Father of Damian Eyre continues fight for coronial inquest into Walsh St killings
TWO young policemen who gave their lives for the community in the shocking Walsh St shootings have been honoured for their courage, 30 years on. It comes as the father of one of the policemen continues his fight to find out what really happened.
Cold Cases
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cold Cases. Followed categories will be added to My News.
FRANK Eyre hasn’t given up on justice. At 83, and 30 years after the execution of his policeman son Damian, he still believes in the truth.
But he needs something official. A finding to address the numbness that never dimmed.
He believes that Jedd Houghton ambushed his son and his police partner Steven Tynan when the officers responded to a report of an abandoned car in Walsh St, South Yarra in 1988.
MURDERED POLICEMAN’S FAMILY CALLS FOR INQUEST
PETER McEVOY BREAKS SILENCE ON POLICE KILLINGS
BOOK CLAIMS THAT A POLICE HIT ‘LED TO WALSH ST KILLINGS’
He thinks Victor Peirce was there, too, along with another career criminal, Peter McEvoy.
The young officers didn’t know their killers. Frank Eyre, like most observers, considers his son a revenge victim for the shooting — 13 hours earlier — of armed robber Graeme Jensen, by the armed robbery squad.
Steven, 22, had just met a girl. Damian, 20, was a country footballer. They weren’t killed for who they were, but for the uniforms they wore.
Frank Eyre believes, as many do, that Peirce’s then-wife, Wendy, has answers that would further his search.
She went to jail for perjury after agreeing to testify against her husband, then changing her mind. Years ago, a media go-between told Eyre of Wendy’s apparent desire to apologise to his family.
Eyre is not sure how she lives with herself, he says, though criticising her isn’t going to help.
Anyway, today, on this solemn anniversary, he has memories to cherish.
Such as the posthumous Valour Badge Damian Eyre and his partner were recognised with today.
Three decades on, the haunting memory of the Wednesday morning the young officers were gunned down on duty was fresh in the minds of those who loved them and the police who served beside them at a memorial today.
Wendy Tynan said it was a “special” day and she felt her son, who died aged just 22, was with her as she, daughter Sue and son Paul accepted the posthumous award.
“I think of Steve and how he’d love it,” Mrs Tynan said.
“He’s always with us … just part of the family, he’s always on my shoulder.”
Frank Eyre, a retired policeman, likes to recall the professionalism of his son in a family line of officers, his love of Richmond, and his chat with his mother Carmel on the night before he died, when Damian phoned for a recipe.
“If everybody grew to become more like he was, this would be a magic world to live in,” he says.
Eyre has lobbied for a coronial inquest for decades, and cannot understand why it hasn’t happened.
The dreadful events at South Yarra are inextricably linked to Jensen’s death in Narre Warren, he says.
Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt agrees a coronial inquest into the Walsh St police murders is needed.
“When killers who perpetrate such a heinous act go unpunished, it remains an open wound for the families of the victims and the police force more broadly, one that will only heal when the offenders are brought to justice,’’ he said.
“Despite the time that has passed, that must remain a priority.’’
Eyre talks regularly to former Det-Insp John Noonan, who headed the taskforce investigating the Walsh St deaths, and now assistant commissioner Robert Hill, who was then a detective charged and acquitted of Jensen’s murder.
The killings preceded the deaths of Houghton, then Gary Abdullah, both by police, triggering inquiries, whispers of political interference and a climate of suspicion.
Former Premier Jeff Kennett calls Walsh St the “most defining thing” in Victoria since the Ronald Ryan hanging.
To this day, questions remain unanswered. To resolve one death, Eyre says, you have to resolve another. He may die waiting, he says.
“But while I’m still kicking, I’ll never give up.”
ASHTON: “IT’S ONE OF OUR MOST IMPORTANT DAYS”
EXPERIENCED officers told today’s memorial how October 12 1988 changed the force and taught officers not to be “complacent” about the risks of the job.
But while a blue uniform could make them a target, it also unified the men and women in the “policing family”.
Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said Victoria Police was committed to remembering the service of the two young officers and would continue to do so.
“Both young men were much loved by their colleagues,” Mr Ashton said.
“They come here every year because they want to pay their respects and they want to remember.”
“It’s one of our most important days, it’s a day of solemn remembrance.
“We wanted to make this a special year so making the valour awards available this year was an opportunity to do that.”
Originally published as Father of Damian Eyre continues fight for coronial inquest into Walsh St killings