Cop killer Bandali Debs’ disturbing crimes finally exposed

Cop killer Bandali Debs showed no remorse as he finally confessed to a slew of horrific crimes that would make most killers look like boy scouts.

Bandali Debs has sensationally confessed to a string of historic crimes.

Bandali Michael Debs makes most killers look like Boy Scouts.

Debs, born Edmund Plancis, has for the first time this month confessed to the murders of two police officers doing their job and two unarmed and vulnerable women he promised to pay for sex.

Over three days Debs has given evidence in the Supreme Court retrial of Jason Roberts, his former co-accused, over the murders of police officers Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller.

His testimony made two issues clear.

The first was that Debs recruited teenage boys in the 1990s to commit armed robberies on “soft” targets.

Debs arrives at the Victorian Supreme ahead of the murder trial of officers Gary Silk and Rodney Miller. Picture: Craig Borrow

The other was that Debs did not show an ounce of remorse for the pain he has inflicted.

But one question remains: was Debs alone or with another gunman in the minutes past midnight when police officers Silk and Miller were ambushed after pulling over a dark blue Hyundai hatch in Cochranes Rd, Moorabbin?

Debs, who is convicted of the Silk-Miller murders, has testified he shot officer Miller in an act of self-defence.

He claimed he shot the 35-year-old policeman as he stood with his back to him.

In his version, Debs reached into his cardigan after Constable Miller pointed a gun at him as they stood at the rear of the coupe on that freezing morning on 16 August 1998.

After confessing to shooting Constable Miller, Debs testified his 17-year-old protege, Mr Roberts, killed Sergeant Silk with a gun he had loaded and handed to him in the hours beforehand.

Whether Mr Roberts shot a police officer in cold blood is a question for the jury in this retrial.

Mr Roberts was convicted of the Silk-Miller murders alongside Debs in 2002, but had his convictions quashed in November, 2020.

But what is not in question is that Debs has gotten away with dozens, if not hundreds, of crimes.

Debs made the admissions during the retrial of Jason Roberts (pictured).

Debs, who wore a green bomber jacket and peered over his glasses during his testimony, has given evidence under the protection of a certificate granted to him by Justice Stephen Kaye.

The certificate, a Section 128, ensures he cannot incriminate himself by giving evidence about his life of crime.

As Debs stared down the camera as he gave his evidence via video link from a barren room within Goulburn Prison in NSW, where he is a life prisoner, he spoke about the crimes for which he is convicted and others he wants police to forget about.

They include a spate of about 30 armed robberies he committed with his original sidekick, Jason Ghiller.

The spate of stick-ups Debs committed with the teenager between 1991 and 1994 had stunning similarities to the 10 armed robberies he would later commit with Roberts over five months in 1998.

The modus operandi stood out to police, including Debs and his young recruit donning masks and hitting venues late at night when the customers were thinning and the tills were full.

While the apprentice rounded and tied up the victims with duct tape, the more menacing Debs took centre stage to intimidate and bark orders.

At least some of the now 68-year-old Debs’ previous crimes are now exposed.

Senior Constable Rodney Miller.

Sergeant Gary Silk.

Debs testified that during one robbery, at a Clayton newsagent in 1994, he had shot a man in the spine, paralysing him.

But it wasn’t his fault, he said.

The violent gunman did not recall grabbing a woman by the neck before putting a gun to her temple inside the shop.

He also could not remember her husband, Charles, laying across his wife to protect her.

But he did recall shooting him.

“I shot that person when they went to get Jason Ghiller,” Debs testified.

He referred to the woman as a “bloody bitch” and he testified he could not remember taking his paralysed victim’s wallet as he lay injured.

“I knew someone got paralysed,” he told the court.

Debs was then asked: Were you ever charged with shooting Charles?

He simply answered: “No”.

Debs confessed to committing between “20 and 30” armed robberies with Ghiller, the nephew of his wife, and 10 stick-ups with Roberts. Charges were not laid on any of them.

Nor was he charged with the attempted murder of two police officers who he fired at after they pulled him and Ghiller over in 1994 in an industrial backstreet in Hallam.

Sergeant Allan Beckwith and Constable Jason Bryant flashed their police lights to intercept the Nissan Bluebird Ghiller was driving.

