was sentenced to 35 life sentences, with an additional 1,652 years.
34:39 He will die in prison.
34:41 In his usual way, he said something probably quite inappropriate. He said he was happy with the sentence.
34:47 But I think he meant it was appropriate.
34:50 What was the first thing he said to you after he said he was happy with it?
34:53 He said he'd like to have another can of Pepsi.
34:56 Really? And did he? Could he?
34:58 Yeah, and I shared it with him.
35:07 As of 2023, he has never fully disclosed his motives for the massacre, and is currently housed at Risdon Prison, where he has attempted to end his life on multiple occasions.
35:17 His only visitor is his mother, Karleen.
35:21 Martin is in jail. He will never be free, will he?
35:26 No.
35:27 Who will visit him when you're no longer around?
35:30 Probably nobody.
35:33 And his psychological condition, his mental state, what's he like?
35:36 That's confidential.
35:38 Even if I knew, I couldn't talk about it.
35:42 All I can say is that Martin was diagnosed about three years ago as having Asperger's Syndrome.
35:50 And he's happy where he is at the moment.
35:57 Martin always, when he was questioned, probably for weeks after, before I saw him again, he always said he was never in Port Arthur at Broad Arrow.
36:15 And you believed him?
36:19 Yes. There's no evidence that Martin was there.
36:24 But none of that was needed, because Martin said in court, "Yes, I did it." And you went along with it.
36:30 Exactly.
36:31 And now you wish you hadn't.
36:33 Of course. I'll regret it for the rest of my life.
36:36 A lot of people on that day came forward after, and people who knew Martin, had known Martin for years.
36:47 And they said, as far as they were concerned, they didn't recognise the gunman as being Martin Bryant.
36:56 So many people would be very upset to hear you deny that this happened as people understand it happened.
37:07 What do you say to them?
37:09 But there's also a lot of people that realise that Martin didn't have a trial and that there was no evidence proven whether he was the gunman.
37:22 What had started as a normal Sunday ended in tragedy.
37:30 The lives of so many people taken or destroyed.
37:36 The ruins of the Broad Arrow Café are now memorial to all of those who lost their lives that day.
37:42 For the residents of Port Arthur, they will never be forgotten.
37:48 [Music]
37:52 [Music]
37:56 [Music]
37:59 [Music]
38:02 [Music]
38:07 [Music]
38:12 [Music]
38:17 [Music]
38:27 For those of you that like to listen on the go, we now have our episodes in podcast form.
38:32 And you can now find this via the link in our description box, or by searching 'Truly Criminal Podcast' on your podcasting platforms.
38:39 [Music]
38:44 [Music]
38:48 [Music]
38:51 (gentle music)