Is Mr X The Crazy Man From Gumble Scrub?
Sun Herald
Sunday August 5, 2001
TO the rest of Australia he is the mystery man with a scruffy goatee beard staring blankly from a police photograph. To the people of Molong, NSW, he is the crazy man from Gumble Scrub.
When Victorian police posted the picture of the man accused of a Melbourne abortion clinic shooting last month, they were confident about charging him with murder but clueless as to who he was.
The man had allegedly walked into the waiting room at the Fertility Control Clinic in East Melbourne on July 16, pulled a firearm from his bag and shot dead the security guard, 44-year-old father of seven Steven Rogers.
In court the same afternoon, the man refused to identify himself or accept representation and faced a magistrate as ``the person unknown", ``unknown" and ``John Doe".
But as legal circles were discussing the unusual but lawful prospect of the accused undergoing a murder trial as Mr X, the residents of tiny Molong, in grazing country 50 km north-west of Orange, were beginning to stir.
When newspapers around the country published the man's photograph, Melbourne detectives took 600 calls, a cluster of them from the central western NSW town best known for producing wine, wool, beef and NSW rugby union back rower David Lyons.
Molong resident Betty Bloomfield said: ``I saw the photo on the news and thought, I know that face.
``You see him in the area every now and then, but I don't know if anybody ever actually spoke to him."
Molong residents agree on the man's surname but differ over his first name. They say he hardly spoke to them when he pedalled into town from the bush humpy he has occupied for a decade.
Former mayor of Molong John Farr believes he knows the man's name. He said the man had rare contact with adults in the area, but had befriended several children, he said.
``Several kids used to go out there and eat his fruit; he'd never take money or anything. I understand he used to get very mad about people who sold cigarettes to children."
The man never volunteered information about himself or bought food in town, apparently living on kangaroos he shot in the scrub.
Police from Orange, assisting the Victorian investigation, have visited the camp made from tin, logs and canvas, deep in Killon-Butta State Forest, 10km north-west of Molong. Complete with a clothesline, the makeshift home is accessible only by a dirt track.
Police searched the campsite and took away several items, including bedding, for DNA testing. But they refused to confirm that the camp was the home of the unidentified man charged with the murder of Mr Rogers.
``At this stage we aren't saying anything except that we have been concentrating our investigation in the Orange area of NSW," Detective Inspector Brian Rix said.
It is believed police will try to match fingerprints from the dwelling with evidence found at the crime scene, including material from Mr Rogers and alleged gunshot residue from the accused man's hands.
Police are also examining several pieces of steel tubing which they say belong to the man.
Inspector Rix said the pieces of metal, which were 9cm and 11cm long, seemed to have been drilled to receive screws or nails.
``We speculate, and I stress that this is only speculation, that these items might be used to lock doorways, to slip over a door handle and be secured into the door itself," Inspector Rix said.
Police have suggested the shooting of Mr Rogers may have been part of a plan to turn the abortion clinic into a deadly trap.
A Molong resident said the man from Gumble Scrub had owned a firearm.
``He is very, very fit and I think he's an intelligent fellow, just something happened to make him not want to be with other people," he said.
``He always wore a hat, pulled down tightly over his head as if he didn't want people to recognise him. He may have bought food in Orange, where he would be less readily identifiable.
``Molong only has a population of around 1,700."
Robyn Barnes, whose family owns the Molong food store, said she hadn't seen the man for a long time, but that he had spoken to her agitatedly some years ago.
``He came into the shop and started talking. He didn't want anyone to sell cigarettes, said it was a bad thing," she said.
``Sometimes we'd find letters in our letterboxes talking about that, or something else he didn't like.
``I thought he was probably well educated but somehow just snapped."
Police are said to be investigating whether the man collected social security benefits from Orange's Centrelink office.
Local newspaper editor Norm Bloomfield said the man had been spending more time in town until recently. ``He'd walk around town with his head down," he said. ``He'd never say `G'day' or anything like that."
But the man has not been seen in the town since the abortion clinic shooting three weeks ago.
``We actually saw him a fair bit a couple of months ago. He'd set up some kind of temporary camp under a bridge on the road into town," Mr Bloomfield said.
Bill Evans, who lives on a nearby property, said the hermit had had no friends or visitors in the 10 or so years he had lived there.
``He seemed like a bit of a sad sort of bloke, but I thought he was just harmless.
``He was almost self-sufficient. About once a fortnight we'd see him pedalling to Orange, which is almost 50 kilometres away. He'd always be wearing a hat and glasses, so it was hard to get a look at him."
THE HOME OF A HERMIT
The camp is deep in Killon-Butta State Forest, 10km north-west of Molong.
The humpy has been built from tin, logs and canvas in a clearing in the forest.
Molong residents say the hermit is virtually self-sufficient. He grows vegetables and harvests the fruit of several apple and orange trees. He has built a dam to store water for his crops.
Molong people say the sound of gunfire rings through the forest as the man hunts kangaroos, which he eats.
Although the man is almost self-sufficient he leaves his camp once a fortnight to cycle 50km to Orange, possibly to collect benefits from the Centrelink office.
© 2001 Sun Herald