On this date, 19 April 2010, a murderer, Carl Williams, from Melbourne, Australia was murdered in HM Prison Barwon by a lifer, Matthew Johnson. I will post information about these two murderers from Wikipedia and other news source before giving my comments.
 |
|
Carl Williams
|
Carl Williams
|
|
Born
|
Carl
Anthony Williams
13 October 1970 Melbourne, Australia |
Died
|
19 April
2010 (aged 39)
HM Barwon Prison |
Conviction(s)
|
Murder x 4
Conspiracy to murder |
Penalty
|
Life
imprisonment
35 years non-parole period |
Conviction
status
|
Deceased
|
Spouse
|
Roberta
Williams (née Mercieca) (divorced)
|
Parents
|
George
Williams (father)
Barbara Williams (mother, deceased) |
Children
|
One
daughter
|
Carl Anthony Williams (13 October 1970 – 19 April 2010) was a convicted
murderer and drug trafficker from the Australian state of Victoria. He was the
central figure in the Melbourne gangland killings.
He
was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 35 years for
ordering the murders of three people and conspiracy to murder a fourth (which
was unsuccessful). On 19 April 2010, while incarcerated at Barwon Prison,
Williams was beaten to death with the stem of an exercise bike by another
inmate, Matthew Charles Johnson.
Williams
enlisted the help of others willing to perform the contract killings in
exchange for large payments of cash. At the time of his death, he was in the
maximum security Acacia unit of HM Prison Barwon near Geelong. Williams would
have been 71 before he was eligible for parole.
 |
|
Carl Williams
|
Williams
attended Broadmeadows West Technical School, leaving in Year 11. Williams spent
much of his childhood in Western Melbourne with his friends and older brother
Shane who died of a heroin overdose in 1997. He was married to convicted drug
trafficker Roberta Williams (born 23 March 1969), with whom he had one child,
born 10 March 2001. Williams held various labouring jobs before opening a
children's clothing store in partnership with his wife, which eventually
failed. Williams' mother Barbara was found dead in her Melbourne home on 22
November 2008. She had been suffering from depression.
On
25 November 1999, Williams, along with his father, George and another
associate, was arrested and charged with drug trafficking after a raid on a
Broadmeadows illegal drug factory. In excess of 250,000 amphetamine tablets
were seized by police, estimated to be worth up to $20 million.
Williams,
who described himself as a semi-professional gambler, was banned from the Crown
Casino complex on 2 April 2004 by police commissioner Christine Nixon under the
Casino Control Act.
Main
article: Melbourne gangland killings
On
13 October 1999, Williams was shot in the abdomen by Jason Moran because he
owed the Morans thousands of dollars. This event gave rise to a lengthy
underworld war known popularly as the Melbourne gangland killings. In 2002
after meeting through a mutual friend Tony Mokbel, Carl Williams would court
the services of the murderer Andrew Veniamin as his right hand man until late
2003.
 |
|
|
Main article:
Mark Moran (criminal)
 |
|
Jason
Moran ... shot dead, age 36, with his associate Pasquale Barbaro in a van while
watching a children's football clinic in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon in
June 2003. He allegedly shot Carl Williams in the stomach four years earlier,
sparking a series of bloody paybacks - the Melbourne gangland wars - that have
cost 27 lives. Picture: Paul Trezise
|
Main
article: Jason
Moran
Jason
Moran and associate Pasquale Barbaro were shot dead sitting in Moran's car at a
football club in Essendon, on 21 June 2003. Williams ordered two associates to
carry out the murder. The location of the shooting was behind the Cross Keys
Hotel in Strathmore, Victoria. The murder was witnessed by six children aged 6
and under.
Mark
Mallia was an associate of murdered underworld criminal, Nik Radev. At 8.05 am
on 18 August 2003 a fire was reported in a stormwater drain in Sunshine. Fire
brigade members attending to the fire recovered a wheelie bin containing the
remains of a charred body inside, later identified as Mallia.
Marshall
was shot outside his luxury South Yarra home in front of his five-year-old son
on 25 October 2003.
 |
|
Jason
Moran ... shot dead, age 36, with his associate Pasquale Barbaro in a van while
watching a children's football clinic in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon in
June 2003. He allegedly shot Carl Williams in the stomach four years earlier,
sparking a series of bloody paybacks - the Melbourne gangland wars - that have
cost 27 lives. Picture: Paul Trezise
|
Lewis Moran
Main
article: Lewis
Moran
Lewis
Moran was shot dead in the inner-city Brunswick Club on 31 March 2004. Williams
pleaded guilty to his murder.
On
28 February 2007, Williams pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to
the murders of Lewis Moran, his son Jason Moran and Mark Mallia (whose name was
initially suppressed by the court).
Williams
also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder gangland rival Mario Condello. A
suppression order prevented the media from reporting this until the day of
sentencing. Under a deal with police, Williams was not charged for his alleged
involvement in orchestrating the murder of Mark Moran, Jason Moran's half
brother.
It
was also revealed that Williams was serving a sentence of 21 years for the 2003
murder of Michael Marshall. The outcome of this trial had previously been
suppressed.
