Anthony Perish paid them for their work and soon they were preparing for the crime that would be the defining one of their careers, the abduction of Terry Falconer.
â¢
An abbreviated version of the interview Glen Browne and John Edwards conducted with Brad Curtis in January 2009 was later played in court, and so became a public document. I'm going to quote from it at some length, because it gives a sense of Curtis' character, which was such a strange combination of intelligence, boastfulness and an absence of feeling for other human beings. Curtis' version of events was almost certainly self-serving in parts, but enough of it fitted with what the
detectives did know to suggest it was generally truthful. They were finally hearing the story of Terry Falconer's last hours. What follows accurately reflects the meaning of what was said in the interview, but it has been shortened and some sentences have been moved around to present the account in chronological order.
DETECTIVE SERGEANT GLEN BROWNE
: Brad, do you agree that apart from yourself, myself and Detective Edwards, there are no other persons present in the room?
BRAD CURTIS
: That is true.
GB
: I'm going to ask you further questions about these matters. You are not obliged to say or do anything unless you wish to do so, but whatever you say or do will be electronically recorded on these discs by this machine and may later be used as evidence. Do you understand that?
BC
: Yes, I do.
GB
: Has any threat, promise or inducement been held out to you by any person to be interviewed in relation to this matter?
BC
: No.
GB
: Do you agree that [this morning] we had a discussion with you about a number of matters but predominantly in relation to concerns for the safety of your wife?
BC
: Yes. And family.
GB
: And family. Of course. And do you agree that you were given a phone and you contacted your wife and you spoke to her for some time regarding those matters?
BC
: That is true.
GB
: And do you agree that at least we've told you that we've spoken to other people and commenced to make arrangements in relation to her safety?
BC
: You've advised me of that.
INTERVIEW SUSPENDED. INTERVIEW RESUMED.
GB
: What can you tell us about [the murder of Terry Falconer]?
BC
: [Anthony Perish] wanted me to look over some information that he had, but it was before the coronial inquest and I couldn't make much sense of it. It had got to do with the murder of his grandparents and who could have done it. He wanted to bring the people to justice, that's what he said to me, so that I should start investigating it. The people who he mentioned were this Terry Falconer, a solicitor called Justin [Birk] Hill [and a few others].
GB
: Did Anthony seem quite concerned about getting to the bottom of who killed his grandparents?
BC
: I think he was impacted far more than anyone else. I don't know why. I don't know why. He was hell-bent, hell-bent on getting not only anyone that did it but anyone that knew about it.
GB
: And what was he asking you to do in respect of those documents?
BC
: Look at them to see if I can see any inconsistencies in statements . . . to see if other family members could know things. He suspected his sister, Colleen, of hiding information, and also his aunty. [
Author's note
: There is no evidence of this.] . . . He thought that the
police had bodged the crime scene and I think some information in the coronial inquiry came out about that, that people didn't follow protocol, but I don't think it was malicious.
GB
: Apart from looking through those documents and presumably offering an opinion, did you do any other investigation on his behalf in respect to that?
BC
: At some stage I flew to South Australia where apparently a corrupt solicitor called Justin [Birk] Hill, otherwise nicknamed Judd, was residing at a location. I did some surveillance . . . I didn't sight the aforementioned at any time.
GB
: What was it that [Perish] actually asked you to do down there?
BC
: See if he's at this address. [
Author's note
: This doesn't sound very plausible. According to one source, Curtis was actually sent to Adelaide to kill Justin Birk Hill, but failed to do this.]
GB
: Anthony has approached you to kidnap Terry Falconer?
BC
: The information at that stage was very brief, but he requested to, in order to get some additional information, we could talk to one that was seen in the area, which was Falconer. Perish said all we had to do is get a hold of that guy and talk to him and persuade him to give up who did it. From my understanding, at that stage he didn't think Falconer was directly involved in the doing of it, but knew information about it. He told me where he was on day release, which was some smash repairs place in Ingleburn.
GB
: I know we cautioned you at the start, but I want you to understand again that you know you're not obliged to say or do anything as anything you say or do will be recorded and may later be used as evidence. Do you understand that?
BC
: Yes. He gave me the address of the smash place shop and gave me a description of him, no photo, and said that he would organise a guy to call us when he was there and all we needed to do was to pick the guy up, posing as police, cut the tracking device off him, take him to be questioned by Anthony and then drop him back at a later stage. Perish had organised for a guy to call in when Falconer was at the smash shop, I was told [the guy] had a haircut on that day and apparently the hairdresser is within vision of the smash shop. I decided that the best thing was to get Jake Bennie and Craig Bottin to help, and Perish advised he would pay another $15,000 and take some money off [my debt to him].
GB
: Do you recall how you approached those people?
BC
: I would have just talked to Craig and Jake and said, âOh look, there's a job on, this guy has got knowledge of a murder that's happened to a good mate of mine's grandparents, we want to take him in for some questioning, rough him up and then drop him off later. To do the job I was advised by Perish to obtain a van and a lock box and to organise it so we would look like police, we needed to get hold of a badge. He provided a general duties police shirt, which he stated came from a stripper, but I don't think that's the case, as it fit Jake and it was quite big. The wheels for the
car, because I was going to use my own personal car, we had to get wheels that looked like police detective wheels. They were sourced by Matthew Lawton and painted by Lawton at the Turramurra house where we were staying during this time. [
Author's note
: Matthew Lawton, aka Muzz or Bristle Hound, was Perish's driver and long-time employee.] Jake dressed as the general duties cop and was the driver, and myself and Craig dressed as detectives and I had the badge, which I rented for $200. Perish gave me strict instructions that, âHe'll put up a fight, so make sure you handcuff him and put this anaesthetic over his mouth.' He told me it was kind of like chloroform and it will just help him sleep until he gets to Turramurra, without him making too much noise.
