GUILTY Australia - Six Dead, 30+ Injured As Car Runs Over Pedestrians, Melbourne, Jan 2017

[Indy Anna]

Hi guys,

Long time lurker, first time poster. The perpetrator of this has been confirmed by Victoria Police & all media outlets to have NO links to Islam or terrorism & was acting on his own:

Victoria Police can confirm today's Melbourne CBD incident is not a terrorist incident. To clarify, the term CT stands for Counter Terrorism (from Vic Police twitter, the link won't post for some reason)

From the press conference: "There is an extensive family violence history involved. He has come to our attention on many occasions in the past. We have mental health and drug-related issues in the background of this particular person,"


"He has been coming to our attention more recently over recent days in relation to assaults, family violence-related assaults." (from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-20/car-hits-several-pedestrians-in-melbournes-cbd/8197876 )

Mental illness issues such as paranoia & psychosis often involve conspiracy theories & delusional grandiosity. Taking single lines of his extensive rants & saying there are "Islamic links" is giving the illusion of smoke where there has been absolutely no fire. There's loads of islamophobia & fear of terrorism around, no need to use a tragedy like this to amp it up.

It would be more useful to connect his (or most violent offenders) actual history of family violence & mental illness to the systemic issues of ******ing these services. But talking about "monsters" as something that come from elsewhere is far easier than understanding how violence & horrifying acts like yesterday happen - both as a mix of personality, personal choices & the society we're all a part of.

Would put money on ice being involved in yesterday's incident considering how many hours he was driving around after stabbing his brother in Windsor & the mall incident... Hopefully the police will be able to speak to him soon & we can find out more.

:goodpost: and :welcome6: to Websleuths!

I agree with your post. IMO, some people with untreated mental illness tend to identify with radical ideology because it feeds their delusions and paranoia. Radical Islam has been given a lot of exposure in the news recently, so it's not surprising that people with untreated MI identify with it.

 

[Bohemian]

Hi guys,

Long time lurker, first time poster. The perpetrator of this has been confirmed by Victoria Police & all media outlets to have NO links to Islam or terrorism & was acting on his own:

Victoria Police can confirm today's Melbourne CBD incident is not a terrorist incident. To clarify, the term CT stands for Counter Terrorism (from Vic Police twitter, the link won't post for some reason)

From the press conference: "There is an extensive family violence history involved. He has come to our attention on many occasions in the past. We have mental health and drug-related issues in the background of this particular person,"


"He has been coming to our attention more recently over recent days in relation to assaults, family violence-related assaults." (from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-20/car-hits-several-pedestrians-in-melbournes-cbd/8197876 )

Mental illness issues such as paranoia & psychosis often involve conspiracy theories & delusional grandiosity. Taking single lines of his extensive rants & saying there are "Islamic links" is giving the illusion of smoke where there has been absolutely no fire. There's loads of islamophobia & fear of terrorism around, no need to use a tragedy like this to amp it up.

It would be more useful to connect his (or most violent offenders) actual history of family violence & mental illness to the systemic issues of ******ing these services. But talking about "monsters" as something that come from elsewhere is far easier than understanding how violence & horrifying acts like yesterday happen - both as a mix of personality, personal choices & the society we're all a part of.

Would put money on ice being involved in yesterday's incident considering how many hours he was driving around after stabbing his brother in Windsor & the mall incident... Hopefully the police will be able to speak to him soon & we can find out more.

Mass murderers are highly likely to have a history of domestic violence, terrorising their families before taking it to the streets. Therefore, it would make very good sense for us to make urgent and ongoing investment in addressing the crime of intimate terrorism as a first step towards protecting communities. As nothing else has thus far persuaded governments to consistently invest in curtailing the endemic plague of intimate terrorism in this country, perhaps recognition of the wider implications might.

http://theaimn.com/giving-damn-still-matters/

It's Time To Recognize What Many Mass Murderers Share In Common
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/mass-killers-domestic-violence_us_578d06ade4b0fa896c3f6837

Just things to think about if we are to limit/stop these 'terrorists' from taking innocent lives, we have to take intimate terrorism seriously. An individual suffering a mental illness and drug abuse which unfortunately, go hand in hand, who is violently threatening and abusing his family should be held in a secure psychiatric centre to receive treatment for however long it's required.
Terrorism doesn't mean Muslim/Islam.

JMO

Welcome miriam and thank you for your wise words. As for intimate terrorism, I heartily agree, Prime. I identified with the Lindt Cafe siege in Sydney but only because I was once a victim of intimate terrorism. Although the mass murders in the Bourke Street Mall and the former had different modus operandi, the intent was the same - to terrorise their victims. I suppose what I am trying to say is that terrorism is not the the preserve of one country, religion, society or even community, but an individual's decision to injure another person or persons due to the individual's deep-seated psychological or psychiatric issues. I hope that everyone affected by terrorism, regardless of its roots receives trauma counselling. That is the only foil to combat the terrorist's desired outcome - not only to injure or kill others but to strike fear into the hearts of all.

