New claims in Wilson murder by Khmer Rouge after 13 year adjournment

From: AAP
August 29, 2011

If you use this photo, please credit the photo to ECCC POOL/Heng Sinith. Nuon Chea during a pre-trial hearing before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia on 4 Feb 2008. Nuon Chea is believed to have been Pol Pot`s second in command and he is currently charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva conventions and crimes under the 1956 Cambodian Penal Code. For more info: www.eccc.gov.kh

THE Australian government's handling of ransom demands for backpacker David Wilson has attracted new criticisms during an inquiry into his 1994 murder by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

West Australian man Darryl Hockey has given a statement to the Melbourne Coroners' Court containing fresh criticisms of the "sufficiency of the interventions made by the Australian government" in relation to Mr Wilson.

Mr Hockey said he gathered the information, which was not detailed in court today, from people in Cambodia claiming to have first-hand knowledge of the Melbourne backpacker's fate.

Mr Wilson, 29, and two companions were kidnapped by the Khmer Rouge during an attack on a train in which they were travelling in Cambodia in July 1994.

The Khmer Rouge demanded a ransom of US$50,000 in gold for each of the hostages, but the Australian government maintained its policy of not paying ransoms and refused to accept private offers for their payment.

Mr Wilson, Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet and Englishman Mark Slater were murdered in early September 1994, after negotiations between the Cambodian and Australian governments and their captors broke down.

Three former Khmer Rouge guerillas, including the commander of the group that kidnapped Mr Wilson, have been convicted of his murder.

At a coronial inquest that began in 1998, several criticisms of the handling of the negotiations were raised, including a detailed account by former Australian diplomat Alastair Gaisford, who was stationed in Cambodia at the time of the kidnapping.

When the inquest re-opened today after a 13-year adjournment, counsel assisting the coroner said Mr Hockey had offered his unsolicited statement following his own investigations in Cambodia.

Dr Ian Freckelton SC told the court Mr Hockey had come across information while living in southern Cambodia last year.

As a result, he travelled to the area in which the hostages had been held and interviewed several people he believed had first-hand information about the case.

Mr Hockey's information follows a newspaper article published earlier this year in which Mr Gaisford claimed the key to finding the truth in the Wilson case lay with former foreign minister Gareth Evans.

Mr Gaisford has said he was a consul in the embassy in Phnom Penh at the time of the kidnapping and murder and had worked on the Wilson case.

He said Mr Evans was in Bangkok during the week of the kidnapping but rejected embassy advice that he come to Cambodia and "use his unique influence" to assist in obtaining the hostages' release.

Dr Freckelton told the court the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade maintained Mr Gaisford did not hold the position of consul and had never risen beyond second secretary at the Australian mission.

He said Mr Gaisford would apply to appear before the inquest when it resumed and wanted to call witnesses.

Dr Freckelton told Coroner Iain West Mr Hockey's evidence might be pertinent, but it had been gathered many years after the relevant events and was hearsay.

He recommended Mr Hockey not be called as a witness.

The inquest has been adjourned to a date to be fixed.