LEST WE FORGET. A KILLER’S FATE
Today in Risdon Prison Tasmania, Martin Bryant, murderer of 35 people at Port Arthur in 1996, lives as a “zombie”.
Perhaps he has the chance to fleetingly feel the sun on his back. Maybe he can note each day’s beginning with the sound of birdsong or knows when each day ends with the fall of darkness. Perhaps he can smell when spring comes.
White crosses for the 12 victims of the Colorado theatre shooting. Photograph via The Australian.
That’s all he will ever know of the natural world. That’s all he deserves.
He will never be free. Bryant is serving 35 life sentences and 1035 years without parole.
However, he still breathes… unlike the people he gunned down at Port Arthur on April 28, 1996.
Thirty-five dead. Twenty-three wounded.
I’m one of those Australians who remembers exactly where they were when they heard the news come over the radio. I was in the garden, planting herbs. I was set back into the dirt and couldn’t get up.
Lest we forget Bryant’s cold-blooded parade from the Broad Arrow Café to the gift shop and the car park at Port Arthur. How he doubled back… still looking for more innocents to kill.
He demanded Nanette Mikac beg for her daughters’ lives, then shot her dead. He executed Madeline, only three, and then chased her sister, Alannah and finding her behind a tree, killed her too. She was just six years old.
The name Walter Mikac still resonates as an echo of unbearable sorrow.
Search his name on the internet and he is now an “inspirational and motivational keynote speaker”. He campaigns for gun control. The patron of the Alannah and Madeline Foundation is Princess Mary of Denmark.
In Risdon, Martin Bryant is still able to receive visitors.
Although, as his mother Carleen said in 2006: “He won’t speak; he just stares into the middle distance. I can sit in front of him for 15 minutes and he says nothing.”
“Martin is like a zombie.”
His doctor, unnamed said: “He is an overweight, shambolic wreck”.
“If the community wanted a severe punishment for Mr Bryant, then they have it… What he has now is far worse than the death penalty.”
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35 Responses to this article
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Rhoda July 25, 2012
A terrible thing. I visited Port Arthur a few years ago – not without some qualms. I didn’t really want to feel as though I was treading on their graves. My companion and I just stood and cried when we came to the memorial area. I didn’t go in.
Does it matter if these murderers are sane or not. They walked in a place unlit by the normal parameters of human social intercourse and spared no one. It frightens me to think that such humans exist but life goes on. And so must theirs. A life for a life makes us complicit in murder also. We might rationalize the act but it is murder nonetheless.
I would rather not.
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alison July 25, 2012
Yes, I’m with you Wendy.
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Amanda July 25, 2012
Beautifully said Rhoda
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Nat July 25, 2012
I agree. The book “dead man walking” gives so much information against the death penalty.
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sue elliott July 25, 2012
I am undecided.
I think of the pain of the families and friends left behind.
I wonder about the possibility of parole or escape, and the terror that must invoke in all the innocents.
I consider the huge expense paid for out of the public purse to house and feed and supervise.
And then I am more than happy to admit that I don’t want the job of pushing the button or trigger or whatever. So if I wont do it how can I insist that someone else does.
These murderers don’t deserve a moment of joy.
I am not at all sure and I am usually sure about everything I am sure of. -
Kate S July 25, 2012
Martin Bryant did have an intellectual disability and other issues as well. That does not excuse what he did but perhaps it goes some way towards explaining it. It reflects perhaps more on his ability to make rational and compassionate decisions at the time, to see the humanity in others.
I believe he is medicated now which might explain the zombie like behaviour.
Having said that, I doubt that we will ever know completely what motivates actions like mass murder.
At least now Australia has reasonable gun control laws. The US does not and that fact iis, at least, partly responsible for the Aurora and other shootings.
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Ro. Watson July 25, 2012
Having visited death row as a baby lawyer at Fremantle Prison, now an Arts Centre~ I shall never forget the stench of fear and bad food..
I agree the death penalty is wrong~even though those facing it have a longer time to feel the fear than their innocent victims.
Not all victims in some cases are “innocent”. People have complex lives….There is something quite mad about U.S’s guns approval~ personally I value Australian way of regulatory control of guns.
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TMT July 25, 2012
Why does the death penalty get revisited? Why are there still people who believe that killing people for their cause or their politics is ok when its not for others? What makes those people any different from the Bryants of the world? Why can’t it be accepted that nobody has the right to take another’s life regardless the reason?
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Jane July 25, 2012
Seems to me that demanding the death penalty anchors the bereaved in anger and resentment so, hard as it sounds, they can’t grow through the tragedy. I wouldn’t dare to suggest forgiveness, but focussing on the beloved rather than the perpetrator, going through the heart rather than the head, is often more healing and more ‘expansive’.
