September 20, 2012
2
The Melbourne Age
By Andrea Petrie
Gareth Evans: 'My most harrowing experience in 13 years of government.' Photo: Pat Scala
AN ESCALATION in the military offensive by the Royal
Cambodian Armed Forces in the region where Australian tourist David
Wilson was murdered in 1994 - despite assurances from the Cambodian
government that no military attack would take place until Mr Wilson and
two other foreign hostages were safe - led to the 29-year-old
Melburnian's death, a coroner has found.
Mr Wilson, Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, 27, and Briton Mark
Slater, 28, were kidnapped on a train in Cambodia on July 26, 1994, and
murdered by the Khmer Rouge two months later.
Mr Braquet and Mr Slater were both fatally shot, while Mr
Wilson died from multiple skull fractures inflicted by a heavy blow or
blows with a blunt instrument. All three were buried in shallow graves
where they were killed at a Khmer Rouge camp on Vine Mountain.
Before they were murdered, the kidnappers demanded ransoms,
but the Keating government did not meet their demands, saying Australia
did not negotiate with kidnappers as it would only encourage further
kidnappings.
In handing down the inquest findings yesterday - 14 years after it
began - Victorian deputy state coroner Iain West said it was likely that
the development which precipitated the order of Khmer Rouge General
Nuon Paet to kill the hostages was the escalation in the military
offensive by the Cambodian armed forces in the province.
The three foreigners' governments adopted the position that
the responsibility for the conduct of the negotiation rested with the
Cambodian government.
Repeated assurances were made to Australian officials that no military attack would take place until the hostages were safe.
But the Cambodian armed forces intensified shelling in the
region, which the coroner was satisfied enraged General Paet and almost
certainly adversely affected his attitude towards negotiations over Mr
Wilson's release.
''Such a step was inconsistent with promises to the contrary
that had been made at the highest levels of the Cambodian government on
multiple occasions,'' he said. ''It was appropriate in all the
circumstances for the Australian government and its representatives in
Cambodia to rely upon these representations which were honoured for a
significant period of the hostages' captivity.''
The Australian government was criticised for not doing enough
to ensure Mr Wilson's safe release, including pay the ransom, or
facilitate a private payment of a ransom to General Paet. It also
declined to threaten to limit or withdraw foreign aid.
But the coroner said it was necessary to be mindful of the
''exceptionally difficult circumstances'' confronting Australian
officials at the time.
The coroner was satisfied there was no legitimate reason for
criticising the Australian government, which did all it could to secure
Mr Wilson's release.
Peter Wilson said he was not surprised by the findings into
his son's death, which he said was ''the same old rubbish story - we did
everything possible and the government couldn't do anything more''.
Former foreign minister Gareth Evans yesterday described Mr
Wilson's murder as ''by far my most harrowing experience in 13 years
of government''.
''I have always strongly believed - even armed with all the
wisdom of hindsight, and after reviewing all the incredibly complex and
sensitive issues and negotiations involved - that there was nothing more
any Australian official could reasonably have done to change the course
of events,'' he said.
''That belief has now apparently been vindicated by the
Victorian coroner. But that has done nothing to relieve my personal
distress, then or since, at David's murder.''
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