Debs admitted he fired at a police car during a 1994 shooting in Hallam saying he wanted to ‘scare’ the cops.

But his passenger wasn’t in any mood to be arrested and fired three shots at the police officers.

“I aimed at the bonnet, I know that much,” Debs testified in the Supreme Court this month.

“Look, I just fired three shots.”

Asked if he was firing at the windscreen behind which the officers were taking cover in their patrol car Debs said: “Look, it’s so long ago, I probably did, yes”.

It is well known in police circles Debs committed this crime, but again when asked if he was charged over firing at police, Debs answered “No”.

Did he intend to kill the officers, he was asked.

“Just to scare them … to slow them down so they can’t chase me.”

Nine years later, Ghiller would be convicted of reckless conduct endangering the officers’ lives.

But Debs remains, according to police, a “live suspect”.

This was four years shy of the morning Debs would be pulled over by Sergeant Silk and Constable Miller in another dimly lit industrial street in Moorabbin.

Debs has given evidence he shot officer Miller at the rear of the Hyundai after a gun was pointed at his head in an act of self-defence.

“I wasn’t going to be shot,” Debs told Roberts’ barrister, David Hallowes, SC.

He claims he heard Roberts shoot Sergeant Silk, although he did not witness it. And he denies he shot Sergeant Silk.

The prosecution has accused Debs of “minimising” his role in the “low act” of shooting Constable Miller and “finishing the job” by shooting an injured Sergeant Silk – who they allege was initially shot by Roberts.

Debs also stands convicted of the senseless and brutal killings of two sex workers he lured to their deaths.

He admitted on the stand to shooting Donna Hicks, 34, in 1995.

But he did not give a reason as to why he shot her in the face and left her naked body, save for a dog collar around her neck, at the entrance of a western Sydney quarry.

Debs shot Donna Hicks in the head and dumped her naked body at the entrance of a quarry. Picture: Campbell Scott

Kristy Harty was shot in the back of the head by Debs. Picture: Peter Ward

Melbourne teenager Kristy Harty, 18, got into Debs car in the hope of being paid for sex.

Debs had unprotected sex with her before shooting her in the back of the head.

Debs then dragged her body into nearby scrubland.

“Why did you kill those two women Mr Debs?” Mr Hallowes asked.

“I have no idea, I just did,” Debs replied.

“Was it for the thrill?” Hallowes inquired.

“It just happened,” Debs said.

There was an asking price Debs had for giving evidence against Roberts.

Debs began the process of trying to strike a deal with Victoria Police the day Roberts’ had his murder convictions quashed and was granted a retrial in November 2020.

The ‘life means life’ prisoner asked Victoria Police to be moved from NSW to a Victorian prison, immunity from any further prosecution and for a parole date.

Although there have been talks, no deal has been struck.

Debs is serving a life sentence in Goulburn Prison.

Before Debs finished giving evidence on Monday to resume the rest of his days in jail, he was reminded of the words he uttered to victims in July 1998, as they lay with their wrists bound on the floor of a Surrey Hills restaurant: “Tell them Lucifer was here’’.

“Do you believe in God, Mr Debs?” asked Mr Hallowes.

“Um, yeah, there is a God out there,” Debs replied.

“You’ve chosen to side with Lucifer though, haven’t you?”

Debs seemed offended.

“Well, what’re you getting at? I’ve told you there’s a God out there. Everyone knows that.”

He was asked the question again.

“But you prefer … the idea of doing Lucifer’s work. Being known as Lucifer?”

The 68-year-old searched for an answer.

“Um, ah, when I said that, we were doing a robbery and alls we were tryin’ to do is scare the people and that’s all there is to it.”

Mr Hallowes forced the point.

“You have chosen to be a force for evil, rather than good, in your life haven’t you, Mr Debs?”

“Oh, I haven’t been a good person,” Debs admitted before conceding he had lived a selfish life of murder, robbery and dishonesty causing pain and misery to others.

“Ah, you’d be correct there,” Debs said.

Roberts has pleaded not guilty to the murders of Sergeant Silk and Constable Miller, arguing simply that he was not there.

The trial continues.