New World Ave residents relive suburban siege terror as gunman sentenced

Memories of a terrifying 16-hour siege that transformed a quiet Tasmanian neighbourhood into a war zone came flooding back to residents this week.

MEMORIES of a terrifying 16-hour siege that transformed a quiet Tasmanian neighbourhood into a war zone came flooding back to residents this week as the young gunman at the centre of it all was sentenced in the Supreme Court at Launceston. The following is an account of the terrifying night in Trevallyn that captured national headlines, as told by the residents who lived through it.

New World Avenue in Trevallyn is part of a usually quiet neighbourhood. Picture: PATRICK GEE

MANY of the residents of New World Ave in Trevallyn have enjoyed their quiet and friendly neighbourhood, with captivating views over Launceston, for years.

So they never could have foreseen the events that unfolded at their doorsteps on December 7, 2018, when gunshots rang out into the night and the street became the scene of a siege.

It was described as being like “a scene from a movie” with bullets “flying back and forth”.

At 5.20pm on December 7, police had cordoned off the street and four detectives knocked on the door of house number 33.

One called out “Tubbsy” — the nickname of 24-year-old Brett Julian Robinson-Stacey — who they knew to be inside and possibly armed.

In reply, they heard only a gunshot and the words “f... off”.

TWO PEOPLE ARE IN CUSTODY AFTER LAUNCESTON SIEGE

The Bearcat was sent to the scene of the siege in December 2018. Picture: BRUCE MOUNSTER

Two days earlier, Robinson-Stacey had accidentally shot 47-year-old Robyn Lee Brown in the thigh with his illegal .22 calibre Stirling bolt action repeating sawn-off rifle, in the same house.

He had been trying to make the woman leave after she broke in and started an altercation with the tenant over a drug transaction. He knew police would come for him and, as his lawyer told the Launceston Supreme Court this week: “He put himself in a position he did not know how to get out of.”

He had been out of prison for only two weeks since serving a sentence for prior matters, and afterwards told police he wanted to be killed rather than be sent back.

One elderly neighbour, who has lived in New World Ave for 47 years, told the Mercury she had just brought the washing in when she spotted two police officers “kneeling behind a car with their guns pulled”.

MAN TO BE SENTENCED OVER TREVALLYN SIEGE

Heavily armed police officers at the siege. Picture: BRUCE MOUNSTER

The woman, who asked not to be named, said she “nearly had a fit”. She described the scene to her husband who did not believe it at first.

“So my husband came over and he opened the window and went to look out and one of the police said ‘get away from the window’,” she said.

“That was the first we heard and the first we knew anything about it. and it went from there.”

The woman said the night that followed was “an awful, horrible thing” with gunfire heard intermittently throughout the night. Police used the couple’s home as a vantage point at times, as it overlooked number 33.

“It would have been worse for our friends over the road because the police were in their house all the time,” the woman said.

Police during the 16-hour siege. Picture: BRUCE MOUNSTER

Police and Special Operations Group officers took position in the kitchen and living room, and behind trees and bushes in the front yard of the house across the street.

One of the owners of that house, who asked to be known as Cliff, said he and his wife had just arrived home when police locked down the avenue and the siege began.

“People who were out [of the neighbourhood] couldn’t get in and people in couldn’t get out,” Cliff said.

He and his wife have lived in the home opposite number 33 for 48 years, and said they had never experienced “this sort of disturbance”.

“It was like a movie on television, but it was real life.

“The guy had a gun. He could have shot somebody. It was happening and we were in it.”

Cliff said a helicopter carrying officers from Hobart landed at the Trevallyn School. Police used a floodlight on a tall pole to light up number 33 overnight, so the shooter could not escape under the cover of dark.

33 New World Avenue, Trevallyn. Picture: BRUCE MOUNSTER

Officers occupied and operated out of Cliff’s home until the Special Operations Group stormed the gunman’s position and arrested him about 9.30am on December 8.

“We watched all that,” Cliff said. “I recorded a lot of that on my phone. We had to be awfully careful and not move curtains.”

Between 5.20pm on December 7 and 9.30am on December 8, Robinson-Stacey fired 35 shots from three sides of the house.

One bullet smashed the window of a police car near where officers were taking cover. Another bullet hit a garden bed near an officer who put his head up to see where the gunman was.

Two more bullets hit the car and roof of elderly neighbour Endricka Showell’s house.

Brett Julian Robinson-Stacey is lead away after being arrested after officers stormed the house to end the 16-hour siege. Picture: BRUCE MOUNSTER

A young constable found her hiding in the back of her home “frightened and distressed” about 7.15pm on December 7.

Mrs Showell told the Mercury she was “very scared” at the time and still suffered from the mental trauma.

The event now known as “the Trevallyn siege” will not soon be forgotten by the residents of New World Ave or those officers whose lives were put in “extreme danger” by the gunman.

Brett Julian Robinson-Stacey was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment by Justice Robert Pearce on Wednesday.