Читать книгу Don't Ever Call Me Helpless - Ruth Wykes - Страница 5

Monday 6 October started out like any other week for 22-year-old Mary Neilson. She was a psychology student at the University of Western Australia who was planning to work as a counsellor with the Department of Community Welfare. To earn some extra cash Mary held down a part-time job in a deli.

Mary's parents were both TAFE lecturers, and in October 1986 they were enjoying a holiday in Britain. Mary's Monday began like any ordinary week: she went to work at the deli, and had lectures at university later that day. With a few hours to spare Mary decided to do something about the tyres for her car. She needed new ones.

Like many university students Mary had limited funds and the option of buying cheaper tyres was appealing, so she went to a car wreckers in the southern suburb of Myaree. Here she was served by small, mild-mannered David Birnie, who showed her some tyres and then told her that if she called around to his place he would be able to do her a much better deal. David lived less than five minutes' drive from where he worked. Mary agreed to go and buy the tyres privately from Birnie.

When she knocked on the door at 3 Moorhouse Street, Willagee, she was met at knifepoint by a very different David Birnie who, along with his partner Catherine, dragged Mary into the bedroom, tore her clothes off her, gagged her and chained her to the couple's double bed. For the next several hours Mary Neilson was repeatedly raped by David Birnie while Catherine looked on, encouraged him and asked him explicitly what was turning him on the most.

As night fell the Birnies decided they needed to 'remove the evidence' from the house. Still bound, Mary was dragged into their car, driven to Gleneagle Forest, south of Perth, and in the middle of the night was raped again. Then David Birnie took out a nylon cord and wrapped it around Mary's neck. Using a small tree branch to tighten the cord, Birnie strangled Mary Neilson as she lay on the ground begging for her life.

After she had died the Birnies dug a shallow grave and, before burying her, stabbed Mary. David told Catherine he had read somewhere that this would allow gases to escape as the body decomposed.

Given what is now known about piquerism (a stabbing sexual fetish), it is difficult to believe that there was ever such a pragmatic thought in David Birnie's head. It is far more likely that the act of penetrating his victims with a knife was yet another kick for this depraved man.

When they arrived back in Perth, David and Catherine knew they couldn't leave Mary Neilson's car parked outside their house. David drove the Galant to a riverside car park, opposite police headquarters, where it was found six days later.

Over the years many people have speculated that this, the first known murder committed by David and Catherine Birnie, was unplanned. Experts believe that David impulsively took advantage of Mary Neilson turning up at his workplace and being an 'easy target'. This isn't true. While Mary was in the terrible position of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, David and Catherine had been talking about what they would do, and planning for at least a year.

According to Catherine the murders she committed with her partner David Birnie were thoroughly researched and planned. 'We looked into everything before we started, every little detail ... right down to how long you could leave a car in a certain place before anyone would notice it,' she said. 'We bought this book, it was called Perfect Murder or something like that, and we learned a lot from that about what to do.'

Did the Birnies leave Mary Neilson's car so close to police headquarters deliberately? Was it a message to the police and the community? 'No,' scoffed Catherine, 'we did our homework and we found out that that was a car park where the council wouldn't check for days.'

Did they intend to actually murder Mary Neilson? 'She saw our faces, didn't she? She saw where we lived.'

Questions about whether they knew they would kill Mary even before she knocked on their Moorhouse Street door are anticipated. A killer's eyes lock on to those of the inquisitive; cold, expressionless, soulless.

Mary Neilson never stood a chance. From the moment she accepted David's invitation to drop over to his place and negotiate cheaper prices for her tyres, her fate was sealed.