 

[Bohemian]

Melbourne car attack: Bourke Street death toll reaches five after three-month-old baby dies
UPDATED SUN JAN 22 11:53:16 EST 2017

'A three-month-old baby boy has died following the deadly car rampage that took place in Melbourne's CBD on Friday, bringing the death toll of the attack to five.

The baby died in hospital on Saturday night, a statement from police said.'

'Those who died included 10-year-old girl Thalia Hakin, a 25-year-old man, a 33-year-old man, a 32-year-old woman and the three-month-old baby boy who passed away Saturday evening.'​

The above article has well-balanced coverage, including a link to one dispensing a good dose of pragmatism, understanding and compassion:

How to cope with traumatic news - an illustrated guide
LUCY FAHEY

'The era of 24-hour news brings traumatic events directly into everyone's lives. Here's how that can affect people, especially children, and some strategies for coping.'​

 

[nat198]

heart breaking

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...a-rampage-with-five-counts-of-mu/3460334.html

A man who authorities say drove into a crowd of pedestrians, killing five and injuring more than 20 in the centre of Melbourne, has been charged with five counts of murder, Australian police said on Monday.

 

[nat198]

Shouldn't he also be charged with attempted murder of all the other people fighting for their lives and injured in hospital?

 

[curiousgeorge747]

https://gumshoenews.com/2017/01/22/...ions-to-gargasoulas-before-the-killing-spree/


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[possumheart]

Paranoid

https://gumshoenews.com/2017/01/22/...ions-to-gargasoulas-before-the-killing-spree/


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

j

 

[moreinfo]

So sad that these innocent people have lost their right to live and the many lives that are also ruined forever.

This is one messed up family, seems like a lot was going on in the family and with their friends. A pity they weren't busted sooner and paying the price for drug trafficking etc, then his would never have happened .
I hope police are looking at the new fb page created under Angel angelo gargasoulas . Full transcripts between certain members of family/friends .

 

[Elley Mae]

A close friend told said Gargasoulas' rantings were driven by heavy use of the drug ice, and that he had recently converted to Islam.

'He was a great guy but ice destroyed him. Then he converted to Muslim and changed very quickly. For over a month he's been on edge,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ourne-driver-speaks-son-s-deadly-rampage.html

He claimed to be 'Greek Islamic Kurdish' and a follower of Yazdanism, the native religion of the Kurds before the arrival of Islam, also know as the 'cult of Angels'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazdânism


Yazdânism, or the Cult of Angels, is a pre-Islamic, native religion of the Kurds.


A witness claims the accused man was screaming "Allahu Akbar" at one point during the rampage.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/bl...k/news-story/21dd3a8de7f27f733dddd80556161e14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq8oEZABQNQ&feature=youtu.be

 

[moreinfo]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=upSUIgMOIeY
More on sms messages

 

[Bohemian]

Bourke Street attack: Sixth person dies following car rampage
UPDATED MON JAN 30 23:50:14 EST 2017

'A 33-year-old woman has become the sixth person to die after a car was driven into pedestrians on Melbourne's Bourke Street 10 days ago, according to Victoria Police.

Key points:

• The woman, 33, died in hospital 10 days after the attack
• There were 37 people injured in the incident
• Melbourne's Mayor says a permanent memorial will be erected in the city

Police said the Blackburn South woman died in hospital just before 7:30pm.

Nine patients remain in hospital and one is still in a critical condition, police said, after 39 people were treated after the incident.

Four people — 10-year-old Thalia Hakin, 22-year-old Jess Mudie, 33-year-old Matthew Si, and a 25-year-old man — died at the scene, and three-month-old baby boy Zachary died the following night.

The man accused of driving the car, 26-year-old Dimitroous Gargasoulas, has been charged with five counts of murder.

He has been remanded in custody and ordered to face court via video link in August.'

 

[possumheart]

Calls for Angelo's arrest rejected
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/magistrate-refuses-police-arrest-request-for-brother-of-accused-bourke-st-killer-20170131-gu2e8n.htmlhttp://www.theage.com.au/victoria/magistrate-refuses-police-arrest-request-for-brother-of-accused-bourke-st-killer-20170131-gu2e8n.html

 

[Karinna]

As terrible as all this tragedy is for the victims and my heart goes out to them, it is also dreadful for the perpetrator's family as well. The guy is mentally ill and has a history of drug taking and was known to the police. Not hard to put two and two together. It was the same as the port arthur massacre, the guy was a schizophrenic and heard voices, and to a mentally broken person those voices are real. Once the mind snaps there's no going back, and if a psychiatric patient goes off their medication they go right back to square one. I just think it is a sad state of what we have to live in this world today.
Drugs are a real menace for many young people and they can have a psychotic episode when they take them and go completely out of their minds. Drugs wreck lives and other people's lives too.

