Bevan Spencer von Einem’s evil secret denies us justice | Mike Rann
No one will mourn Bevan von Einem but someone knows what he’s kept hidden all this time, writes former Premier Mike Rann. Justice must still be done.
Bevan Spencer von Einem is the embodiment of evil.
His death will not heal the never ending hurt he and his accomplices inflicted on the families and friends of the young people they abducted, sexually abused, tortured and killed.
von Einem’s crimes traumatised our community.
The so called “Family Murders” he was involved with followed the abduction of the Beaumont children in 1966, the disappearance of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon in 1973, and the Truro murders in 1976-77.
These, and the so called Snowtown mass murders that came later, created a climate of fear in our community that left the deepest, festering scar on our state.
Community safety rightly became a prevailing issue.
Despite the best efforts of police and prosecutors von Einem’s accomplices were not brought to justice.
A reward of up to $1m is still offered for information leading to a murder conviction.
Someone must have substantive information about who else was involved.
They must come forward. Justice has not yet been done.
I was working as an adviser to premier John Bannon during the time of the “ Family Murders” and the trial that followed.
South Australians were sickened by what they read in The Advertiser and saw on TV.
People felt deeply for the families of those who were killed while becoming more fearful for the safety of their own children.
There is no doubt that this case and others strongly influenced my government’s efforts to substantially toughen up South Australia’s criminal laws, across the board, with tougher sentences for violent crimes including child sexual offences.
We also scrapped the bizarre law that prevented people from being prosecuted for child sex offences committed before 1982.
New DNA technologies were of great assistance in solving “cold cases” and we substantially increased police numbers and resources.
We were criticised by some for this harder approach and for rejecting the recommended release on parole of some of our worst offenders. I make no apologies.
In 2007, von Einem became eligible for parole.
I promised the families of the victims and the public that von Einem would never be released from prison.
We backed that up by introducing special “dangerous offender” legislation.
No one with any shred of decency will mourn von Einem.
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