Deadline: Mystery surrounds nude pic scandals popping up in AFL land

Carlton boss Luke Sayers may be keen to call in the cops over his “d--k pic” drama but curiously, 45 other AFL figures who were caught up in a similar saga didn’t go to great lengths to find the culprit.

Australia’s top crime reporters Andrew Rule and Mark Buttler with their weekly dose of scallywag scuttlebutt.

Tools, fools and crown jewels

Footy big wig Luke Sayers has found himself attracting some unwanted headlines over a “dick pic” allegedly sent from his X social media account.

The Carlton boss has proclaimed that the image of the as-yet unidentified member went up after the account was hacked by as-yet unidentified individuals.

Luke Sayers has found himself attracting some unwanted headlines over a ‘dick pic’ allegedly sent from his X social media account. Picture: AFP

The Carlton boss says the image of the as-yet unidentified member went up after the account was hacked by as-yet unidentified individuals.

We expect the unhappy Mr Sayers will move to bring in the police over the matter when he returns from an overseas trip to Italy, the land of love, romance and suchlike.

The Sayers dilemma may be unfortunate but it sure isn’t unique. Apart from many other things, it brings to mind the case of 45 AFL players who were caught up in a nude photo scandal a couple of years back.

In that case, images which purported to show the footballers’ private parts had somehow been harvested by some computer geek and then distributed to an unsuspecting public.

It was Dick Pic Shock Horror multiplied by 45. Police were alerted and all set to investigate if a complaint was received.

Images that purported to show footballers’ private parts were somehow harvested by some computer geek and distributed to an unsuspecting public.

Sir Humphrey Appleby of Yes Minister fame says ‘never set up an inquiry until you know what the findings will be’. Picture: Twitter

We contacted police again last week and the long and the short of it is that there’s no update to be had, indicating there was possibly not much appetite among the players for the matter to be taken further.

Maybe they are fans of Sir Humphrey Appleby of Yes Minister fame.

“Never set up an inquiry unless you know in advance what its findings will be,” was Sir Humphrey’s firm philosophy. Deadline has noticed that this farsighted policy has many adherents at every level of government and, possibly even some police forces.

Murdered by mistake

The 27-year-old woman who died in an arson attack in Truganina last week is the latest innocent victim of that worst of crimes — when criminals who are stupid as well as evil manage to kill the wrong people by mistake.

It doesn’t take long to make a list of innocent victims going back many years. One that stands out is the shooting death of 11-year-old Nicolas Kolovrat in a Fitzroy pub in April, 1973.

Nicolas, who lived with his family nearby, was with his father when they dropped into the hotel on the way to buy fish and chips.

Their tragedy was that criminal Laurence Chamings, targeted by fellow criminals, was chased through the bar by a gunman spraying bullets.

Nicolas’s wounded father tried to shield the boy but it was too late. A bullet killed his son before the cornered Chamings was shot dead.

A 27-year-old woman who died in an arson attack in Truganina was an innocent victim of blundering criminals. Picture: Victoria Police

Chamings’ death was one of a series of killings in the waterfront war that an inquiry later blamed for 15 murders and 23 potentially fatal acts of violence. Picture: Jason Edwards

No one knew who the gunman was on the night, but the underworld soon did. Suspected shooter Barry Raymond Kable was savagely beaten and dumped outside a Sydney hospital.

Kable survived to be convicted of the double killing and served his time before dying unmourned in 1995.

Chamings’ death was one of a series of killings in the waterfront war that an inquiry later blamed for 15 murders and 23 potentially fatal acts of violence.

But the boy’s death stood out. It showed the nonsense behind the myth that gangsters “only shoot each other.” They don’t.

Despite tougher gun laws than in the 1970s, criminals seem to be more dangerous than ever. They now also use a terribly indiscriminate form of attack — arson using petrol or similar accelerants that effectively create fire bombs.

Six bikies died in the so-called ‘Milperra Massacre’ between Bandidos and Comancheros in 1984. Picture: Ian Mainsbridge

The list of innocents killed or injured “by mistake” lengthens every year.

Six bikies died in the so-called “Milperra Massacre” between Bandidos and Comancheros in a pub car park in western Sydney on Fathers Day, 1984. But it was the death of 14-year-old Leanne Walters that day that outraged people.