 

[Bohemian]

Court told that smirking, bearded accused Bourke St killer has seen psychiatrist
The Age
Adam Cooper
15 mins ago (as at 13:46 AEDST 12 October 2017)

‘Accused Bourke Street killer Dimitrious Gargasoulas has been seen by a psychiatrist and intends to fight unrelated charges to the six murder counts he faces, possibly by way of mental impairment.

A bearded Mr Gargasoulas, 27, appeared before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday via video link, during which he sat quietly but smirked several times.

His court appearances earlier this year were notable for his unprompted rants, which included declaring himself "the saviour" and not guilty, and claiming the Illuminati were to blame for the six people killed.‘

Read more at:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/c...er-has-seen-psychiatrist-20171012-gyzfx1.html

 

[Bohemian]

Interesting article under the circumstances:

How the insanity defence against a murder charge works
The Conversation
Arlie Loughnan
November 6, 2015 1.45pm AEDT

https://theconversation.com/how-the-insanity-defence-against-a-murder-charge-works-50188

 

[Bohemian]

Bourke St car attack: Accused driver James Gargasoulas' court proceedings held up by 'ridiculous' delays
ABC News
BY COURT REPORTER EMMA YOUNGER
UPDATED ABOUT AN HOUR AGO (as at 13:00 AEDT 27 November 2017)

‘Lawyers for the accused Bourke Street driver have been refused quick access to his medical records as they investigate his mental state, in what a Victorian Supreme Court judge has labelled a ridiculous and absurd situation.

James Gargasoulas, 27, is charged with six counts of murder and more than 20 counts of attempted murder for allegedly running down pedestrians on Bourke Street in Melbourne's CBD last January.

His lawyers are investigating his mental state at the time to determine whether he is fit to enter a plea and face trial.’

Read more at:

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-...case-held-up-by-gargasoulas-documents/9196118

 

[JLZ]

Interesting article under the circumstances:

How the insanity defence against a murder charge works
The Conversation
Arlie Loughnan
November 6, 2015 1.45pm AEDT

https://theconversation.com/how-the-insanity-defence-against-a-murder-charge-works-50188

"Interesting" is polite.

From your link:

The vast majority of people with serious mental illness would fail this test.

We need to bring the law up to date with current medical knowledge. We need a genuinely accessible insanity defence. This would help direct people who really need it into treatment.

The vast majority of people with serious mental illness don't commit serious crimes. Killing someone and getting acquitted by reason of insanity is not the only route to treatment.

I would have expected a more competently argued article from a professor of law.

 

[Bohemian]

Bourke St car attack: Accused driver James Gargasoulas pleads not guilty to murder
ABC News
BY EMMA YOUNGER
UPDATED ABOUT 3 HOURS AGO (as at 17:50 AEDT 15 December 2017)

‘The man accused of running down pedestrians along Bourke Street in Melbourne's CBD and killing six people has pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder charges.

James Gargasoulas, 27, appeared via video link for a brief hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court to enter the plea to six counts of murder and 28 counts of attempted murder as well as other charges.

It means the case will go directly to the Supreme Court without a pre-trial hearing before a magistrate.’

‘He [Gargasoulas] barely spoke throughout the short hearing other than to confirm he understood the charges and to enter his not guilty plea.

Defence lawyer James Yianoulatos told the hearing that Mr Gargasoulas' fitness to plead was a live issue.

Under Victorian law, a person may be found unfit to plead if it is determined they have a mental disorder or impairment and therefore do not understand the charges they face and the nature of a criminal trial, and cannot give instructions to their lawyers.

Mr Gargasoulas will face a hearing in the Supreme Court on Monday where a timetable will be set down for the case.’

Read more at:

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-...james-gargasoulas-to-plead-not-guilty/9261228

 

[Bohemian]

Bourke St car attack: James Gargasoulas' brother shows support in court, saying 'family is family'
ABC News
BY COURT REPORTER EMMA YOUNGER
UPDATED ABOUT AN HOUR AGO (as at 14:30 AEST 18 December 2017)

‘The brother of James Gargasoulas has spoken publicly for the first time since the accused Bourke Street driver was taken into custody and charged with murdering six pedestrians last January.

Angelo Gargasoulas spoke outside the Supreme Court after his 27-year-old brother fronted a short directions hearing via video link.’’

‘Outside court, Angelo Gargasoulas said he was concerned about his brother's mental health and came to court to show his support.

"Family's family … at the end of the day," he said.

"We've written each other a few letters back and forth but that's about it."

He would not outline what was contained in the letters.’

Mr Gargasoulas is [also] facing charges for allegedly stabbing Angelo Gargasoulas in the hours before he is accused of running down pedestrians along Bourke Street.’

‘Mr Gargasoulas was remanded in custody until his next court hearing on March 2.

It is expected a date will then be set for a court hearing where a Supreme Court judge would need to be satisfied Mr Gargasoulas would not become fit to stand trial within the next year.’

Read more at:

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-18/james-gargasoulas-brother-attends-court-in-support/9267516