Underbelly 6 Read online

  Lorraine Moss worked part-time with the local council providing home-cleaning help for people suffering physical disabilities. One of her clients was Aileen Crack.

  Months before Johnny died Lorraine asked Aileen if she could borrow an old medical book kept at the house. She said Tracey needed to study first aid because she hoped to join the police force.

  The book was on poisoning and insect bites. It was never returned and Tracey would later tell police she had not seen the book.

  Daughter Colleen would also recall her mother’s sudden interest in research.

  She remembers going with her mother to the temporary library at Bendigo, puzzled why her mother was in such a ‘frenzy’. They checked reference cards together and gathered a series of text books before using her daughter’s library card to borrow the heavy reading material.

  They all covered one topic … poisons.

  Police forensic experts took samples from tiny food and fat residue trapped in cracks near the kitchen sink. They were found to contain a one to one lead and arsenic mixture similar to that found in the Tupperware container in the garage and sold at the local nursery years earlier.

  It was enough for police to charge her with murder. But, in August, 1986, coroner Hugh Adams found that while Johnny Moss had been ‘maliciously and unlawfully’ poisoned by someone there was insufficient evidence to establish who was responsible.

  Adams was not one to be swayed by a circumstantial case, and correctly decided that there was not enough evidence to implicate Lorraine Moss in her husband’s death. (Adams was to be dogged by cases that became controversial – the year before, in 1985, he had conducted the first inquest into the death of Bonnie Doon farmer’s wife Jennifer Tanner. The open finding he made on that occasion was subsequently quashed after a new investigation was launched in 1996.)

  The charges against Lorraine Moss were then dropped. She said after the inquest, ‘I am not guilty. I’ve never done anything to hurt anybody.’

  If she had been tried and acquitted in front of a jury she would have been in the clear but, as there had been no trial, the case remained open.

  In Bendigo, the rumours persisted. One woman would jokingly tell her family if they didn’t behave she would ‘do a Lorraine Moss’ and poison them. But what she would tell police much later was no joke.

  Nancy Henderson was only 18 when she married and moved into a house in Upper Road, opposite the Mosses. Almost every day she would put her infant son in a pusher and walk over to visit Lorraine, an older mother she saw as a role model.

  ‘I used to go across to Lorraine’s for a cuppa and a chat every day after a while. I had a great respect for Lorraine as I thought she knew everything.’

  Eventually, Nancy began to confide to Lorraine that she was trapped in a violent marriage. She said her then husband drank and beat her. Lorraine first advised her friend to avoid any confrontations and to ‘keep your mouth shut’.

  But, as the beatings increased in severity and regularity, Lorraine’s attitude hardened. She said, ‘You shouldn’t let him get away with it. You know what you should do – put some Ratsak in his tea each night, that’ll get rid of him for you.’

  The two women became soul sisters. Lorraine showed her how to avoid violence by side-stepping possible arguments and how to save a little money by inflating the grocery bill to keep the change.

  The older woman said she was also unhappy in her marriage. ‘I used to ask her why she didn’t leave him. She said that she wasn’t giving up her house and stuff for anybody,’ Nancy Henderson (now Arthur) said.

  ‘A few weeks later, after I had received another hiding from John, Lorraine said, “I’ve told you what to do: a bit of Ratsak each night will do it”.’

  According to Nancy, her friend offered the same advice at least six times. ‘Just a bit at a time. It’ll eventually do him in, but they’d never know how it got there. There’s plenty at my place if you want some.’

  LORRAINE refused to discuss the controversial death of her first husband and married Bobby Whyte soon after the charges were dropped.

  But, according to her daughter Colleen, she marked off every year after Johnny died. She was convinced that after 15 years no one could be charged with murder. Lorraine may have taught herself about poisons but she didn’t know much about criminal law. She was wrong.

  Colleen said her mother asked: ‘Can they arrest me for it after 15 years? Can they do anything about it after 15 years?’

