Warrnambool crime: Graeme Slattery, David Fleming, Timothy Devey, Gregory Robinson

A man who forced a “family slave” to perform naked cartwheels, eat poo, and get a “toe rag” tattoo is one of Warrnambool’s worst fiends. Here are some of the most depraved.

Graeme Slattery when he was released on parole from Margoneet Prison. Picture: Mike Keating

Warrnambool is known for its beautiful beaches, whale watching and horse racing, but little is known about the hideous crimes that have emerged out of the popular seaside town.

SADISTIC SLAVE MASTER

Graeme Slattery is escorted by police at the Warrnambool Court on November 12, 2002.

A sadistic slave master was jailed for 14 years for a reign of terror where he brutalised men, women, and children.

In 2004, Graeme Slattery was sentenced in the County Court on almost 70 charges including causing serious injury, false imprisonment, indecent assault, fraud, and assault.

Slattery, a former Warrnambool resident, was paroled in May 2014, a year before his jail term was due to finish.

A woman he enslaved during a horrific three-year campaign of torture was forced to drink motor oil and eat excrement.

He took macabre pleasure in beating and humiliating victims.

He kept a woman for 12 months, between 1998 and 1999, in the garage of the Warrnambool home he shared with his six children and wife.

The “family slave” was made to perform naked cartwheels for Slattery’s mates and forced to get a tattoo with the words “toe rag” — his nickname for her.

In his 2004 sentencing, Judge Graeme Crossley said Slattery had humiliated and inflicted pain to satisfy his cruel, macabre humour.

Jailing him for at least 11 and a half years, Judge Crossley said Slattery showed no remorse and there was nothing before him to suggest there was any likelihood of rehabilitation.

COOK CARVES-UP BOOZE BUDDY

A former Geelong chef fatally stabbed a drinking buddy following a dispute over a $100 debt.

Timothy Dennis Devey must serve at least five and a half years in jail after he pleaded guilty to the December 2018 manslaughter of Craig Andrew Blachford.

Devey was drinking with friends, including Mr Blachford, at a Warrnambool unit on December 8, when the atmosphere became “hostile”.

The victim was “angry and frustrated” with the accused who then told the group he had once slept with a 15-year-old girl.

Mr Blachford called Devey a paedophile before demanding he “f … off home”.

Devey told the group he was leaving and put on his bike helmet, before Mr Blachford demanded he pay him $100.

He had owed Mr Blachford’s partner $150, but had ­repaid the debt earlier that day.

The victim then punched Devey’s bike helmet and later grabbed at his bag.

The pair scuffled when Devey stabbed Mr Blanchford once in the abdomen with a knife, causing a 17cm wound.

Mr Blachford said, “I’ve been stabbed”, before collapsing as Devey fled.

The injured man was ­treated by paramedics and taken to Warrnambool Hospital, where he was operated on twice, but later died on December 8.

Devey was originally charged with murder, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter at the County Court in 2020.

Judge James Elliott sentenced Devey to seven years and six months’ jail, with a non-parole period of five years and six months.

COLD CASE KILLER

Sydney restaurant hostess Johanne Hatty was murdered in 1984.

A one-legged man was found guilty of killing a young woman in Sydney 23 years ago, with the help of DNA technology.

The body 24-year-old Johanne Hatty, a restaurant hostess, was found at a harbourside lookout near her home at Neutral Bay, in Sydney’s north, in February 1984.

Years on DNA technology helped reopen the cold case in 2004 and eventually convict Warrnambool invalid pensioner David Graham Fleming over Mr Hatty, who was strangled at a lookout near her home.

In September 2020, A NSW Supreme Court jury found Fleming guilty of Ms Harry’s 1984 murder.

Detectives arrested Fleming in 2005, after matching his DNA profile to semen swabbed from Ms Hatty’s body.

The restaurant hostess was strangled on her way home from a night shift and then sexually assaulted.

At the time of the murder, Fleming, who had just served six years’ jail in Queensland for rape, lived in a hostel 600m from the lookout.

Fleming, whose left leg has since been amputated because of a bullet wound, was arrested at his home near Warrnambool.

The wheelchair-bound man was sentenced to 21 years behind bars.

JEALOUS THUG

A Warrnambool man who threw a billiard ball at a barman, and knocked another man out was given a suspended jail sentence.

Gregory Robinson, then 38, punched a man unconscious after discovering his girlfriend in a passionate embrace with someone else before smashing a shop window opposite the Central Hotel in Colac, and then assaulting a police officer as he tried to arrest him on October 31, 2003.

Colac Magistrates Court heard the police officer punched Robinson two or three times to the face in self defence after Robinson lunged at him and tried to put him in a headlock as they wrestled on the ground.

The court heard Robinson had earlier punched a man unconscious and thrown a billiard ball at a barman, but missed, after the barman asked him to leave the hotel.

Robinson, of Balmoral Road, pleaded guilty in Colac Magistrates’ Court to discharging a missile, criminal damage and attempted criminal damage.

He was also found guilty of two counts of resisting arrest and one count of assaulting police.

John Sutton, for Robinson, said his client was in an emotional state after finding his girlfriend with another man at the hotel and regretted his actions.

He said the defendant had suffered a significant physical injury and financial penalty as a result of the incident.

Magistrate Ron Saines said jail was an appropriate sentence for Robinson who had a prior conviction for a crime of violence and had shown no remorse for his offending.

He sentenced Robinson to six months’ jail suspended for 18 months and fined him $600.

He was also ordered to pay $2480 restitution for the smashed window.

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