Ray Watson on Hugo Rich, the most obnoxious crook he met
Ray Watson first laid eyes on Hugo Rich when he pulled him over riding his motorbike through Essendon in the mid 70s. No cop remembers every thug they encounter, but Watson never forgot Rich who was rude, offensive and disagreeable — and they were his good qualities.
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I first met Hugo Rich in the mid 1970s.
As a constable driving the night shift Essendon divisional van with my partner, we saw a motorcycle rider travelling east along Woodland St, Strathmore, at 3am.
We pulled him over and he announced, or more correctly identified himself, as Olaf Dietrich.
He produced a driver’s licence confirming his identity and our checks showed he lived in the Essendon area and had a minor criminal record.
It was abundantly clear Dietrich didn’t warm to us and the reverse was true.
You don’t remember every encounter, but I never forgot Dietrich, who was rude, offensive and disagreeable — and that was just the good stuff.
I was positive he would come under adverse notice again but didn’t give him much more thought.
Years went by and I found myself at the armed robbery squad, having been sent from Russell Street CIB to replace Detective Sergeant Mark Wylie, who had been shot by one of the Russell Street Bombers.
I was tasked, together with Detective Senior Constable David Brodie, to investigate a large number of armed robberies and other crimes committed by those suspected of the 1986 bombings.
Most of the bombing persons of interest were arrested in the Swan Hill area in the 1980s, except for one.
The last of the gang, Paul Kurt Hetzel, was arrested with his partner, Julie, a few weeks later.
After a number of interviews, Hetzel became a witness for the prosecution, was charged with about 20 major armed robberies and placed in police protection with his wife.
He pleaded guilty, was sentenced, and gave evidence against Stan Taylor and others in long and, of course, self-serving testimony.
Nonetheless, it was believed his evidence was accurate and, as expected, was attacked by the defendants’ lawyers.
During the trial we were approached by a prosecution lawyer who informed us there was a person in the court who was staring at Hetzel during his evidence and giving him the “evil eye”.
That man was summoned outside the court and I immediately recognised him as Olaf Dietrich, but he identified himself as Hugo Rich and produced identification.
It turned out Ollie had changed his name and his list of criminal convictions had grown.
Hugo Rich — spare me!
Anyway, Hugo was told in no uncertain terms his presence was not wanted in the court as he was harassing the witness.
Rich remonstrated and informed us he was going back inside.
He was told in words that cannot be repeated here that to return to the court would not be a smart decision.
He had made the mistake of wanting to fight an armed robbery squad Detective but quickly lost interest when the investigator accepted the challenge.
Rich left the vicinity of the court swearing, cursing and threatening standover tactics to achieve his aim.
He knew Hetzel in Pentridge Prison and had convictions for most types of violent crimes.
Rich was arrested for bank robberies a short time after his appearance at the Hetzel testimony.
Prison and maturity hadn’t softened his attitude and Rich was probably one of the most obnoxious people I had ever met.
Hugo is currently in jail. Good for Hugo and good for the rest of us.
POSTSCRIPT
Scheming Rich is an armed robber, drug dealer, fraud and killer.
Rich spent decades as a major criminal player in Melbourne, committing high-level crimes on the outside and building a reputation as a jailhouse lawyer and manipulator of the system when locked up.
In 2005, he murdered armed guard Erwin Kastenberger at a Blackburn North shopping centre, opening fire even though the victim had already handed over the money.
Rich is serving life in jail with a minimum of 30 years.
MORE RAY WATSON TALES:
A QUIET BEER BEFORE HOSTILITIES RESUME
BANK ROBBER POLITE, ELDERLY AND HEAVILY ARMED
A GRAB BAG OF THUGS AND LOWLIFES
Ray Watson was a member of the armed robbery squad at a time of 500 bank hold-ups a year nationwide.
He offers Herald Sun readers a unique insight into the squad’s pursuit of the bandits and killers behind the heists.
You can hear his stories on Andrew Rule’s Life and Crimes podcast.