The Parkside Body in the Freezer Case: 
The Appeal (part 5)

The House

The house in which Mr Stevenson was murdered was located in Parkside, across from the South Adelaide Parklands. A very distinctive house with a slanting roof, it was bulldozed in 2008 and is now an empty space alongside the Transcendental Meditation headquarters. I doubt anyone waiting for a bus right at the front of the property would have any idea that almost 40 years ago, a horrendous murder took place there.

189 Greenhill Road, Parkside - circa 1970s

 

189 Greenhill Road, Parkside - 2007

189 Greenhill Road, Parkside - 2017

The Appeal

David Szach’s is a free man after serving his time for a murder, he (possibly) did not commit. He may be free, but he will forever have that conviction recorded against him in the annals of law. He has claimed right from the start that he did not murder his lover Derrance Stevenson, and now evidence would suggest that he is telling the truth, However, Government officials will not Mr Szach’s appeal the conviction, even though there are laws in place that give him the right to do so.
Mr Szach’s is now fighting not only for his right to clear his name but for his life, with a diagnosis of motor neurone disease that will eventually rob him of his freedom yet again.
In 2016 Maurice Blackburn Lawyers launched a challenge to David Szach’s murder conviction under South Australian legislation that permits convicted criminals to launch an appeal if there is compelling new evidence to clear their name.
In Szach’s case that compelling new evidence is the manner in which Dr Manock conducted his forensic pathology testing, and his non-scientific reasoning when substituting data or methods to gain an end result. (Dr Manock’s testing methods are being brought into question in a number of different cases in South Australia).
There is also the compelling evidence of a young man who turned up at the South Australian Legal Aide Commission the morning after the murder, that had been with Mr Stevenson the night he was murdered. This young man was never sought for the court case, nor was the staff member he spoke to sought as a witness.


I will be watching the outcome of Mr Szach’s appeal, and no doubt will write about the result sometime in the future.

As an interesting side note, and a look into Adelaide’s mythology, and urban legends, could the murder of Derrance Stevenson be, in part, where the origins of Dr Schneider/ Schneider’s Alley haunting began?
 In my original research into Schneider’s Alley, way back in 2008, there was talk of the time of a nearby doctor chopping someone up and putting them into the freezer…considering the notorious park is only 5.8km’s away from the murder scene in Parkside, I believe this, in some weird way, helped propagate the Alley’s notorious (but fake) reputation and origins – a case of misinformation, and urban legend storytelling!

rear view of Derrance Stevenson's house 2007

side view of Derrance Stevenson's house 2007

front view of Derrance Stevenson's house 2007

researched and written by : Allen Tiller - 2017
www.allentiller.com.au
https://www.facebook.com/AllenHauntingAustralia/
https://www.facebook.com/TheHauntsOfAdelaide/

Bibliography

TV & Radio:

Archer, G, 2007, Szach Polygraph, Today Tonight, Seven Network, Adelaide, South Australia, aired 12 Mar 2007, viewed 10 Mar 2017, https://www.todaytonightadelaide.com.au/stories/szach-polygraph

Carrick D, 2016, The body in the freezer, ABC Radio, viewed 10 Mar 2017, http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/2016-09-18/7848700#transcript

Mann A, 2015, 'Shonk' forensic expert could trigger legal crisis in South Australia, 7:30 ABC Network, viewed 10 Mar 2017, http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4368496.htm

Books:

Mann, Tom 2015, Body in the freezer: the case of David Szach, [Gawler East, South Australia] Tom Mann

Orr, Stephen 2011, The cruel city : is Adelaide the murder capital of Australia?, Sydney Allen & Unwin

Newspapers:

1979 'Lawyer's body hidden in freezer, court told', The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), 7 August, p. 10. , viewed 10 Mar 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110573111

1979 'Lawyer's death: man for trial', The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), 15 August, p. 17. , viewed 10 Mar 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110575069

1979 'Lawyer's death: man for trial', The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), 15 August, p. 17. , viewed 10 Mar 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110575069

1991 'Murphy visit to death house alleged', The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), 14 April, p. 3. , viewed 10 Mar 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122356759

1993 'Convict's life sentence to end in July', The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), 27 March, p. 18. , viewed 10 Mar 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article127204589

Carrick D & Story-Carter J, 2016, The body in the freezer, ABC News, viewed 10 Mar 2017, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-16/david-szach-and-the-body-in-the-freezer/7851166

Hunt N, 2014, Lost diary gives South Australia police new lead into Alan Barnes murder by The Family, The Advertiser (online), viewed 10 Mar 2017, http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/lost-diary-gives-south-australia-police-new-lead-into-alan-barnes-murder-by-the-family/news-story/eaf66c4823f20f55981177c02d2bb657

Loussikian K, 2016, Lionel Murphy’s misbehaviour: inquiry documents released, The Australian, viewed 10 Mar 2017, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/lionel-murphys-misbehaviour-inquiry-documents-released/news-story/541db65962e1432b27b7fad110b7cbe9

Manock CH, 1979, Autopsy Report, The State Coroner, Forensic Science Centre, viewed 10 Mar 2017, http://netk.net.au/Szach/AutopsyReport.asp

Mata M, 2016, Maurice Blackburn launches David Szach’s body-in-a-freezer appeal, Australasian Lawyer, viewed 10 Mar 2017, http://www.australasianlawyer.com.au/news/maurice-blackburn-launches-david-szachs-bodyinafreezer-appeal-223715.aspx

Sydney Morning Herald, 2013, I didn't do it, I wasn't there, Sydney Morning Herald, viewed 10 Mar 2017, http://www.smh.com.au/national/i-didnt-do-it-i-wasnt-there-20131215-2zfwf.html