If we focus on anger and the perpetrator is executed, are we going to feel any better after the deed is done? Or are we going to roam around, guns on our hips, protecting our freedom and right to carry weapons and wondering why we still feel so empty.
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sally July 25, 2012
Why is Julian Assange-Quick facts listed under related articles??
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Emma July 25, 2012
I agree that the death penalty should not be reinstated. But I also think that cruel mass murderers like Bryant, Breivik, and all the rest (unfortunately there are more than enough of them) should live the rest of their lives as miserably as possible. No parole, not ever. No coddling, cuddling, or comfortable surroundings. The victims are not only those these murders have killed, but also the victims’ relatives, friends and loved ones – their grief will never end, and their lives have been changed forever.
I’m all for punishment to fit the crime, but not capital punishment.
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Ariane July 25, 2012
So well said Wendy. The Death penalty evokes fear in me for so many reasons, yet it seems so right and just to so many. I always come back to what we are teaching our children when the Death penalty is called for. It’s ok to kill if it’s legal but not otherwise. Yesterday my 14 year old daughter asked me about how they ” kill them” after seeing the young man in the US in court. I explained honestly yet as gently as I could and she couldn’t believe what I was telling her. Her exact words were ” but that can’t be right, it’s just the way out”.
I hope in my lifetime the Death penalty never becomes legal in our beautiful nation. -
Bebe July 25, 2012
I, too, am totally against the death penalty. If it’s wrong to kill then it’s wrong to kill. The death penalty is government sanctioned murder. No-one has the right to take another’s life.
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Tamara July 25, 2012
This is such a hard topic to debate.
On one hand, handing down the death penalty to these cold blooded murderers seems such a simple way out for them.
On the other hand, life without parole (and I mean NEVER let out), in an institution where they would literally just exist without any of lifes joys would make me feel better as they can suffer until the end of their days – but the cost of maintaining their life in such an institution is like receiving the biggest backhanded slap in the face!
How to make them suffer for the pain and misery they have caused without paying in turn some way? -
shelley July 25, 2012
I’d like to see this discussed on something like Q & A with you, Wendy, on the panel. It is a subject that does not go away. Whatever the perpetrators mental condition they still pulled the trigger(or the like). They should be punished and the death penalty is not really a punishment but an outcome.
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Wendy July 25, 2012
As a expat of Tasmania, I remember the day of the Bryant Massacre clearly, My husband and I run a restaurant and were chatting to some tourists about where they had been on their tour of Tassie, They were telling us about their visit to Port Arthur .., the TV was on in the corner, this lady went ghost white and pointed to the TV, she burst into tears and repeated again and again ” I was there yesterday, ” we all just sat and watched as the horror unfolded for the next few hours, was an awful day for Tasmania and all the families that lost loved ones. Should murderers be punished more by hanging, ? maybe, it is a tough one as persons can be found guilty when in fact they are innocent, but the other side of the coin, the cost of a lifer is huge on society. My belief is that anyone that commits a heinous crime should never see daylight again . No visitors. perhaps they might like the choice of the death penalty or never to be released.
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Matt July 25, 2012
Research shows the death penalty is no deterrent. But I must admit in certain cases it’s hard not to wish for the death penalty. Lock ‘em up and throw away the key is probably tougher for the criminal I suppose.
Gun control in the U.S. Now that’s a topic for discussion. -
liza July 25, 2012
The states appear to be in thrall of the Gun lobby.
so much money being made by the armament firms that money is the god they all worship. Just as bad as these evil doers. They encourage wars so that they can use their weapons. -
Kris July 25, 2012
Personally, for mass murders like Bryant & Breivik & anyone convicted of rape, child molestation or elder abuse etc – I favour a dungeon. Dark, dank, cold, no telly, no comforts – fleas, lice & rats optional. Just chuck ‘em in a hole & leave ‘em. Never to see the light of day again.
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TMT July 25, 2012
You don’t think loss of freedom and choices and exclusion from society is punishment enough?
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Benison O'Reilly July 25, 2012
Totally with Wendy on this. Apart from ethical and moral issues I have with the death penalty, killing these guys will only make them martyrs and increase their notoriety, encouraging copycat killers. There are plenty of misguided souls who think its better to be infamous than live a life of obscurity. We should always refer to these guys as ‘sad losers’, rather than ‘monsters’, for the same reason.
Sanity is a rather hazy concept. As a health worker I can understand that someone with uncontrolled schizophrenia is clearly insane, but in this situation their thoughts are so disordered that they can’t even look after themselves, let alone plan and execute a massacre of innocents. These killers certainly had a distorted sense of reality, however.
