Convicted murderer Bandali Debs has admitted speaking to homicide detectives in the past 18 months about the fatal shootings of two police officers in 1998 in the hope that he could complete his prison term in Victoria and get a possible release date from jail.
Debs has told a Supreme Court trial that Jason Roberts was with him in Moorabbin in the early hours of August 16, 1998, when Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller were shot after pulling over a car in Cochranes Road.
Jason Roberts (right) outside the Supreme Court.Credit:Jason South
Roberts, 41, argues he was not in Moorabbin when the shootings happened and has pleaded not guilty to two charges of murder. Justice Stephen Kaye has told the jury Debs and Roberts were convicted of the murders in 2002, but the Court of Appeal had granted Roberts a retrial.
On Thursday, the jury was told of Debs’ violent past, which included shooting dead two women in two states on top of his convictions for the murders Silk and Miller. The trial also heard Debs had previously lied under oath and told lies to associates, including Roberts.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel David Hallowes, SC, Debs said he had been jailed for life for the Silk-Miller murders, and also jailed for life for murdering Kristy Harty in the Dandenong Ranges and Donna Hicks in Sydney’s western suburbs.
Debs picked up both women for sex and shot both in the head and left their naked bodies.
Sergeant Gary Silk (left) and Senior Constable Rodney Miller.
On a third day of giving evidence to Roberts’ trial via a video link from the Goulburn Correctional Complex in NSW, Debs, now 68, admitted he sought contact with Victorian homicide detectives through the parole board in 2020 and then prison management, to discuss the Silk-Miller murders.
His request for contact came after Roberts was granted a retrial.
Debs agreed he wanted to assist detectives in the hope he could be transferred to a Victorian prison to serve his remaining time closer to family, that he wanted the chance to get a possible release date, and that he wanted immunity from prosecution over his other crimes.
“I did ask for some benefits, but I didn’t get any,” he said.
Bandali Debs in 2002.Credit:Simon Schluter
Asked by Hallowes if he told police he wanted a deal in exchange for giving evidence that Roberts was with him when Silk and Miller were shot, Debs said: “Ah, yes. I said I’d tell them the truth.”
Debs also admitted that when questioned in a court hearing last year, his denial about his motivations for contacting the homicide detectives was a lie.
Debs said he didn’t remember how he killed Hicks, but agreed he was the murderer.
“Just a cold-blooded execution?” Hallowes asked.
“Yes,” Debs replied.
When asked about the Harty murder, Debs said he didn’t remember shooting her in the back of the head.
“Another cold-blooded execution?” Hallowes asked.
“OK,” Debs replied.
Later, the barrister asked, “You’re a violent person aren’t you, Mr Debs?”
Debs said: “You could call me that.”
The trial heard that when Debs committed armed robberies with a nephew in the 1990s, Debs once shot at police officers seated in a car, and another time shot a man in a newsagency, causing the victim paralysis. Debs said he hadn’t been charged over either crime.
He admitted lying to the nephew about getting rid of a gun and also admitted lying to Roberts. Debs said that boasts he had made to Roberts – which were captured by a police listening device – were untrue.
“We were just joking and drinking and talking shit,” Debs said on Thursday.
Roberts has admitted he did 10 hold-ups with Debs between March and July 1998 and has pleaded guilty to 10 charges of armed robbery. But he denies he was in Moorabbin when Silk and Miller were shot. Roberts was aged 17 when the shootings happened.
Debs has told the trial he and Roberts were both armed when they drove to the Silky Emperor Chinese restaurant, which they considered a potential hold-up target. Silk and Miller followed their car from the Silky Emperor and intercepted it in nearby Cochranes Road.
Debs told the trial on Tuesday he shot Miller and that he heard the shots that killed Silk, but didn’t see Roberts fire them.
The trial continues.
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