On
19 April 2010 News Limited newspapers including the Herald Sun revealed
that Victoria Police are paying $8000 in school fees for Williams' daughter. The
reason for the payment was not revealed at the time. However, during the 2011
murder trial, it was revealed Williams had turned informant and had struck a
deal with Assistant Commissioner Simon Overland. Williams gave information on
several unsolved murder cases believed to have involved corrupt officers and it
was also revealed his murderer may have been implicated in at least one.
Williams' lawyer Rob Stary said Williams was upset about the publication of the
story.
There
was speculation that the police may have agreed to pay the school fees in
exchange for information, and that publication of the story may have led to
Williams' death. The Herald Sun has defended its publication of the
story.
On
19 April 2010, Williams died from head injury while incarcerated at Barwon
Prison. He was struck with part of an exercise bike by another inmate, Matthew
Charles Johnson, who was convicted for the murder, and sentenced in December
2011 to 32 years jail.
Williams'
funeral was held on 30 April 2010 at St Therese's Catholic Church in Essendon.
In January 2011 it was reported that William's resting place consisted of a
nameless plot, without a headstone.
Williams
was portrayed by Gyton Grantley in the 2008 Australian television series Underbelly,
based on the events surrounding the Melbourne gangland wars from 1995 through
to 2004.
 |
|
Matthew Johnson
|
The vile past of Carl Williams' killer
Matthew Charles Johnson
by: Elissa
Hunt
From: Herald Sun
September
29, 2011
THE jury in the Matthew Johnson trial knew he was a
criminal, but heard nothing of his frighteningly violent past.
More
than a decade before he bashed Williams to death, he'd committed a strikingly
similar crime in the very same unit of Barwon Prison - and claimed self-defence
that time too.
And
recently he faced a murder charge after an 18-year-old
was shot dead over $50 worth of cannabis. That time, the jury believed him
and he was cleared.
In
1998, he was part of a group of inmates that attacked a fellow prisoner for
"giving information'' to authorities - and used the same weapon he killed
Williams with.
The
victim of that beating, killer Greg Brazel, had been put into an Acacia unit
exercise yard alone for his own safety.
But
even prison walls were no match for Johnson and his cronies, who were set on
attacking him.
Using
a rowing machine and chair, the group pounded the armoured glass protecting
Brazel for 45 minutes until they broke through, with Johnson then wielding a
sandwich maker to inflict large gashes to his head.
A
sandwich maker was something Johnson admitted to the jury he'd also considered
using to kill Williams.
A
prison officer reported seeing him use an exercise bike seat with the post
attached to hit Brazel before punching and kicking him on the ground.
He
ordered one of the others to stand guard and stop prison officers entering.
When
charged over the assault, Johnson claimed Brazel had broken the glass himself
and invited Johnson to enter before attacking him.
Johnson
said he was forced to hit and kick him in self-defence.
During
the County Court trial the group threw a bag of excrement into the jury box and
Johnson broke wind into a microphone.
Later,
Johnson menacingly called out to the juror that had been struck by the
excrement - by name.
They
were banished from their own hearing to watch proceedings from another room
linked by video camera.
There
his co-offenders bared their buttocks at the camera and the group disrupted the
hearing with the Collingwood theme song.
Johnson
was also involved in bashing another prisoner in 1995 after breaking into a
protection unit.
By
the time of the Brazel attack he had already racked up 132 convictions.
His
shocking record includes taking part in the infamous Port Phillip Prison riot
in 1998, armed robberies and break-ins.
He
was accused of shooting dead a teenager in 2007 over a $50 drug purchase.
"Before
the deceased could explain himself, Johnson pulled out a nine millimetre pistol
and shot him in the chest,'' the jury was told in that trial, with a
co-offender giving evidence that he saw Johnson pull the trigger.
He
was found not guilty of the crime. Johnson also recently pleaded guilty over a
carjacking, in which he held up a mother and two teenagers at gunpoint as they
sat in a McDonald's car park.
 |
|
Matthew Johnson
|
Carl Williams's killer
guilty of murder
Mike Hedge
September
29, 2011 - 7:04PM
AAP
The man
who killed one of Australia's most prolific murderers has himself been found
guilty of murder.
Matthew
Charles Johnson, 38, had pleaded self-defence after killing underworld assassin
Carl Williams in the high-security unit they shared at Barwon Prison in April
last year.
But a
jury rejected that plea and an alternative charge of defensive homicide,
accepting the prosecution case that Johnson had murdered Williams by bashing
him viciously with the seat post of an exercise bike as he sat reading a
newspaper.
Johnson,
who has spent most of the past 25 years in prison or juvenile custody, stood
silently and calmly, seemingly resigned to his fate, as the verdict was
announced and he was led away.
The
verdict means a return to the scene of his crime - to a place he knows well.
It is the
scene of an incident which can now be viewed as a rehearsal for his murder of
Williams.
During
the three-week trial, the jury heard, and saw, how Johnson walked up behind the
unsuspecting Williams and bludgeoned him to death with an 80-centimetre-long
piece of pipe that resembled a small pickaxe.
The
prosecution described it in its opening address as "an ideal weapon".