  Colleen continued: ‘As the 15th anniversary of my father dying got closer and closer, my mother kept asking me these questions more often. I also recall her telling me one time: “It’s been 14 years Col, only one more to go”. It was as if she thought that once the 15-year barrier was up she could not be charged.’

  But it was after 16 years, in early April, 2000, that Lorraine rang Colleen and asked her to visit the following day. When Colleen arrived, her mother was alone. As they sat together on a couch Lorraine finally said, ‘I think I killed your dad, Col.’

  Lorraine’s story was that John Moss brought a tin of sausage ‘thickener’ home from Mayfair and kept it under the sink. She said Moss was disorganised and kept tins of poisons near the thickener and she had accidentally mixed them together.

  Colleen couldn’t believe what she heard. She knew her father was careful with poisons and kept them locked away. Lorraine had earlier told police Moss kept all chemicals securely locked in the shed. ‘Johnny was very careful, terribly protective of me and the kids.’

  Colleen Moss didn’t buy the thickener story for a moment. Why had no one else in the family become ill when they all ate the same home-cooked food?

  She reminded Lorraine about the incident where she put the powder in her father’s butter. ‘My mother then snapped and said, “Is there anything else that you remember that I should know?”.’

  But, after years of denials, Lorraine was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Next day she took an overdose of pills and Colleen rushed back to the house.

  This time, Lorraine didn’t try to explain the death as an accident. She claimed John smoked and drank away his pay. ‘She then went on to say that she killed my father for the $11,000 superannuation money,’ Colleen told police.

  ‘Mum got out of bed and just kept saying, “I did it, I did it”.’

  She then rang her sister, Robin Ivins, in Mackay in northern Queensland and said, ‘I’ve got something important to tell you … I killed him … Colleen’s here and Colleen knows.’

  Robin Ivins said later: ‘John’s death has been like a cloud hanging over the family for all these years.’

  Lorraine’s younger brother, Tony Stone, and his wife, Rhonda, moved in next door to Lorraine in Myers Flat. Bobby Whyte yelled from their yard that he needed help as Lorraine had taken an overdose of pills. Rhonda asked Lorraine what had happened. She replied, ‘I killed John’.

  She was starting to unravel, telling people that police were following and persecuting her. Rhonda thought she was so confused ‘I don’t think Lorraine knew whether she did or didn’t kill John.’

  Colleen’s partner, pilot Alfred Assouad, was also at the house. He sat on a step outside the open bedroom door and heard Lorraine confess ‘she had killed him for the $11,000 superannuation money and that everything that had been said in court about how she killed Johnny was right.’

  A few days later she again took pills and was taken to hospital. One nurse heard her say to Bobby Whyte. ‘I killed someone and I need to tell you … I need to talk to the police. I need to tell them.’

  When Tracey Moss heard of her mother’s confession she rang the man that she knew had not forgotten the case – former homicide detective Jack Jacobs.

  Jacobs had retired from the force but kept in touch with some of the relatives of murder victims, including Tracey. He contacted the homicide squad and urged the case be re-opened. It was handed to Senior Detective Kira Olney, of the cold case crew.

  She asked Colleen whether she would sec
retly record her mother.

  On December 20, 2000, Colleen went to meet her mother at the Malmsbury Botanical Gardens. In her handbag she carried a tiny tape recorder that police had given her.

  As Lorraine arrived, Colleen said, ‘She’s here, guys. Wish me luck.’

  Colleen tried to trap her mother into admissions but Lorraine had by now reverted to her standard denials.

  ‘I don’t want to talk about the past, all right?’ she said.

  Colleen: ‘Well, I want to.’

  Lorraine: ‘Well, I don’t want to … If this comes back again … I don’t want to know about the past. The past is the past. I only just want to look after me and Pa (Bobby Whyte). I never killed him. I didn’t’

  Colleen: ‘You did.’

  Lorraine: ‘I didn’t.’

  Colleen: ‘You did, mum.’

  Lorraine: ‘I didn’t.’

