Hindley St siege gunman Damien Keith tells court he never threatened to kill his own daughter
THE man who sparked last year’s chaotic Hindley St high-speed chase and siege now insists he never threatened to kill his own daughter — and wants access to police records to prove it.
- Gunshot that ended a night of chaos
- Revealed: Hindley St ‘kidnapper’ is Damien Keith Hall
- Witness’ shock: ‘I’m surprised no one was killed’
- Neighbour: ‘We all just feared the worst’
- Officer praised for calm courage in city shooting
- Discount: Hindley St ‘kidnapper’ offered plea bargain deal
- Hindley St ‘kidnapper’ takes bargain, dodges 20-year sentence
THE man who sparked last year’s chaotic Hindley St high-speed chase and siege now insists he never threatened to kill his own daughter — and wants access to police records to prove it.
Despite admitting he terrorised his former partner and their children, Damien Keith Hall wants to challenge a key component of the plea bargain deal that spared him a 20-year jail term.
On Thursday, the District Court heard Hall was shot after he placed the toddler on his lap and STAR Group officers heard him say “I will kill her, I will kill her”.
Yan Robson, for Hall, told the court her client never said those words — nor did he point his weapon, now confirmed to have been a toy cap gun, at the three-year-old.
She said SA Police should release audio recordings of her client’s conversations with hostage negotiators, claiming they would prove him right.
“We accept he was in the car, in possession of the toy cap gun and had his daughter on his lap,” she said.
“We appreciate that aroused a fear, in police officers, that she was under threat, and that they would have had a fear for her life.
“But we cannot possibly admit he uttered those words ... he maintains his denial of any form of threat to kill his daughter.”
Hall, 26, is awaiting sentencing for offences including false imprisonment and threatening to kill of endanger the life of a person.
In November last year, he went to the Cumberland Park home of his former partner while armed with the fake gun.
Hall forced the woman and their children, aged three and seven months, into a car while also threatening her neighbour.
He then led police on a high-speed chase — with the woman and children in the car — that lasted 90 minutes despite the use of a helicopter and road spikes.
Hall drove through Rundle Mall and down Hindley St, where he threatened police with the cap gun before STAR Group officers fired a single shot, ending the incident.
Originally charged with offences carrying a maximum 20-year jail term, Hall brokered a plea bargain with prosecutors in June this year.
A month later, he pleaded guilty to what prosecutors called a “rolled up” set of allegations — and to having indecently assaulted a person at Blakeview 11 months prior to his rampage.
On Thursday, Ms Robson said her client’s guilty plea was not entered on the basis that he made a threat, but rather that officers perceived his actions to be a threat.
“He had a child sitting on his lap in a chaotic situation where police believed his weapon to be a real gun,” she said.
“We are willing to admit that the firearm was held in proximity to the child’s head and neck region.”
Katharyn Johnston, prosecuting, said the case against Hall had not changed.
“We maintain he said ‘I will kill her, I will kill her’ ... Hall was fired upon because the officers feared he was about to kill the child ... that has always been our position,” she said.
Judge Michael Boylan remanded Hall in custody to a disputed facts hearing — where both he and the officers will give evidence — next month.