Ivan Milat has had no say in the preparation of his funeral as he remains in hospital
During his 1996 trial, it was revealed Ivan Milat’s favourite song Slim Dusty’s Black Smoke Blowing over 18 Wheels but his family do not know whether he wants this played at his funeral.
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Dying serial killer Ivan Milat has not told his family which one of his favourite trucking songs he wants played at his funeral.
His brother Bill Milat told The Daily Telegraph that he had not been able to speak to his brother for two weeks.
It emerged in his trial in 1996 for the murders of seven backpackers that the former road worker, who took his nickname Mac from the Mac truck he drove, loved playing Slim Dusty’s Black Smoke Blowing over 18 Wheels loudly on his cassette player.
Ivan Milat, 74, remains in a secure annex of the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney after being moved from Long Bay's prison hospital earlier this week and Bill Milat said the backpacker murderer had not ruled out becoming an organ donor.
“I haven’t asked him that question. But if anyone in the family needed something he would. He’s one of those types of guys who would donate his organs," Bill Milat said today.
He said he wanted to spend as much time as he can with his brother.
“I’ve very hopeful we will see him tomorrow, we have a visit booked," he said.
"The hospital cancelled our visits on Monday and today, they said he was too crook,” he said.
“They never gave us a reason they just say the booking has been cancelled.
“I want to be with him for his last breaths.”
Bill Milat said that he and his wife Carol would be organising Ivan's funeral but the family had not made any plans for it yet.
They want a private ceremony “to stop it becoming a circus” and Ivan has given no input about his farewell from behind bars and Bill Milat said the family did not think he would die soon.
Milat was found guilty of murdering Melbourne couple Deborah Everist, 19, and James Gibson, 19; German traveller Simone Schmidl, 21; German couple Anja Habschied, 20, and Gabor Neugebauer, 21; and British friends Joanne Walters, 22, and Caroline Clarke, 21 on July 27, 1996.
During his sentencing remarks Justice David Hunt, AO, QC said milat should serve penal servitude “for the term of your natural life”.
The once musclebound road worker who worked out at home with two buckets full of cement on a pole is now frail after losing 30 kilos during treatment for terminal oesophagus and stomach cancer.
But Bill Milat believes recent reports about Ivan’s health are wrong.
“He’s not on his deathbed, all that stuff is wrong,” he said.
“The security at the jail have told us all that the reports are false. He’s never been in the ICU.
“He had trouble breathing the other day, they had to put him on breathing equipment.”
The family and Ivan are still protesting his innocence despite the overwhelming evidence that convicted him of seven separate murder charges.
“They treat us like a guilty person, I don’t believe Ivan is guilty,” Bill said.