  Colleen: ‘I need to know why you made that choice. Did you make it because you were trapped? Did they have a single parents’ pension back then or what?’

  Lorraine: ‘No, there was nothing back then. There was nothing.’

  Colleen: ‘Tell me.’

  Lorraine: ‘I’m going home now.’

  Colleen: ‘Oh, fine. See ya. Have a good life. I hope it’s fun.’

  Colleen Moss then spoke into the recorder: ‘Well, you know I really thought there, for a minute, that she’d tell me. Oh, she’s cunning isn’t she? What mother would do that? What person could do that? God, I hope you’ve got enough to get her, Kira. A person like that doesn’t deserve to be roaming around. She needs to go through some personal hell of her own.’

  On January 17, 2001 – 17 years to the day after her house was first searched for poisons, and 15 years after she was first charged with murder – Lorraine Whyte was arrested again.

  This time she appeared to be beyond defending herself. ‘Just lock me up,’ she said.

  They did.

  On May 3, 2002, in the Bendigo Supreme Court Justice Bill Gillard sentenced Lorraine Whyte. He didn’t try to conceal his disgust.

  ‘In the year 1982, the deceased was suffering from regular patterns of illness. He complained to his workmates and suffered bouts of illness whilst at work. Arsenic is odourless, tasteless and does not dissolve in fluids,’ he said.

  ‘It is apparent from the evidence that you were poisoning your husband over an extensive period of time. You placed arsenic in his lunches on occasions. Sometimes he would complain to his workmates about the taste of his lunches and often would be very critical and throw the lunch away.

  ‘Two of his workmates, bachelors who were only too happy to have a home-cooked meal, ate his lunches and suffered extreme illness lasting for weeks. Their symptoms were similar to the symptoms suffered by your late husband and with hindsight, they were clearly symptoms of arsenic poisoning.

  ‘I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that by 1982, you were systematically and regularly poisoning your husband with arsenic. Consistent with the views of the experts, he was building up some resistance, which explains his ability to keep going.

  ‘The same could not be said of his workmates who, having been poisoned, were violently ill for weeks, and in the case of one person, took eight months to recover.

  ‘Some time during the year 1983, you took your daughter, Colleen, then aged 14 years, to the Bendigo Library to acquire books on poisons.

  ‘You told Colleen that you were anxious to find out what was wrong with her father and to see whether you could do something that the doctors could not do, namely, find a cure.

  ‘In my view, the real reason was because you wanted to know more about poisons and their effects. What amount of arsenic is required to gradually kill a person, or kill a person with one dose, is something the average person would have no knowledge of.

  ‘Instead of seeking to help your husband, what you were seeking was information as to what quantity was needed to kill him. Your wickedness knew no bounds.

  ‘He again relapsed and on 20 June 1983, he was admitted to the Austin Hospital. He was suffering from anaemia. It was thought that he may have had glandular fever. He had problems with his peripheral nerves. He was developing problems with sensation in his fingers and feet. His bone marrow was not working properly. The doctors could not find any infection. They could not find any evidence of malignancy or tumour. He had episodes of confusion and delusions. These features were consistent with arsenic poisoning.

  ‘His illness and symptoms continued in 1983 and he gradually got worse. He would go to work, suffer a relapse, rest, return to work, and then again suffer an illness. This went on for some five to six months.

  ‘By May 1983, he was so ill he could not work. He ceased work and never returned. His work record to that date was good, save for the mystery illness which he suffered in September, 1982. He was highly thought of at the works. He had been elected a union representative by his workmates. This demonstrated the respect that was held of him by his 50 workmates.

  ‘By May, 1983, he was so ill that life became a living hell, getting worse and worse each day. In that month, he was admitted to Bendigo Hospital for two weeks. He was speaking strangely, slurring words, and his right eye was rolling in his head. His tongue was hanging out and he was blue in the face. That is a description that you gave to the police, as to how he was in May, 1983. You said he was so bad, he was too weak to hold a knife.