Johnson
already knew that.
In 1998,
he and other prisoners attacked and almost killed fellow Barwon inmate and
triple murderer Gregory Brazel with a variety of weapons, including the seat
post of an exercise bike.
The
weapon clearly made an impression on Johnson, who told the court in his latest
trial that he had deliberately ensured he had access to an exercise bike after
sensing a problem may have developed between him and Williams.
Johnson
also said he had strategically positioned a toasted sandwich maker in another
part of their unit so he could defend himself against Williams if he needed to.
The same
implement had also been used on Brazel 12 years earlier.
Johnson
testified that he and Williams had known each other from earlier periods in
prison and had been friends.
But when
they moved in together after Williams was sentenced to multiple life sentences
for murder, their friendship deteriorated.
Johnson,
the head of a notorious group known as the Prisoners of War, claimed the
souring of the relationship was due to Williams's bad attitude towards him.
"He
forgot he was in jail ... he thought he was the boss of me," Johnson told
the court.
The
prosecution maintained the motive for Williams's murder stemmed from Johnson's
hatred of "dogs", or police informers.
The court
heard Williams had been assisting police in an investigation into former drug
squad detective Paul Dale and had received substantial benefits in return.
Williams
told Johnson he was helping police, but maintained he wasn't a "dog"
because the evidence he was giving was against a police officer.
Other
evidence suggested Johnson may have been coming under pressure from other
prisoners over his friendship with Williams and had perceived it as a threat to
his standing in the prison hierarchy.
Johnson's
counsel Bill Stuart painted a picture of Williams as a ruthless, indiscriminate
assassin who bragged to fellow prisoners that he had committed or organised at
least 15 murders.
Williams
also told police during his secret dealings with them that Dale had given him
$150,000 to pay for the murder of Terrence Hodson, an informer who was planning
to give evidence against the detective.
The
defence said Williams's reputation was taken so seriously by Johnson he had no
choice but to kill him after another inmate, Tommy Ivanovic, told him Williams
intended to kill him by bashing him with pool balls in a sock.
Justice
Lex Lasry will sentence Johnson on a date to be fixed.
 |
|
Matthew Johnson
|
Carl William's killer Matthew Johnson jailed for at least 32 years
- Elissa Hunt
- From: Herald Sun
- December 08, 2011
Matthew
Charles Johnson, 38, must serve at least 32 years for what Justice Lex Lasry
described as “an appalling murder”.
Williams
was bashed to death as he sat reading a newspaper in a Barwon Prison unit in
April last year.
Johnson’s
claim of self-defence was rejected by a Supreme Court jury, and today Justice
Lasry said it was a "fanciful” defence.
He said
Johnson killed Williams because the underworld figure was helping police over
the murders of police informer Terence Hodson and his wife Christine.
The judge
said Johnson was the “General” of a prison gang called the Prisoners of War who
hated anyone assisting police – and he could not be seen to condone what his
cellmate Williams was doing.
Justice
Lasry said Johnson seemed to think he had a “special entitlement to kill” and
Williams had died as a result of a “meaningless prison code”.
He also
hit out at prison authorities for housing Williams with Johnson, who has more
than 150 convictions and a known hatred of criminals who assist police.
“How the
prison authorities allowed that to happen is beyond me,” he said.
“On any
view you were a threat to his welfare.”
Williams’s
father George, ex-wife Roberta and her children were in court for the
sentencing.
It wasn't
until she was outside the court and hurrying away from reporters that Roberta,
clutching her baby Giuseppe and with Williams' daughter Dhakota by her side,
appeared to wobble in her resolve as tears clouded her eyes.
 |
|
Johnson,
dressed in a grey suit with white shirt and red tie, appeared to listen
intently to Justice Lasry's comments at times, before his eyes would wander, or
he would chew his lip uncomfortably.
But as
Justice Lasry detailed the heinous battering of Williams eight times with the
stem of an exercise bike, Johnson's head tilted back and his chin jutted out,
as if distancing himself from the judge's words.
He
exhibited a similar disinterest following Williams' death, Justice Lasry noted,
saying, "What's the big deal? People die every day.''
Even
psychiatrists have observed that putting Johnson behind bars for life is little
deterrent for the institutionalised prisoner, which explains the lack of
emotion from the imposing 38-year-old with the shaved head and deep-set eyes.
 |
|
COMMENTS:
Matthew Johnson is a
perfect example of a recidivist murderer, prison killer and a violent lifer. As
New York Law Professor, Robert Blecker was quoted in his Kindle, Let The Great
Axe Fall: “The “lifer” aggravator rests on one or two
assumptions: Unless you threaten him with death, a lifer has nothing else to
lose.”
Since there is no
death penalty in Australia, Matthew Johnson really has nothing to lose in
prison. He might orchestrate murders in prison by killing another inmate or
prison staff. Carl Williams was himself a murderer and was murdered by another
murderer behind bars, it was good to see another murderer being demolished for
good in this society. As the homicide was caught on CCTV, there is no doubt at
all about Johnson’s guilt. Johnson should be executed for his crimes.
No comments:
Post a Comment