Nuriootpa siege gunman Tony Douglas Grosser to be tracked upon release from prison for shooting police officer Derrick McManus

NURIOOTPA siege gunman Tony Grosser will be electronically tracked when he is released from prison for shooting an elite STAR Group officer.

Alleged SA Nuriootpa shooting siege gunman Anthony (Tony) Douglas Grosser at Moppa Road farmhouse crime scene accompanied by lawyers and correctional service officers 17 Sep 1996. /Court/cases/Grosser

• SUPREME COURT: Nuriootpa siege gunman ’no longer a threat’
• ANALYSIS: New laws designed to protect SA community
• BACKGROUND: Barossa siege gunman refused parole again
• ‘SPOOKED’: Tory Grosser fears corrupt police, mafia will kill him

NURIOOTPA siege gunman Tony Douglas Grosser will be electronically tracked when he is released from a 22-year prison term on Monday.

Supreme Court judge Tim Stanley today imposed an interim order for Grosser to be monitored and banned from contacting victims of his 1994 siege in which he shot a STAR Group officer 14 times.

The strict conditions are the first time the newly-enacted High Risk Offenders Act has been used on a convicted violent criminal.

While Grosser’s lawyer last week told the court his client was no longer a danger to the community and ‘disavows all forms of violence”, Justice Stanley found there was good reason to use the new laws — for the time being at least.

The weapon used by Tony Grosser during the Nuriootpa siege.

Justice Stanley will await medical reports on Grosser’s mental state and further information from SA Police and the Parole Board before hearing submissions on whether the order remained permanently against the gunman.

Grosser shot STAR Group officer Derrick McManus when he and other officers went to arrest Grosser at his Nuriootpa home in 1994.

The shooting sparked a dramatic 40-hour siege in which Grosser fired more than 2500 rounds of ammunition at police.

The siege ended when Grosser was shot in the head and he was convicted of attempted murder and five counts of endangering life.

STAR Group officer is taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

The convictions were quashed on appeal.

Grosser was again found guilty after a second trial.

The court last week heard Grosser had been diagnosed as suffering from a delusional disorder or a paranoid personality disorder.

He maintained his life would be in danger from corrupt police or the mafia upon his release.

His lawyer, Oliver Koehn, said Grosser had started taking antipsychotic medication last November but had ceased in recent weeks because of severe physical reactions.

Derrick McManus remains a police officer and is a motivational speaker. Pic: Tricia Watkinson.

Grosser did not oppose conditions that he be supervised by a community corrections officer, but did not want his address known publicly or to be electronically monitored.

Grosser was previously rejected for parole because the Parole Board ruled him a continuing danger.

Under previous laws he would have been let free with no conditions.

If Grosser breaches the conditions, he can be again locked up.

Lawyers for Attorney-General John Rau said the electronic monitoring would allow authorities to quickly react if he went near victims or their families’ homes.

Mr Rau said he was pleased the laws, which were enacted in January, were being used by the courts.

“It means that before these orders being made by the court, this particular individual, when their prison term ended they would be walking out of prison without there being any restriction on what they can and cannot do,” Mr Rau said.

“The law was brought in to deal with situations like this, and I am very satisfied that His Honour has applied the law exactly as it was intended.”

Mr Rau said the legislation was enacted to deal with “rare cases” such as Grosser’s.

“Everyone hopes that upon his release he will do the right thing, but these laws give an extra level of protection for the community,” he said.