TRUE CRIME
A man’s body is found dumped with more than 20 axe wounds, leading to an investigation involving more than 100 interviews, a love triangle, a manipulative girlfriend and one celebratory bottle of champagne. Before he was murdered near Bacchus Marsh on 11 April 1996, Noel Anthony Connolly was known as a kind and gentle man, devoted to working on cars and looking after his two children. Inspector Bernie Edwards, who was a detective sergeant at the Homicide Squad and assigned to the case at the time, said Mr Connolly, 42, never deserved such a vicious end to his life. “He lived in Bacchus Marsh with his de facto partner of many years, Ivy Waite,” Insp Edwards said. “He and Ivy were attending an adult education centre with a number of people involved in this case. With the people we investigated, it was like some sort of soap opera of who was sleeping with who.”
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POLICE LIFE | SPRING 2019
While Mr Connolly was working hard to support his family, Ms Waite secretly started seeing another man, John Bewley Evans. Evans, who was 14 years younger than Mr Connolly, had an intellectual disability and was infatuated with Ms Waite. Ms Waite started filling Evans’ mind with falsehoods about Mr Connolly, claiming he would constantly beat her and the two children and pour hot water on them. Incensed and driven by his love for Ms Waite, Evans wanted to take action. Evans told his brother-in-law Keith Baskin, 33, that he was worried about the safety of Ms Waite and the children.
