Sons of Adelaide criminal Rodney Clavell were on terror watch list before being shot by Victorian police
Two SA brothers shot in a dramatic confrontation with Victorian police are the sons of notorious fugitive Rodney Clavell, who was behind a 2014 siege in Adelaide’s CBD, while two of their brothers have done lengthy jail terms.
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Two South Australian brothers who attacked Victorian police are the sons of notorious fugitive Rodney Clavell, who took his own life during a dramatic 2014 siege in the Adelaide CBD.
Joshua Clavell and his younger sibling, Joel, are recovering in hospital from gunshot wounds sustained at an isolated River Murray camping ground near the Victorian-NSW border on Wednesday.
Their father, Rodney Clavell , died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound while surrounded by police inside Marilyn’s Studio on King William St in the city five years ago.
Victoria Police on Thursday said Joshua, 30, and Joel, 19, had taken up residence on the banks of the river rather than being on holiday.
They said Joshua converted to fundamental Islam several years ago and had indoctrinated two of his three brothers. He had been watched by counter-terrorism police for two years.
“Both these persons of interest are what we could call Muslim reverts,” Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Ross Guenther said.
“He (Joshua) was on a list. We were seeking to understand whether he was a risk to the community.
“I understand (Joshua) has a history of a pretty strong hatred of the police.”
Senior police defended the actions of officers whose vehicle was rammed before the brothers brandished a knife and an axe in a showdown at Barnawartha North, near Albury.
Residents said the brothers had been camping at the Richardsons Bend reserve for up to five weeks.
The incident unfolded after officers performed what was described as a “precautionary” check on the brothers, who were unexpectedly spotted at a service station.
Police said the brothers then rammed an unmarked car and got out of their vehicle with weapons — a knife and a tomahawk.
Joshua was shot by police first after he lunged at the officers and was taken to Albury Base Hospital, where he remains in a serious condition under police guard.
Joel was wounded after he refused to surrender and is also in a serious condition under police guard at The Alfred hospital in Melbourne.
Police said Joshua recently travelled to Bangladesh to marry.
“I’m guessing that there was an opportunity for these individuals to be off the grid,” Mr Guenther said.
“Perhaps they felt they were under too much spotlight.”
A coronial inquest into Rodney Clavell’s death found SA Police did all they could to prevent his suicide — rejected by his family as “a load of crap”.
The inquest heard he had methamphetamines, cocaine and steroids in his system and was sweating and agitated as he realised there was no escaping police surrounding the brothel.
Rodney’s sister, Rayleen, said outside court that she would never accept police had chosen the safest way of capturing her brother.
“They could have stood outside and grabbed him when he came out … obviously we will never know now if the outcome was going to be the same,” she said.
Rayleen said Rodney, a father of 11, was “no angel” but “wasn’t the monster they created either”.
Two of Clavell’s other sons, Daniel and Richard, have also clashed with the law in South Australia.
Daniel was jailed in May 2014 for three years and four months, with a non-parole period of 26 months, for a steroid-fuelled spree of driving, drug and assault offences.
He repeatedly drove unlicensed, possessed steroids, assaulted a man without provocation and intimidated another by “baring his teeth like a dog” between August 2013 and January 2014.
Lawyers for Daniel said he began taking steroids as a result of his father’s influence but had changed his life by converting to Islam and studying the Koran.
In sentencing Daniel, Magistrate Sue O’Connor acknowledged his life with his father was “disruptive, dysfunctional” and “lacking in censure”.
However, she said his offences displayed belligerence and defiance and that his steroid use was prompted by “vanity and health”.
Richard is serving a 7 ½-year sentence, with a non-parole period of four years for firearms and drug trafficking offences over an incident at West Beach in September 2013. His District Court trial heard that, when stopped by police, Richard — who was on parole at the time — gave a false name and then ran away.
The court heard it took three “one-to-two second bursts of capsicum spray” to bring him down — bursts that burned the face of the officer but initially “had no impact” on Richard.
When an officer grabbed him, a loaded .22 calibre handgun fell out from under his shirt. Officers recovered more bullets, and drugs, from Richard’s bumbag. In sentencing Richard in March 2015, Judge Michael Boylan said the-then 29-year-old recognised he had wasted his life “and, in the words of your doctor, are ‘battle weary’”.
“Your father’s death has had a major impact upon your life, you no longer associate with negative peers and are highly motivated to rehabilitate,” Judge Boylan said.
FOR CRISIS SUPPORT AND SUICIDE PREVENTION CONTACT lifeline ON 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636
Originally published as Sons of Adelaide criminal Rodney Clavell were on terror watch list before being shot by Victorian police
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