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Faraday School kidnapping

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On 6 October 1972, at a one-teacher school in the rural town of Faraday in Victoria, Australia, two plasterers, Edwin John Eastwood and Robert Clyde Boland, kidnapped six female pupils and their teacher for a $1,000,000 ransom. The Victorian government claimed it would pay the ransom. The victims escaped and the criminals were captured, tried and convicted. Eastwood escaped and later kidnapped a teacher and nine pupils. He was again captured, convicted and sentenced. While in prison, Eastwood strangled convicted rapist Glen Davies in what was ruled self-defence. He was eventually released, having served his sentence.

Incident

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Eastwood and Boland entered the school armed with a sawn-off shotgun at about 3:00 p.m., and forced the teacher, 19-year-old Mary Gibbs, and her six pupils (girls aged between 5 and 10) into a red delivery van, leaving a note at the school threatening to kill all of the hostages unless a $1,000,000 cash ransom was paid. They drove off into a remote area in the bush.

That evening, the premier of Victoria, Dick Hamer, announced that the State Government was prepared to pay the ransom. The Victorian education minister, Lindsay Thompson, was driven to the scene by Assistant Commissioner Bill Crowley masquerading as the minister's driver and armed with a trousered derringer pistol. Future Chief Commissioner Mick Miller was concealed under a blanket in the rear of the car with a high-powered rifle. Thompson waited to personally deliver the ransom, but it was never collected. In the early hours of the next morning, the kidnappers told Gibbs they were going to collect the ransom and left her and the pupils.

When they were gone, Gibbs managed to kick the door panel out with her heavy, platform-heeled leather boots and escape with the children in the dark, finding help a few kilometres away.[1] Eastwood and Boland were captured by heavily armed Victoria Police officers after an extensive manhunt.

Aftermath

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Eastwood pleaded guilty to seven counts of kidnapping in December 1972 and was sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of ten years; three armed robbery charges against him were taken into consideration in exchange for evidence against Boland.

Boland was convicted by a jury in March 1974 after three trials and was sentenced to seventeen years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of twelve years, although Eastwood has maintained that Boland was innocent and that the real co-kidnapper was related to a man Thompson spoke to at Woodend, who had been detained at the scene but later released.[2][3] Boland was released in November 1983, having served 11 years of his 17-year term.[4]

On 22 January 1973 Mary Gibbs was awarded a George Medal for her bravery.[5][6]

Eastwood's escape and second kidnapping

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On 16 December 1976, Edwin Eastwood escaped from Geelong Prison after stealing a car. On 15 February 1977, he kidnapped a teacher and nine pupils from the Wooreen State School in Gippsland, Victoria. While driving off, he collided with a truck and held the driver and his partner hostage. Twenty minutes later, another log truck came along and Eastwood waved it to a stop before taking the driver and passenger hostage. He then commandeered a campervan with two female occupants and also took them hostage.

Finally, with sixteen hostages, he demanded a ransom of US$7 million, guns, 100 kilograms of heroin and cocaine, and the release of seventeen inmates from Pentridge Prison.[7] However, one of the hostages escaped and notified police, and Eastwood fled with the remaining hostages. After the campervan was disabled by police gunfire at Woodside, Eastwood was shot below the right knee and re-captured by police. (Eastwood claimed that he was shot after surrendering to police whilst unarmed.)

Eastwood pleaded guilty to 25 charges, including 16 counts of kidnapping, three counts of theft of a motor vehicle, three counts of using a firearm with intent to avoid lawful apprehension, one count of escaping lawful custody, one count of burglary, and one count of theft, with 10 other charges taken into consideration. He was sentenced on 8 November 1977 to 21 years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 18 years, with Justice Murray ordering that the sentence was to be served concurrently with the balance of the sentence from the Faraday kidnapping; thus, the total effective sentence imposed in respect of both kidnappings was 25 years and 11 months' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 22 years and 11 months.[8]

On 30 April 1981, Eastwood strangled convicted rapist Glen Davies in the exercise yard of Pentridge Prison and was charged with murder; he was subsequently acquitted on the grounds of self-defense, having been stabbed 10 times during the incident.[9][10]

After remissions[11] were abolished, Eastwood's application for a re-determination of his sentence was granted, and after allowing for 17 months of remissions forfeited as a result of the 1976 escape, he was re-sentenced to 20 years and 4 months' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 18 years and 4 months.

He was released on parole in 1990, however was soon back in jail after being convicted of a burglary at a factory in Notting Hill. He was eventually released in 1992 after choosing to decline parole offered in 1991, and now works as a truck driver.[12][13][14]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Beattie, Max (9 October 1972). "School heroine tells of her ordeal". The Age. p. 1. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  2. ^ Whittaker, Mark (6 October 2007). "Time Capsule: Entire school kidnapped". The Australian. Archived from the original on 14 September 2008. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
  3. ^ Robinson, Paul (22 November 1992). "Eastwood says police framed his partner". The Sunday Age. p. 6. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  4. ^ Rule, Andrew (30 November 1983). "Convicted Faraday kidnapper is released". The Age. p. 5. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  5. ^ "It's an Honour - Honours - Search Australian Honours". Itsanhonour.gov.au. 22 January 1973. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
  6. ^ "George Medal goes to school drama heroine". The Age. 1 March 1973. p. 4. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  7. ^ L. Thompson I Remember, Hyland House, Melbourne, 1989, p.178
  8. ^ "Kidnapper Eastwood sentenced to 21 years jail". The Age. 8 November 1977. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  9. ^ Usher, Rod (30 May 1981). "Inside: The Real Pentridge". The Age. Archived from the original on 30 September 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
  10. ^ "Eastwood not guilty of prison death". The Age. 14 October 1983. p. 6. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  11. ^ Remissions of one third for good behaviour were available on a sentence of imprisonment (excluding sentences for murder or escaping lawful custody) in Victoria until 1990.
  12. ^ Minter, Elizabeth (21 November 1990). "Faraday kidnapper gets jail for theft of chemicals". The Age. p. 19. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  13. ^ Wilmoth, Peter (28 November 1992). "A new suit, a new life". The Age. p. 153. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  14. ^ "Eastwood: Faraday kidnapper a free man". The Age. 29 November 1992. p. 3. Retrieved 13 May 2022.

References

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