recent disturbing events in wyndham seemed to be a good sign to start writing again, especially considering the rumours flying around the town at the moment.
Just a week or so ago, there was a serious crime committed at the wyndham docks. A young man, gentle and friendly, or so say his colleagues, was mercilessly beaten over the head with a tool for the apparent crime of stumbling onto a crime in progress. Im not sure which tool was used, or whether its even relevant, but we all like gory details. Now this fella's only apparent crime, although nobody will ever know for sure, was to stumble across a colleague of his who was attempting to steal fuel from the worksite. A pair of sandblasters, they work down at the docks in a little industrial area that has a few sea containers stocked with tools and equipment, some machinery and other bits and bobs, which i passed about 8 times in a night whilst working as a line walker (checking the fuel lines for leaks as they pump it from the ship). Apparently they are the only two who work this job, or at least the only two who were working on the day in question.
Steve Forrest, the port manager, got a call at about 7:30 in the morning, when some of the workers had stumbled across this man, lying on the floor of a container, arms broken and head caved in, bleeding like a fish. He had been there for a while (an hour it turned out) as there was pools of blood that had begun to congeal. His forearms had been smashed to shit, in an apparent attempt to ward off the blows from his attacker. His brains were apparently exposed, but who knows the validity of these stories, especially as they zoom around all full of steam and gossip when the crime is fresh. People love drama. That being said, however, i did get most of this from reliable sources.
So anyway, steve got a call, some workers who didnt know what to do, so steve tells them "CALL THE FUCKING AMBULANCE YOU NITWITS!". Most people wouldnt want to go near a body in that state, and wouldnt know what to do even if they did happen to brave the bloody mess, and these fellas were no different. So steve has to race down, sees the problem, but is no better equipped than the rest of them to deal with the situation, except for a first aid course that was taught him by Dr Ted Venebles a good 20 years previous, but at least he went close enough to try something. Not wanting to press on his heart for fear of fucking up his ribs or lungs, they got the oxy machine from the first aid office. But when they opened it, it was in pieces and hadnt been used for years. So they tried to piece it back together, with this bleeding mess lying there helpess as the ambulance made its way down.
By this time my dear mother had also been alerted to the situaiton, and was waiting at the hopsital for old mates arrival.
Anyway after a few attempts they got the poor bugger breathing oxygen at least, and just had to wait for the ambo. Steve said it seemed like they waited for hours, but by the time he checked his watch it had only been about 20 minutes, which is reasonable time i guess.
Mum worked on a while, cleaning up and stopping bleeding etc, but it didnt look good, so he got airlifted down to perth for some serious medical attention.
Apparently, so the story goes, this friendly, well liked young fella had stumbled across his coworker, a dodgy bugger who had done some time in the slammer and who all the other fellas said "always seemed a little bit strange", stealing fuel from the work supply. Out of all the options available to him, this lunatic decided that whipping out a tool,(wrench?) and beating his colleague within an inch of his life seemed to be the best course of action. He then took off, leaving this guy for dead.
By the time an alert had been sent out, the coppers were apparently looking for a landcruiser 4WD ute, light tan, with a big fuel tank on the back, same kind of body as a troopy. We were talking about whether they should have road blocks on all the roads out of town, to halls creek, to darwin, to broome etc, and presumed that they surely would after a serious crime like this. But as it turns out, the nutter never even left town! To top it off, after they caught him, the cops had to let him go! No idea why, but im working on finding this out.
the stoy of his capture is strange as well. Apprently after discovering his identity, and his address, the cops raided the house, bashing down the door, only to realise they were at the wrong house, with some poor bugger sitting there scared out of his wits. As they processed there mistake, obviously hearing the commotion a bloke poked his head over the fence and said "you guys looking for me?". So they took him in, did their police shit, and then let him go straight away. Some legal loophole im presuming but who fucking knows. Lovely to think that a guy with a fuse that short is still wandering around town doing his thing.
The victim, mother told me the day after the event, was going to be fine, after initial fears he wouldnt make it. But now there are rumours that he eventually died in hopsital in perth, making this a murder in wyndham. But until thats confirmed, he wil only be getting charged with attmepted murder. Or apprently nothing at all.
