Wieambilla inquest: Gareth Train’s ‘I will find you’ threats to stepson Aidan Train
Gareth Train wrote to his stepson Aidan in a threatening tone in relation to any missing persons report made about his brother Nathaniel, the inquest has heard.
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Crazed conspiracy theorist Gareth Train made chilling threats to his stepson Aidan saying “trouble will be delivered back two fold”, the Wieambilla inquest has heard.
Constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow were murdered by three delusional conspiracy theorists when they arrived at a Wieambilla bush block to conduct a missing persons inquiry on December 12, 2022.
The officers, along with Constables Randall Kirk and Keely Brough, were ambushed within two minutes of jumping the gate and walking down the driveway to ask about former school principal Nathaniel Train.
Constable Arnold was killed first, but the other three officers attempted to make radio calls for help and were unable to get through due to poor reception in the area.
The long-running inquest has heard the property was owned by Nathaniel’s brother Gareth, and Gareth’s wife Stacey. All three have been described as doomsday preppers who considered police to be the enemy.
The Trains shot at police from sniper hides with high powered rifles and also killed their neighbour, Alan Dare, when he arrived at the front gate to investigate fires they’d lit on their property.
Constables Kirk and Brough managed to escape.
All three Trains were shot and killed by specialist officers following a lengthy siege.
The inquest has heard Gareth wrote to his stepson Aidan in a threatening tone in relation to any missing persons report made about Nathaniel.
“Any trouble you cause for Stacey and me will be on you Aidan,” Gareth wrote.
“I will find you no matter where you run and hide and I will teach you an eye for an eye, although any trouble you cause will be delivered back two fold and I will take great pleasure in it.”
Aidan responded saying he didn’t want to cause any trouble but only wanted to know if Nathaniel was well.
“I genuinely think that you are so far gone that if the cops came to your house, it would only result in death and harm,” part of Aidan’s email response said.
MASSACRE CLASSIFIED AS AN ‘ACT OF TERROR’
Deputy Commissioner Cheryl Scanlon has classified the Wieambilla massacre as an act of terror and said there remains an ongoing terrorism investigation in Queensland relating to the Trains.
Giving evidence at the Wieambilla inquest, Ms Scanlon said she agreed with comments made by now-retired Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford soon after the shootings that the Trains’ had engaged in terrorism.
Deputy Commissioner Scanlon said the legal requirements involved in classifying an act of terror were complex, with the inquest hearing it required an offender to commit an act with the intention of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause, done with the intention to intimidate the public, or coerce, or influence by intimidation, any government. The act needs to have caused death, serious harm or endanger the life of a person.
“We have a current and open terrorism investigation … that matter is not yet complete,” she said.
She said the investigation involved another man, who was a close associate of the Trains, who is before the courts in the United States.
The inquest has previously heard Donald Day Jr is that close associate and had been conversing with the Trains online about their doomsday prophecies.
“I don’t propose to discuss the ongoing terrorism investigation before the inquest, given the sensitivities, and certainly I don’t want to jeopardise court proceedings in another jurisdiction,” Ms Scanlon said.
“But needless to say, the terrorism investigation is an open matter here in Queensland.”
Ms Scanlon said it was consistent within QPS policy for four police to attend a property and it was not uncommon to send two crews when police had a warrant.
She said it was her understanding two crews were sent because there were some junior officers.
Ms Scanlon said it was “truly regrettable” NSW Police had not provided Queensland Gareth’s alarming emails when they were sent them on December 12.
The emails claimed police wanted his missing brother dead and that when the “bully men” found him, Nathaniel would “greet them as they deserve”.
She said had the information been sent, it would have allowed Queensland Police to have gained a deeper understanding of the situation and officers would have potentially made inquiries before making a decision to go to the property.
She agreed that if police were not sent on December 12 it could have been other officers sent there at a later date because there was a warrant to be executed.
Ms Scanlon said it was “quite reasonable and expected and lawful” to go over the fence and into the property.
She said Sgt Justin Drier, who told Constable Kirk to run to the front gate had given “sound advice”.
“The officer was in a very difficult position and in fact if the officer hadn’t followed the advice he may too have been killed that afternoon,” Ms Scanlon told the inquest.
Ms Scanlon said she believed Triple-0 call taker Katherine Beilby saved the life of Constable Brough after spending two hours on the phone with her, sometimes as the pair whispered to each other.
