EXTRACT FROM MY BOOK
CUTTING THE BARS VOLUME 1
Leonard Lawson was born in 1927. In 1954 he arranged to take a number of female models into the bush in the Sydney suburb of Terry Hills, on the pretext of a top line photo shoot, my cousin Wendy being one of them. It would be fair to say that Wendy was my cousin only by way of my father being adopted into the extended family. I was never especially close to Wendy as she was a lot older than me although my family would go to her family’s home on special occasions. I was only six years of age when the following incident occurred.
Lawson at rifle and knife point, tied all the models up and raped two of the girls while forcing the other terrified girls to watch these horrific proceedings unfold. To this day I’m not exactly sure where my cousin was placed within these gruesome events. I have never asked and it is probably better that I never do.
Justice appeared to be done when Lawson was sentenced to “Be hung by the neck until dead” for his crime. However an appeal was lodged by the Labor Party on Lawson’s behalf and the sentence was reduced to a paltry 14 years Hard Labour.
In 1960, after he had served a mere six years imprisonment, he was released on parole. The story is a long way from finished. In less than a year following his release on parole, Lawson sought after and raped, strangled and stabbed to death a woman in the most humiliating and brutal manner imaginable. While the Police were in the process of locating Lawson, he attempted to take school girls and their teacher’s hostage, armed once again with a rifle. The head mistress, in a gallant attempt to protect her students and teachers, struggled with Lawson during which time the rifle discharged killing an innocent fifteen year old school girl, who went to school that day to learn and gain the knowledge to foster a career in order to create a wonderful, fulfilling life for herself, instead her life was cut short by a man who should have met his maker on the gallows some six or seven years earlier.
For this crime, Lawson received a sentence of Penal Servitude for Life. In 1972 Lawson was housed at Parramatta Gaol. While being entertained by a musical group, he attempted to take a female member of the group hostage at knife point. Amazingly the young lady was rescued by a number of his fellow prisoners, but not before receiving a number of sutures to the cuts she had received at the hands of the devil’s disciple Leonard Lawson, he received an additional five years Hard Labour for his trouble.
In 1974 I was working in the temporary intractable section in the Metropolitan Remand Centre at Long Bay, set up for the prisoners who had rioted at Bathurst on the 3rd and 4th February of that year. One day they brought Lawson in and placed him into one of the yards. I knew who he was without anyone saying. As I walked past his yard he called out, “Boss what time is it”? I turned to him and said, “Lawson don’t you ever ask me for a thing, if you want something ask someone else not me”. Lawson had no idea who I was so he continued, “Why are you like that boss”? I looked at him and replied, “Do you know Wendy” (also giving her last name)? Lawson nonchalantly answered, “Yes I know her”. With that I simply walked away. George Sylis was the Chief Prison Officer on duty that day and having observed my blunt response asked me what that conversation was about. When I told him the circumstances surrounding my connection with Lawson, he had him removed from Long Bay immediately.
Lawson was to remain behind bars for another 50 years before suffering a massive heart attack at the age of 76. I often wonder how many people have given any thought to those unfortunate young women who died at the hands of Lawson or who have had their lives permanently polluted as a result of this man’s depraved actions. They have no doubt had to travel through their lives carrying the terrible recollection and anguish of the day they were taken hostage, or worse still raped by this man who had cheated the hangman in 1954.
When will the people who release prisoners such as Leonard Lawson to parole be made accountable for their decisions? Surely in such cases as this, the safety of the public must be paramount and be crucially considered before the rights of the offender are deliberated meticulously prior to releasing such a barbaric individual such as Lawson.
Ron Woodham by the early 2000’s had become the highest ranking Aboriginal in the New South Wales Public Service history being bestowed the rank of the Commissioner of the New South Wales Department of Corrective Services. The Governor of Grafton Gaol at the time, now retired John W Heffernan, wrote in his book “The Last Governor”, published by Book Pal, quoted Mr Woodham’s reaction when discussing the death of Lawson. John Heffernan’s quote, taken directly from his book reads, “I said to Woodham, ‘Looks as if Lenny was pretty right when he said that move was going to kill him.’ “Woodham’s face went a bright crimson and took on a thunderous look as he spun around on his chair to face me. ‘And do you think I lost any fuckin’ sleep over that!’ he spat.
Although I had lost all respect for Mr Woodham in the mid 1980’s, (you can read my reasoning in my first book “ITS ALL IN THE FALL”), I would find it difficult to argue against his remarks, though my considered position was from a personal perspective and not a professional view.