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Leanne July 25, 2012
I too have visited Port Arthur and experienced the eerie sense of the place, the tragedy seems to hang in the air and ground of the place. The local people are trying hard to re-establish the place by focusing on it’s convict settlement history and not its history as the scene of mass murder. That said, the death penalty has no place in our country. A life for a life only demonstrates a barbarism on both sides. The killing of the murderer does not return the dead to their loved ones.
And don’t start me on America’s insanity about guns. It talks of the right to carry guns and ignores the rights removed when people are freely able to carry guns. In this context, their death penalty, is hardly to be admired and copied. And let’s not forget, the gun carrying is just the mask for the highly influencial, billion dollar money making machines…..it’s more about money and less about rights.
So I agree, no death penalty and though this will be controversial, we don’t really know what drives these people and it’s hard to believe there is not some measure of insanity or loss of reality involved. -
Royce July 25, 2012
If one of these animals had hurt one of my family or friends, I would happily kill them…infliciting as much pain as I could as I did it…
Thank goodness our laws would stop me.
Intellectually I agree that capital punishment is wrong, while emotionally I would love to slip the hangman’s noose over their necks. It’s hard huh? -
Jenny Mal July 25, 2012
I agree totally Wendy, thank you for your article.
On the local ABC radio I heard that people in Colorado were out buying guns, signing up for gun courses etc … how insane is that?
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David July 26, 2012
Dear Wendy, Walter Micac has for years asked the his wife and children’s names not be mentioned in articles with the killer’s name. You could have written this article without giving the killer more publicity and The Micacs more respect.
David -
Kris July 26, 2012
TMT – no, I don’t think “loss of freedom and choices and exclusion from society is punishment enough”. Not for some people. Others, yourself included, may well disagree & this is your perogative. However, as far as I am concerned, the S.O.B. who broke into my grandparent’s house, bashed my grandfather (breaking his skull & jaw), and sexually assaulted both my grandmother & 9.y.o neice and then stole money & jewllery (including their wedding rings) deserves to spend the rest of his life in a dank, dark, cold, rat & flea infested hole!
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TMT July 26, 2012
I’m really sorry for what happened to your grandparents but you know you can’t change things for them by advocating vengeance on their behalf. All you achieve is to demonstrate support for the perpetrators in their belief that if you are angry enough and hurt enough then it is ok to be without empathy and dispense cruelty as you see fit.
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Kris July 26, 2012
TMT – I think it best that we just agree to disagree on this one
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Tania July 26, 2012
I too clearly remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard about Port Arthur, and it took me straight back 6 years when i was in Dunedin NZ and woke to news that a gunman was on the loose and had killed several people (the gunman killed his neighbours and set their house on fire, then shot at people coming to help put the fire out) and was still at large. The details of that day are hazy in my mind now, but the emotions aren’t. I still remember how I felt. I left Dunedin and NZ soon afterwards and got on with my life, but Port Arthur was an unwelcome reminder and made me deal with feelings that i didn’t at the time.
I was still undecided on the death penalty a few years later until I saw the movie “Dead Man Walking”. I was shaking and unable to talk for several hours afterwards. It certainly made up my mind regarding the death penalty (and my decision only to pay money to see movies that are ‘entertaining’).
In situations such as Colorado and Port Arthur I can understand the immediate reaction of calls for the death penalty, the acts of murder are so indescriminate and appalling it is hard for our rational minds in such a state of shock to contemplate that the killer should be allowed to live. I can certainly understand how some of the family members of the victims would want them gone, never to be heard of again. And I think that could be part of the answer.
Martin Bryant is in jail for the rest of his life. The families of his victims are trying their best to get on with their lives, but when something like Colorado is mentioned they are reminded, not only in their own minds, but in the media. i can fully understand why Mr Mickac doesn’t want his name mentioned. I think Martin Bryant needs to remain in jail but we need to hear nothing more about him. EVER. I don’t want to hear that he has been sick and taken to hospital, and i suspect that the families of the victims don’t want to either. We need a total media blockout, until one night when the time comes there is a small mention on the nightly news that he has died.
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Shiralee July 27, 2012
I don’t believe in the death penalty. I believe in life in prison.No internet, education, pay TV. Id believe in there family visiting so they can see how much there family is suffering and what they are missing out in. They should have to speak to at rick kids so that future criminals can see the outcome. Then things may change with luck.
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John Roach July 28, 2012
Anyone who has had to face the sad task of having a favoured animal “put to sleep”, or being there when a loved one “passes on” realises how quickly and transiently it is all over. Forty or more years of deprivation, loss of freedom, loneliness and despair are certainly neither quick nor transient. Rot in gaol, Bryant, Milat and your
ilk, for as long as intakes! The death penalty is far too good for any of you!