Urban, AL, 2014, David Szach: denying a dying man, Civil Liberties Australia, viewed 10 Mar 2017, http://www.cla.asn.au/News/david-szach-denying-a-dying-man/

Vaughan, J, 2008, Body-in-freezer murder house demolished, The Advertiser, viewed 10 Mar 2017, http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/body-in-freezer-murder-house-demolished/news-story/10b1d5a4673ace5791be3a969cbd2d1b

James C, 2014, How the death of Anna-Jane Cheney stopped South Australia in its tracks, The Advertiser, viewed 10 Mar 2017, http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/how-the-death-of-annajane-cheney-stopped-south-australia-in-its-tracks/news-story/0ecd38982fa994ae88e20dda1eb94eaa

The Parkside Body in the Freezer Case: Gino "Luigi" Gambardella (part 3)

The Parkside Body in the Freezer Case:
 Gino "Luigi" Gambardella 

 

Gino “Luigi” Gambardella was a well-known chiropractor who ran his practice from business premises on Prospect Road, Prospect in the 1970s.
 “Luigi” as he was known, was very well known in Adelaide’s 70’s gay sex scene, often seen frequenting Adelaide’s gay strips looking for young men.
Gambardella was a close friend of Derrance Stevenson, and Bevan Spencer Von Einem, and connected with a number of Von Eminem’s associates.

Downtown - Hindley Street, Adelaide
One of the places Gambardella would pick up
young men for his clients

Gambardella was present at the house of Derrance Stevenson on the night of his murder, his distinctive green and white Ford Falcon as seen parked in the driveway of the distinctive house in Parkside.
 David Szach’s, who was convicted for the murder of Stevenson, also speculated that Gambardella was the person behind a number of threatening phone calls that were received at Stevenson’s house after Stevenson had decided to try and leave a secret group of men involved in drugging and filming young men in the late 1970s.

Gambardella was charged in 1979 as an accessory to murder in the Stevenson case, but his charges were later dropped. It was during the case that it was revealed that Gambardella was a known scout for the secretive group, frequenting Adelaide’s gay hotspots, during his lunch breaks, and after work, recruiting young men for sex with a client list of Adelaide’s wealthy and elite.
Gambardella fled South Australia after his brush with the law in 1980. It is believed he went into hiding in Italy. It was during an inquest into “The Family” murders, surrounding the case of Bevan Spencer Von Einem, that Gambardella’s identity and paedophilic past were presented into the public arena.

Gambardella was known to police, he had had several young men place reports against him in the 1970s, but the reports were ignored by police. A young man reported that Gambardella had picked him up in 1997. Gambardella had first taken him to Stevenson’s Parkside home, only to find the lawyer not home, so he drove the young man to his Prospect business premises.
Once inside, he showed the young man an amateur pornographic movie and then sexually assaulted him.

Gambardella was also known to be a drug dealer, and it is thought this is how he lured young men into his seedy world. It is alleged, that once the men were high, Gambardella could do whatever he wanted, and often he would film them for his network, sometimes he would take photos of the young boys with objects firmly pushed into their backsides – nothing was out of the question for

Gambardella’s depraved network of buyers.

Gambardella was also known for picking up hitchhikers and sexually assaulting them. It was alleged during the “Family Murders” investigation, that Gambardella would take the hitchhikers up to Stevenson’s home and the two men would sexually assault them together.
 It was Gambardella who introduced the 16-year-old Szach’s to Stevenson, Gambardella had promised the teenager a successful career in modelling, and had insisted on photographing him.
It has also been alleged that Gambardella would place fake job ads in local newspapers for a part-time gardening position. Young men would apply, and Gambardella would interview them. Often his questioning would lead toward risqué topics, to measure the boy’s response, and it is alleged he would then single out the ones who weren’t suspicious or reacted in certain ways for future sexual assaults.  

Gambardella’s location is currently unknown, but Police have dropped any charges they had against

Veale Gardens - South Adelaide Parklands
A notorious gay sex hangout in the 1970's, within walking distance
to Derrance Stevensons 'house in Parkside
(source SBS)

the man in the hope he may come forward and offer names or evidence against others involved in the Family murders.
Another interesting character associated with Gambardella and Stevenson is former High Court Judge, Lionel Murphy. It is alleged that the former Judge was present on the night of Stevenson’s death. 

This claim first surfaced in 1991 when the Legal Services Commission contacted David Szach’s and stated that someone had come forward with information about the visit. A taxi driver is alleged to have dropped Mr Murphy and two other men off at the house in Parkside on the night of the murder.

 Lionel Murphy died in 1986, after a long career that saw him serve as the attorney-general in the Whitlam Government. His long career ended in controversy when he was charged with trying to pervert the course of Justice in 1985 and jailed. His conviction was swiftly overturned and Judge Murphy returned as a working Judge, this led Bob Hawke to invoke an inquiry into the matter.

The case was reported in The Australian (newspaper) in December 2016 as “one of the greatest judicial scandals since federation was left with no conclusion, the commission being abandoned when it was revealed Murphy had been diagnosed with cancer and had only months to live” by reporter Kylar Loussikian.

Murphy died in 1986 after a brief fight against cancer.

If High Court Judge Lionel Murphy was at the Stevenson house in 1979, what was he doing there?
Who were the other men he was with?

The only person who might be able to answer that question in Gambardella, and no one is certain where he is, or if he is even still alive! 

Next Week: The Parkside Body in the Freezer Case: Incompetent Coroner? (part 4)

(Bibliography in the final blog post of this series)