  The doctors were mystified, but you knew; you were torturing him to death. He had all the symptoms of arsenic poisoning. That was not appreciated by the medical profession.

  ‘Despite the excruciating effect the poison was having on his body, you continued to administer it. He improved a little while he was in hospital in May, but on his discharge, he became worse. You were continuing your nefarious practices.

  ‘The hospital investigated, looking for causes, but could not find one. It was all very confusing to the medical profession. Whilst there, there was some improvement and his rash disappeared. He was discharged 11 days later.

  ‘It was not surprising that he was showing some improvement because his body was not being bombarded with arsenic. But he was back again in hospital on July 7, 1983, and he stayed there for six weeks. More intensive investigations were carried out but without determining the cause.

  ‘In July, he described increased numbness to knees, difficulty walking and holding things. There was numbness in his hands. It was thought that there may be some problem with his nerves. By July 20, 1983, he could only walk with a frame. He had decreased power in his hands and feet and had foot drop. He was dragging his toes. He was in a very disabled state. By August, he required a wheelchair. He was discharged home on August 17.

  ‘It was at this stage that somebody in the medical profession or involved in the administration at the Austin Hospital, badly let him down. A test was taken during August 1983 which showed significant levels of arsenic and lead in his body. However, the test results never caught up with his file until January 1984, by which time it was too late. This gross carelessness played into your hands; you were able to continue your callous, heartless activities, unchecked and undetected.

  ‘You were caring for him on a full-time basis. You were nursing him, but you were not nursing him to health, you were nursing him to certain death. You were making sure that he died.

  ‘It is hard to think of a more callous, heartless, wicked person. Your husband was suffering excruciating pain, he was getting weaker and weaker, nobody knew why, yet you continued to feed him large doses of arsenic.

  ‘As I have said, the effect upon your children must have been devastating, yet you persevered. You had no compassion, you were heartless. You were hell-bent on finally killing him. You gave him a number of massive doses of arsenic in the last months of his life.

  ‘You did succeed in killing him. He died on January 13, 1984. On his last admission to the Austin Hospital, he was still vomiting, had stomach pains, was confused, disoriented, hallucinating, could not walk and w
as suffering from skin problems. It was at that time that the August test results of the year before caught up with his file, and there was a realisation that he was suffering from chronic arsenic poisoning. Your conduct over a period of about 15 months, ensured the progressive destruction of the father of your children in the most excruciating, distressing circumstances. As I have said, your wickedness knew no bounds.’

  Justice Gillard sentenced her to a minimum of 18 years’ jail. She will not be released until she is 70. The judge ordered police to confiscate and destroy the Tupperware container and a red spoon used to poison Johnny Moss.

  Senior Detective Kira Olney said, ‘Lorraine liked to portray herself as a simple woman but she was extremely cunning and cold.’

  Jack Jacobs investigated more than 100 murders in his record 16½ years in the homicide squad but he found the Moss case ‘the most intriguing’.

  ‘Most murders involving spouses are heat of the moment crimes but this was just so cold-blooded. Lorraine killed him by degrees over years. It was a case of cold-blooded torture.’

  He said he couldn’t find a solid motive. As is so often the case in murders, it didn’t make a lot of sense. The risk far outweighed the reward. ‘I think she just wanted a change of lifestyle,’ Jacobs said.

  And he remembered another thing about the black widow of Bendigo: she was always polite and hospitable when the homicide squad went to interview her.

  ‘She always offered us a cup of tea. I always made sure I never took it.’

  CHAPTER 3

  Rape and power

  His most obvious tribal connection was not the distant one with his grandmother’s ancestors, but with an inner-suburban gangland …

  GEOFF Clark is a painter and docker’s son who has fought in the ring, was once jailed for assault and arrested for carrying a gun – none of which prevented him becoming chairman of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. But the hard man of Aboriginal politics seemed as nervous as anybody else the day the door blew open on his chartered aeroplane.