True Crime

Crafting a crime scene

In the more than 20 years since Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent was a detective senior constable at the Homicide Squad, some murder investigations stick in his memory more than others.

A killing at a restaurant in Footscray in 1997 is one such case, made forever memorable for DC Nugent by a diorama meticulously crafted and sent to him by the killer while they were in custody awaiting trial.

The three-dimensional model of the crime scene today sits in DC Nugent’s office alongside other memorabilia from his career.

The diorama is often a conversation piece when people meet with the Deputy Commissioner, who shows that the years have not dulled his recollection of the events, nor his impeccable pronunciation of the names of those involved in the case.

The model of the crime scene is intricate in design with numbering to display the timeline of events.

At the beginning of January 1997, Melbourne residents Teklemariam Abebe and Gidey Hadgu, while still husband and wife on paper, had been separated for several months.

Abebe, aged 46 and originally from Ethiopia, had been offering his help to Ms Hadgu as she set up and ran the African Mesob restaurant in Barkly Street, Footscray.

At the trial, Abebe asserted that Ms Hadgu, from Eritrea, considered their marriage over and had begun seeing another man named Kassa Wube, aged 39.

It was alleged that there had long been animosity between Abebe and Mr Wube. Abebe had claimed his marriage had broken down because Mr Wube would regularly visit Ms Hadgu in the months and years in the leadup to the separation.

On 2 January 1997, Abebe arrived at the restaurant after midday and saw Mr Wube was sitting and reading a newspaper in the kitchen while Ms Hadgu was preparing food.

Abebe asked his estranged wife why Mr Wube was there and she told him Mr Wube was her lover and they would become husband and wife.

Abebe grabbed a knife and told Ms Hadgu he was going to kill her and plunged the knife towards her lower back.

Ms Hadgu tried to protect herself and suffered three major stab wounds to her forearm before running out the restaurant’s rear door.

Great detail was put into the diorama.

Abebe then leapt at Mr Wube and stabbed him three times in the chest before stealing a car parked at the rear of the restaurant and fleeing the scene. DC Nugent, then a detective senior constable, received a call at 1.35pm informing him of the attack and that Mr Wube was not expected to live. DC Nugent organised Crime Scene Services officers to begin processing the scene at the restaurant and, at 2pm, he was told Mr Wube had died.

He and fellow Homicide Squad colleague then Detective Senior Constable, now Inspector Dean Thomas arrived at the scene at 3pm to consider the evidence and speak to witnesses.

About 4pm, they went to Western General Hospital to see Ms Hadgu, organise language interpreters and collect more evidence.

“We were building a picture of what had occurred so that it would assist us with locating who the accused was and for any subsequent interviews,” DC Nugent said.

They soon identified Abebe as the suspect and visited a number of addresses to try to track him down before attending the Coroner’s Court for the post-mortem on Mr Wube’s body in the evening.

After being told the suspect had handed himself in at Melbourne West Police Station, DC Nugent took Abebe into custody and began interviewing him at 8pm.

“He was calm, answered the questions we put to him and he was cooperative,” DC Nugent said.

But when he was asked why he had stabbed Ms Hadgu and Mr Wube just hours earlier, Abebe told DC Nugent he could not remember the reason.

At his 10-day trial in May 1999, Abebe pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court to all four charges – attempted murder, intentionally causing serious injury, murder and theft of a motor vehicle.

Abebe’s defence was that he had been provoked into acting the way he did, claiming that Mr Wube smiled at him arrogantly when Ms Hadgu said he was her lover.

Abebe also told the court he had been upset, stressed and ashamed about rumours of Ms Hadgu and Mr Wube’s relationship swirling through Melbourne’s Ethiopian community.

Abebe explained he had given untruthful answers in his police interview because he was too ashamed to tell DC Nugent his wife was having an affair.

When the jury returned not-guilty verdicts on the first two counts — attempted murder of Ms Hadgu and intentionally causing serious injury — DC Nugent was a little surprised.

“At that point, I remember thinking, ‘It will be interesting to see what the jury verdict will be in relation to the murder charge’,” he said.

The jury, however, found Abebe guilty of murder.

Abebe was sentenced to 12 years’ jail, with a non-parole period of nine years and six months.

But in September 2000, Abebe successfully appealed the murder conviction on the basis that the trial judge had misdirected the jury on the matter of provocation by not giving enough weight to the Ethiopian cultural values and sensitivities that contributed to Abebe’s shame and humiliation.

The murder conviction was changed to manslaughter and Abebe was given a new sentence of eight years’ jail, with a minimum of six years.

The defence of provocation in murder cases was later abolished in Victoria in 2005, due in part to the fact it had commonly been used by men who killed their female partners in instances of infidelity or when their partner wanted to end the relationship.

“It was a really interesting case and it still sticks with me to this day,” DC Nugent said.

After all these years, DC Nugent still doesn’t know why Abebe made the diorama for him.

A close up look at the diorama.

Made of cardboard and painted with precision, the diorama shows the numbered positions of people and witnesses at the crime scene, and even includes intricate details such as the fly strips on the front door and a Christmas tree painted on the front window.

“The note he sent with it simply said something to the effect of, ‘Dear Detective Nugent, I put this together on remand and here it is’,” DC Nugent said.

“Maybe it’s something that helped him process what had gone on because, even though he pleaded not guilty, he had still taken someone’s life.”

As DC Nugent changed work locations and moved up through the ranks over the years, he kept the diorama.

“I couldn’t bring myself to throw it out, but I don’t know why,” he said. “Maybe because it’s so unique.”

Editorial and photography: Jesse Wray-McCann