Cop came face-to-face with Bourke St killer, let him escape
Police hunting James Gargasoulas before his fatal Bourke St attack came face-to-face with him, but then let him go, an inquest has heard.
Law & Order
Don't miss out on the headlines from Law & Order. Followed categories will be added to My News.
AN officer hunting James Gargasoulas came face-to-face with him just after he had stabbed his brother — but allowed him to get away and kept the encounter secret from colleagues.
Gargasoulas was ranting and raving about the end of the world and sped away from Det Sgt Jim Tzefer who was almost across the road from the Windsor scene where Gargasoulas had just tried to kill his brother Angelo.
Despite knowing the danger he posed, Sgt Tzefer, who was also in a vehicle, told a junior colleague they would not pursue him and carried on to the stabbing scene – even though he knew Gargasoulas had already been connected to the scene.
Sgt Tzefer conceded he knew Gargasoulas had been named in connection with the brutal stabbing but defended not pursuing him because he was “not a suspect”.
His extraordinary decision was branded “ridiculous” by the barrister acting for the vicitims of the Bourke St attack.
Aine Magee QC demanded to know what was going through the officer’s mind at the time when he knew he was driving erratically, agitated and his behaviour spiralling out of control.
“You knew he’d been named in connection with the stabbing … is there any reason why you didn’t pursue … at that stage take steps to follow and locate this dangerous man?’
Sgt Tzefer said he didn’t want to “taint” other police officer’s perception of the Windsor crime scene, but later said a better word would be “confuse” them.
His “strategy” was to have the various police units focusing only on the stabbing, which at that stage could have been a homicide.
He said he believed his decision-making and rationale was “sound” – and he insisted he would do it again.
A colleague who was in the same vehicle asked him “should we go after him” but he overruled him.
“This’ll be James Gargasoulas again … just all units beware,” the message over policed radio said.
Ms Magee put it to him Gargasoulas was on the run for violent offences, and his task the night before had been trying to locate him.
He was then linked as a person of interest to the stabbing, but he still made the “deliberate” choice to let him go.
“I didn’t want members going to the scene of the stabbing with two different thoughts of two different jobs …” the officer explained.
In his initial evidence he told of meeting Gargasoulas who was in a stolen car and yelling about “Armageddon”. He also spoke about Detective Sergeant Murray Gentner – a police officer the inquest into the Bourke St deaths has heard he was fixated on.
He had been tasked with finding Gargasoulas since a vicious assault where his mother’s partner had a burning bible thrust into his face.
He told the court he didn’t pursue then because he feared Gargasoulas was “baiting” him. But he did not say he was aware he had already been linked to the stabbing of his brother, which was the very incident Sgt Tzefer was heading to.
That admission came under cross examination by Ms Magee, who told his decision was “ridiculous” given the danger the offender posed and the fact he could have been pursued.
“I stand by my decision at the time,” he told her.
He confirmed when they finally reported the sighting of Gargasoulas over the police radio, they failed to mention he was acting erratically, “rambling” and was driving dangerously.
Told they were important factors to leave out he said:” I accept that.”
Ms Magee asked him if he would do anything different – he denied that he would.
“Do you accept that decision may not have been the best decision at the time?”
“Maybe,” he replied.
A friend of the Bourke St killer was reduced to tears while telling the Bourke Street inquest Gargasoulas was increasingly unhinged and had spoken of his desire to “mow down” strangers.
The friend, who has name suppression, said yesterday Detective Senior Constable Murray Gentner spoke to them on January 19, 2017, the day before the tragedy.
He said Gargasoulas was “dangerous” and “out of control” and asked they get in touch if they saw him.
The friend was told Senior Constable Gentner was working until 1am and his phone would be on all night.
Aine Magee QC, representing the victims families, asked if “anything happened that was your point of contact … your expectation was he would be at the other end of the line?”.
The friend agreed it was.
Gargasoulas did arrive at the friend’s home – and the state he was in was terrifying.
“He was acting very paranoid – he didn’t trust anyone, was all over the place – he kept looking behind him, looking at windows and the door [and] was just in a real paranoid sense of mind,” the friend said.
Because he was “scary and unpredictable” the friend tried calling and texting Senior Constable Gentner, but he didn’t respond.
At the time Gargasoulas was convinced the officer was trying to kill him.
.
The witness said Gargasoulas told them: “I’m going to do something drastic; take everyone out. They can suffer the consequences. Watch me, you’ll see me tonight on the news. The police have stopped me before but they ain’t gonna get me this time. I’ll make you believe me.”
“He was determined about doing something, I wasn’t too sure what he meant … he was definitely on a mission – he was determined,” the friend said.
The inquest heard the friend sent a series of text messages to Senior Constable Gentner telling him “he’s scary and cooked. Help” and later that he was in a Commodore and “off his nana … call me ASAP”.
Soon after Gargasoulas saw random people on the street and vowed “I’m going to mow them down” but the friend begged him not too.
Hours after the conversation Gargasoulas drove through Bourke St Mall killing six people and injuring dozens of others.
Later that day friend spoke to Senior Constable Gentner and asked him why he didn’t answer his phone because “you said it would be on all night”.
Ben Ihle, representing Senior Constable Gentner, asked if there was anything stopping them calling triple-0 or the local police station when he didn’t answer.
The friend said there wasn’t.