GB
: How big was the box?
BC
: Oh it was big. It was big. It was to fit a grown man in so he didn't have to be all crunched up.
GB
: Can you describe what it was made of, what colour it was?
BC
: It was gal, 'cause it hadâ
GB
: Do you mean like that checker-plateâ
BC
: No, no, not, no, not checker-plate. It was like galvanised tin, like a buy from Bunnings one. It had two flaps that went down so you could put a pad bolt through them. It was substantial, it would have been close to six foot.
GB
: Did you ever go to the location at Ingleburn prior to that day to do any sort of reconnaissance?
BC
: I can't recall, but I'd say I would have driven past it. I wouldn't like to think that I'd ever just rock up
somewhere to do something without even having an understanding of the topography.
GB
: You all met at [the grassy hill] near the Housing Commission area with the van and in your car?
BC
: Yeah, that was like the FUP [form-up point]. I drove the van to the area not too far away from the smash shop. Jake and Craig drove my car there, but it had bodgie number plates put on.
GB
: Do you know where they came from?
BC
: Just another Commodore.
GB
: Who got those?
BC
: I think Craig got them. It was also fitted with the wheels that Lawton had sprayed silver. We then all got into the Commodore and went to the smash repair shop in Ingleburn. Jake stayed in the vehicle as the driver and myself and Craig went in, we were just wearing suits as a detective would. I produced my badge and asked to speak to Terry Falconer. One of the workers pointed him out to me, I went and spoke to Falconer and said, âWe need to take you in again for some questioning.'
And he goes, âOh, not again.' I said, âI need to search you before we can take you.' I put on some latex gloves and did a search of him, and asked him if he was carrying any weapons, to which he said no. I then handcuffed him with handcuffs that Perish had supplied. I handcuffed him to the front so it wouldn't be too uncomfortable in the box. Craig and I then escorted him to the back of my Commodore and I put him in the centre. I got in on the left hand side and Craig got in the other side.
We were driving off and Falconer said, âI hope it's not about those silly murders.' I can't recall how I replied. We then drove to where the van was parked. It was a hot day. It was warm. It was, it was, warm.
GB
: Okay.
BC
: I had a bottle in front of me with the anaesthetic Perish gave me, and I had a handkerchief in my pocket. When we got to the location where the van was, we pretended that there was a [police] call to suss out the van, and I said, âI'll just suss out that van while we're here.' When we got there I bent down, put my handkerchief in the chemical, it was like a big orange juice bottle that was filled just that much with it, but it was pretty on the nose. I then secured the lid and put it down. I put the handkerchief over Falconer's face and he was struggling and was trying to hit me with his hands, so Craig helped me subdue him and get him out that side. So we got him out the right-hand side of the Commodore. He was still struggling, like, I was thinking, fuck, this isn't working. Anyway, another thirty seconds and it did. He was like, really really dopey. Jake had already opened the side of the van and opened up the lock box. We put Falconer in the box and I threw the [handkerchief] inside. We then secured the lock box, put the pad bolts on, then I got changed out of my kit, I took it all off.
GB
: Do you remember what you got changed into?
BC
: I had unders underneath. I would have just had a T-shirt and shorts. The boys also got undressed and they started to put hubcaps on the wheels and also took
off the dodgy registration plates. They then drove my car away. I then shut the door and drove the van to the house in Turramurra where Perish and Matthew Lawton were. Throughout the journey, Falconer was coughing in the back and banging the sides. He was making noise the whole trip. When I got to Turramurra, Lawton and Perish were there.
GB
: Can you describe the property?
BC
: It's a decent-sized property. It's got a pool at the back and it's got a tennis court on the far left side, a driveway goes up the centre and on the right-hand side there are three garages facing the driveway and there are these wagon wheels at the front.
When I turned up there one of them opened up a roller door to the garage and someone said, âDrive in there.' I got out of the car and Perish goes, âWell?' And I just gave him the thumbs-up.
I said, âYeah, I got him okay.' We pulled the box out. Perish requested the key and he drove the van out. Then they opened the box. I was quite concerned, not only for the guy getting out, because he was coughing more and more, he'd been in the box for quite a period of time. As soon as we opened it he starts to get up and I put my foot on his torso 'cause I thought he was going to try and up and at us.
GB
: Did he say anything at all?
BC
: No, he was coughing. He was coughing and he was red, and he was sweating profusely. I could even see in the actual box itself there was a lot of condensation. It wasn't too on the nose, like, you normally get a bit of
waft if something's confined, it wasn't too bad at that stage, but he was, he was, he was struggling.
GB
: Right.
BC
: It was obvious he was struggling. [But] he was getting up, it looked like he was getting up with some vigour, so Anthony grabs his head and slams it down, goes, âYep.' Pulls up [Falconer's] shirt and I saw he had a Gypsy Joker tattoo. It's like a skull and maybe flowers or a knife or a gun or something.
GB
: And then what happens?
BC
: He shut the fuckin' lid.
GB
: Who shut the lid?
BC
: Perish. I said, âMan, don't you think we should get him out? He's pretty hot in there.'
Perish puts his hand on his gun, he's got a silver five-shot revolver, and he goes, âAre you fuckin' with us or what?' At that stage the guys had a conversation just at the side of the shed quietly, and then Perish said, âRight, you and Muzz, you're going to take it up to this place, and we can get rid of it.' And he's got his hand on his gun the whole fuckin' time. And I said, âBut don't you reckon we should get rid of the van?'