Dark Stories: On This Day In True Crime History - Dark Stories True Crime Tours

John Caldwell was a former British soldier, court martialled at Bangalore in India for stealing his own equipment and sentenced to seven years transportation. He arrived in Western Australia aboard the General Godwin, landing at Fremantle in 1854, and was granted a ticket of leave the following year. His sentence finally expired in July 1860, a free man again after years of convict servitude.

Within months he was convicted of assualt of a local person at Champion Bay. He was tried at the Supreme Court in Perth, sentenced to death, and hanged at the old Perth Gaol just nine days later on 13th Oct 1860, being buried at East Perth Cemetery.

Panter Tomb at East Perth Cemetery burial place of John Caldwell 1860

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Australia Colonial Crime Execution Fremantle Murder Perth Trial WA

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On 12 October 2002, a suicide bomber walked into Paddy’s Pub in Bali’s Kuta district and detonated an explosive vest on the crowded dance floor. Twenty seconds later, as survivors fled into the street to see what had happened, a second bomb hidden in a van outside the Sari Club tore through the crowd gathered there, killing many who had just escaped the first blast. The attack claimed 202 lives, including 88 Australians, the deadliest act of terrorism in Indonesia’s history. Three men were convicted of orchestrating the bombings and sentenced to death. They were executed by firing squad on Nusakambangan island in November 2008. In their final moments, the three men showed no remorse, shouting loudly, rather than any word of apology.

Kuta carnival 2010. Paddle for peace. Bali. Annual Kuta beach carnival celebration. Initially organized as a response to the Bali terrorist attack of October 2002, the event has now become a regular fixture on Bali's busy calendar of yearly events. October 2010. Among majority of events - every year all surfers padles to the mid of the ocean to make the circle, unite the hands, put flowers into the water and pray for victims of terrorist attack. The name of this part is Paddle for piece | ID 16538257 © Evgeniya Bolyukh | Dreamstime.com — ID 16538257 © Evgeniya Bolyukh | Dreamstime.com

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Asia Australia Bali Bombing Execution Indonesia Mass Casualty Attack Terrorism Trial

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On 12 October 1950, at Collie, near Perth, milk carter Raymond Armanasco murdered several members of his family. His own defence counsel told the jury it was possibly the most gruesome case ever unfolded in a Western Australian court, and argued Armanasco had been temporarily insane.

Through two days of evidence at his trial, Armanasco spoke only two words: “not guilty.” The jury took just forty minutes to convict him of murder, but attached to its verdict the “strongest recommendation for mercy.” He was sentenced to hang, yet in April 1951 the Executive Council accepted that plea and commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment with hard labour.

Raymond Armanasco arrives at court Perth 1950

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Australia Clemency Collie Execution Murder Perth Trial WA

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Peter McKean, alias William McDonald, bunked with William ‘Yorkie’ Marriott at a shepherd’s hut near Kojonup, both working for the same local farmer. Marriott was known for quietly saving his wages, and in June 1872 he vanished. His body was found slumped behind a cart more than a week later, the head so badly gnawed by dogs that he could only be identified by a missing finger on his right hand.

McKean was arrested on circumstantial evidence and convicted at the Albany Circuit Court of robbing and killing Marriott with an axe. After his arrest, McKean claimed Marriott had been killed by ‘a vicious horse’. He never offered proof, and the excuse died with him on the scaffold.

He was hanged at Albany on 12 October 1872, the rope worked by a fellow convict before a crowd that included schoolchildren.

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Albany Australia Execution Kojonup Murder Robbery Trial WA

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