“In my view she kept Keely Brough alive amongst other things,” she said.
“The calmness and the measured way and the caring way in which she maintained those communications.
“It’s one of the features in my view of that particular call and the events for Keely Brough that actually saved her life.
“The fact that she was able to whisper down that phone for two hours and the operator keep her on that phone and keep her calm until a course of action could be sorted to extricate her from the property is quite remarkable.”
WHY OFFICERS’ CALLS FOR BACKUP WENT UNANSWERED
The detective who conducted an internal investigation into the Wieambilla massacre has told an inquest the officers who were ambushed all tried to call for backup on their police radios but were using the wrong channel.
Detective Inspector Jason Hindmarsh from the Ethical Standards Command said the analogue radio system in the Western Downs required local knowledge to understand which channel to use, depending on which area officers moved into.
Det Insp Hindmarsh told the inquest he had reviewed body worn footage from the officers involved in the ambush and was able to determine constables McCrow, Brough and Kirk all made unsuccessful attempts to call for backup on their handheld police radios.
He said the Wieambilla area is covered by an analogue radio system that requires officers to change stations depending on where they were.
“It requires some local knowledge,” he said.
“There is no definitive map that can show where every radio channel will work.”
He said constables Kirk and Brough were using a Chinchilla channel, while constable McCrow was likely to have been using the Tara channel.
He told the inquest they should have been using a separate channel, which would have worked effectively on the Trains’ property.
Det Insp Hindmarsh said a later testing of the Wieambilla channel had shown it had four out of five star rating from the Trains’ property.
He said there had already been a proposal to upgrade the repeater station which has been fast tracked, with it moved to a new area which is 80m higher than the previous site.
He said an internal QPS master list of radio channels did not have the appropriate channel for Wieambilla at the time of the massacre.
The list has now been updated and all police iPads have a master list available without needing online access. All cars have been equipped with QR code stickers to see the list as well.
New officers sent to stations are also now given an induction checklist for the radios and are given local knowledge of channels and black spots, the inquest was told.
The inquest has heard that police did not send out a warning system text, with one local resident Victor Lewis saying he would have stayed at home had he been warned.
He went outside with Mr Dare to check on the fire at the Trains’ property but said they wouldn’t have had they received a text.
Det Insp Hindmarsh said police had access to use a warning system usually used by Queensland Fire and Emergency Service but it would have taken 30 to 40 minutes to issue.
It wouldn’t have happened until after the Public Safety Preservation Act notice which was issued at 5.27pm.
Det Insp Hindmarsh said any warning wouldn’t have saved Mr Dare who was shot at 5.26pm.
TOO MUCH TRAUMA
Det Insp Hindmarsh confirmed to the inquest he had made the decision not to conduct routine drug and alcohol testing on the two surviving officers because of the amount of trauma they’d been exposed to.
He said there was no requirement that he “must” conduct the tests, only that he “may” do so.
He said in the case of Constable Brough, he was aware that she had hidden in long grass for two hours while being hunted by the Trains, as well as by their dogs.
Det Insp Hindmarsh said he was also aware that she’d told a Triple-0 operator she “would prefer to die a death by fire rather than stand up and be shot”.
The inquest heard the Trains had lit bushland on fire in an effort to flush her out and that the flames had come so close that she’d felt the heat on her feet.
He said Constable Kirk had been shot in the hip and had been taken to hospital.
Det Insp Hindmarsh said after making the decision not to subject the two officers to drug and alcohol testing, he called a superior officer to make them aware.
WHY NATHANIEL’S GUN LICENCE WAS REVOKED
The inquest was told the Queensland Police Service’s weapons licensing group decided to suspend Nathaniel’s weapons licence on August 18, 2022, after becoming aware of offences he had committed.
A decision to revoke his licence was made on December 5, after a missing persons flag was put on his record.
However, none of the documentation was ever served on Nathaniel.
The inquest was told there were 225,00 weapons licence holders in Queensland, with about 340 to 350 applications per week to the licensing branch.
Weapons licensing group Inspector Cameron Barwick confirmed police could request applicants provide further information including a report from a doctor about their mental health.
He was asked if it would help if there was a mandatory requirement for doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists to advise about a decline in a person’s mental health if they were no longer fit to hold a weapons licence.
Insp Barwick said any further information for the branch would be “invaluable”.
He said mandatory health assessments before applicants applied for the weapons licence would also be “favourable”.
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