Leanne was walking past when one of many bullets fired by the warring gangs hit her in the head.

For every “accidental” shooting as described above there is something just as bad: mistaken identity murder.

In September, 1984, tradesman Lindsay Simpson was shot dead when initially mistaken for his brother-in-law, drug dealer Alan Williams, outside his Melbourne home.

The shooter, Ray “Red Rat” Pollitt, later privately admitted that once Simpson had seen his uncovered face “he had to go” even though he’d told them that he wasn’t Williams. He was killed simply because he was a witness.

Criminal in-laws are a health risk. Two years before Lindsay Simpson’s death, another innocent man was shot dead outside his Coolaroo home when the shooter mistook him for an outlaw in-law.

Jane Thurgood-Dove was shot dead outside her home in a case of mistaken identity.

The unintended victim was Norman McLeod, brother-in-law of gunman Vincent Mikkelsen — a marked man because he had helped kill feared painter and docker Les Kane in 1978.

Too often, stupidity rules. Such as in the drowning in 1974 of a farm worker unlucky enough to share the name Joseph Patrick Keenan with an agricultural inspector who’d upset the Griffith mafia.

Keenan the inspector had told bent police he’d seen a group of Calabrian farmers packing marijuana in a farm shed. The Keenan with the identical name was drowned in an irrigation channel soon after.

Gerald David Preston was a nobody who decided he was a gunman after serving time with a Hells Angel, Terrence Tognolini.

The Angels had a dispute with one Les Knowles, who ran a car repair shop in Adelaide. Tognolini Preston a stolen pistol and $10,000. Preston confronted Knowles and a mechanic, Tim Richards, at the workshop on August 15, 1996.

“Are you Les?” he demanded. Both denied being “Les”. Preston shot them both in the head. Then he entered the workshop and asked Kym Traeger, if he was Les. Traeger ran, and the bullet only wounded him.

Aaron Ong and Josh Rider shot greengrocer Paul Virgona on the eastern freeway late at night in 2019 in what police still believe was mistaken identity.

Preston had killed Tim Richards just for being there — and had attempted to kill Traeger because he wasn’t sure which one was Knowles.

In late 1997, mother-of-three Jane Thurgood-Dove was killed by a hitman in the driveway of her Niddrie home. Reporters led police to the conclusion that the real target was the wife of a criminal who lived in the same street as the Thurgood-Doves, and that the motive was revenge against the criminal.

As semi-automatic and automatic weapons have become common among drug-dealing gangsters, underworld shootings have become more brazen and unpredictable.

Bikie gangs (effectively drug distributors and enforcers) and their middle eastern and islander associates have become increasingly erratic, often shooting bystanders, relatives and friends of targets.

Hairdresser Amy Hazouri was shot dead merely because she was in a car with Lametta Fadlallah, who was a target. Picture: Supplied to Clementine Cuneo

When a harmless young man named Muhammed Yucel was shot dead in Keysborough by killers paid to murder an ex-“bikie” living nearby in 2017, it was another case of slow brain and quick trigger finger.

“Mo” had been playing video games with friends when would-be hitmen went to the wrong house, killing him and wounding two other innocent men.

In another debacle, shooters Aaron Ong and Josh Rider shot greengrocer Paul Virgona on the eastern freeway late at night in 2019 in what police still believe was mistaken identity.

In Sydney, several “untargeted” people have been killed or wounded in the ongoing war between middle eastern groups. Hairdresser Amy Hazouri was shot dead merely because she was in a car with Lametta Fadlallah, who was a target.

There are many more examples. Each as awful as what happened to the young woman in Truganina caught in the crossfire of stupidity and evil intentions.

It could so easily have happened to the teenage boy whose bedroom was struck by a stray bullet at the scene of last week’s gangland execution of violent crim Hawre Sherwani in Caroline Springs.

The 15-year-old happened to be in the bathroom when the bullet came through the window. His mother said he was “very lucky to be alive.” He was.

My court, my rules

A magistrate with a straight-talking reputation did not spare a detective who brought a case to his court last week.

At the end of the hearing, the copper was asked to come to the bench and have a chat to Your Honour.

Tip one: Don’t put your hands in pockets.

Tip two: Don’t say “Yeah” when answering questions.