How cowardly mass killer James Gargasoulas reacted to swift justice

As the jury foreman recited “guilty” firmly and loudly 33 times and the scene played out to its inevitable conclusion, mass murderer James Gargasoulas looked as docile and vacant as a circus bear, writes Andrew Rule.

James Gargasoulas has been found guilty 33 times. Picture: Tony Gough

If there has ever been a swifter defence closing address than the one offered for James Gargasoulas, no one in court could recall it.

Senior counsel Theo Alexander got to his feet in the Supreme Court shortly after 10.30am. Within two minutes, he sat down again.

Blink and you’d miss it.

GARGASOULAS GUILTY OF BOURKE ST RAMPAGE MURDERS

THE BOURKE STREET VICTIMS

HOW AN ORDINARY DAY TURNED TRAGIC

The most striking part of that lightning appearance was a short quotation from Hamlet that the barrister thought hit the spot. This is how it is when you are the attorney for the damned: there’s not much to say and it’s hard to say it.

The quote begins “Our wills and fates do so contrary run” and ends “Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own.”

Breaking out the Bard in defence of the Bad was never going to achieve a miracle in the face of such overwhelming evidence, but it seems to capture the defence proposition that Gargasoulas had deliberately run over people in Bourke St early last year without necessarily intending to kill them.

The jury disagreed, Shakespeare or not. After a spare “13th man” was balloted off the panel and sent home, the remaining seven woman and five men produced a ringing “Guilty” verdict to all 33 counts: six of murder and 27 of recklessly endangering life.

James Gargasoulas has been found guilty 33 times. Picture: Tony Gough

The dutiful dozen in their neat casual clothes filed back into the jury box after more an hour in which they apparently fitted a late morning tea or early lunch. The jury foreman, a tall, bearded man in Levi jeans and open-necked shirt, was still holding a coffee before he stood to do the business.

Asked the verdict for each charge, he recited “Guilty” firmly and loudly 33 times. An air of inevitability and resignation hung over the whole exercise.

The jurors were calm and still rather than stony-faced and grim. The crowd of reporters jammed on two benches were watchful but there was no tension.

The survivors and the friends and families of the dead and injured heeded Justice Mark Weinberg’s warning about keeping emotions in check. It is not as if anyone didn’t know what would happen next.

As for the newly-convicted murderer, his appearance reflected the legal view that even if he had drug-induced psychosis he was lucid enough to understand the consequences of his actions and fit to stand trial. As the judge made clear to the jury members before sending them out to reach a verdict, being under the influence of drugs as the time of a crime cannot be used for a defence of “mental impairment”.

The hulking figure in an overstretched white shirt over a white T-shirt sat near two equally solidly-built prison officers at the back of the court room. But whereas the officers wore stab-proof vests, their prisoner was padded only by the weight piled on in the 20 months since he destroyed so many lives in Bourke St.

A court artist sketch of James "Dimitrious" Gargasoulas in the Victorian Supreme Court. Picture: AAP/Paul Tyquin

The lean, wild-eyed killer who had to be shot to be stopped that day has turned into something else — probably by the sedative effect of the anti-depressants he gets in custody instead of the cocktail of illicit drugs coursing through his system the day he terrorised Melbourne.

Gargasoulas seemed disengaged in court, an incidental onlooker to his own inevitable fate. At the start he started vacantly ahead, his head moving continually in something between a nod and a shake — more an involuntary tic than a sign of nerves or fear. His dark hair is short, his nose big, his chin weak.

After 15 minutes, he slumped back and his head went down to his massive chest. A watcher might think he was dozing … or perhaps just pretending to.

When Justice Weinberg told the jury the accused had been “suffering some sort of mental disorder,” Gargasoulas sat up, scratched his forehead, and inspected his finger nails. His head still jerked back and forth in tiny nods but he looked more bored than scared when court was adjourned for the jury to confer.

Just before 1pm, the onlookers and bit players filed back in to wait on the judge and the judged.

The scene played out to its inevitable conclusion, then the man who caused so much misery was led out to the cells to wait on a prison van back to another cell. He looked as docile and vacant as a circus bear.

He will be sentenced after his victims deliver their impact statements at the end of January.

Outside the court, a slight woman in an orange top brushed away tears.

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Originally published as How cowardly mass killer James Gargasoulas reacted to swift justice