Monday 12 March 2007 - Channel 7 Today Tonight (Adelaide)

This version of the transcript has been edited by Dr Robert N Moles

David Szach, Derrance Stevenson and the Family Murders

In order of appearance

Leigh McCluskey, Presenter
Graham Archer, Producer and interviewer
David Szach, convicted of the murder of Derrance Stevenson
Gavin Wilson, polygraph expert
Dr Byron Collins, independent forensic pathologist
Hon Dennis Hood MLC - Family First Party

Program - Leigh McCluskey

But first tonight - it's one of Adelaide's most intriguing murders, unforgettably known as "the body in the freezer case" in which prominent criminal lawyer Derrance Stevenson was shot and his body hidden in his own deep freeze.

The man convicted for life was 19 year old David Szach who for the past 28 years has professed his innocence and now Today Tonight has put him to the test on a polygraph. And the results are fascinating.

But was this case really a missed chance to expose the murderous work of Adelaide 's notorious family killers? Was the conviction based on flawed evidence? And if they got the "wrong" man, did the real culprit go on to kill again? Graham Archer has this special investigation.

Graham Archer [to David Szach]

Did you have any involvement in the death of Derrance Stevenson?

Graham Archer [to polygraph expert]

So did David Szach pass or fail the lie detector test?

Graham Archer

It's one of the most troubling cases in this state's history of troubled cases. The “body in the freezer” murder of prominent criminal lawyer Derrance Stevenson in June 1979.  

News bulletin

They forced the lid open and found the body inside the deep freeze...

Police news conference at the time

What was the time of death any idea? No we don't know yet.

Graham Archer

The man convicted was David Szach. Jailed for life for shooting his gay lover in the back of the head then placing his body in the freezer and super-gluing the lid shut. Was there friction in your relationship?

David Szach

Definitely not

Graham Archer

At the time, the execution-style murder threatened to lift the lid on the dark side of Adelaide's gay community - but always had the air of cover-up about it. Were there people with a reason to kill Derrance Stevenson?

David Szach

Not that I could say definitively.  

Graham Archer

But he had a social life from which you were excluded?

David Szach

Yes.  

Graham Archer

Did you know much about that life?

David Szach

No.  

Graham Archer

One of the shadows which hangs over the case is that of Gino Gambadella. A drug dealer and notorious procurer of young boys for Stevenson and others, who resented Szach's presence in Stevenson's life; though it didn't halt his activities. Effectively the traffic of young people continued?

Over 28 years Szach steadfastly maintained his innocence, and though seriously ill with motor neurone disease, agreed to undergo a polygraph test. Did his condition affect the results of the test?"

Polygraph Expert

No, as a matter of fact it didn't, it didn't affect the results of the test at all.

Graham Archer

How accurate is the test?

Polygraph expert

This type of test is what we call a “single issue zone of comparison test” and which has an accuracy rate of about 96 to 98 per cent according to independent studies conducted by the Department of Defence in the United States.

Graham Archer

The test took over 3 hours and was scrupulously conducted by expert Gavin Wilson.  

Polygraph Expert to David Szach

Did you have any involvement in the death of Derrance Stevenson?

Graham Archer

But before the results, many mysteries surround Stevenson's murder. Amongst them, a late night phone call on the eve of his killing which clearly shook him.

David Szach

… Derrance becoming up set by what ever that had been to the point that he expressed the words “I just want to get out”.

Graham Archer

Get out of what? We can only guess. But even more significant, early on the Tuesday morning after the murder, a young man burst into Adelaide Legal Services office desperate for a lawyer, saying Stevenson acted for him - but when he'd seen him last night "he was in no condition to act for anyone". For someone to say that before anyone even knew he was dead - was significant. Was that person you?

David Szach

As of 9.00am I was 600 miles away in Coober Pedy.

Graham Archer

Was that person ever traced at all?

David Szach

Never.

Graham Archer

But a significant possibility remains about who it was.

David Szach

Alan Barnes.

Graham Archer

Alan Barnes? Alan Barnes was, of course, one of the young victims in what's known as the notorious “family killings”.

David Szach

Alan was murdered late June 1979. Derrance Stevenson was murdered early June 1979.

Graham Archer

It's a chilling fact. Only 12 days separates the two events. And there's a closer connection.

David Szach

I believe Alan Barnes was a person introduced to Derrance Stevenson by Gino Gambadella. That became known during the course of the Von Einem committal hearing.

Graham Archer

It's a disturbing coincidence which we'll return to later. But first we need to go back to the day prior to the murder. After that distressing phone call Stevenson booked Szach a seat on a Stateliner bus to Coober Pedy saying he wanted him to check his opal interests. Do you think that was a direct result of him saying “I want to get out?"

David Szach

I would say it had to be, because I was not expected back in Coober Pedy for at least before the 15th June.

Graham Archer

But later the next day, after a call from Gino Gambadella, things suddenly changed again. And what did Derrance come and tell you to do?  

David Szach

He just said “take the car and go to Coober Pedy”. He handed me some keys. I grabbed a jacket and left and that …

Graham Archer

And what time was that?

David Szach

Gambadella said that call was at 6pm.  

Graham Archer

On the Monday?

David Szach

On the Monday. So my leaving was shortly after 6.00pm.

Graham Archer

So was that the last time you saw him alive?

David Szach

Yes.  

Graham Archer

Szach says all this had caused him to linger - visiting his parents - then briefly returning to the house at 8pm when Stevenson failed to answer the phone. But he found no one there.

Graham Archer

Did you murder Derrance Stevenson?

David Szach

No I did not.

Graham Archer

But this is where time became vital in the case against Szach. The police had a witness who claimed to have seen him leave the house not at 6 but 6.40pm. Though it wasn't a perfect match.

David Szach

Absolutely not. I did not have shoulder-length blond hair.  

Graham Archer

In retrospect, the description much better fitted Alan Barnes. But with only Szach in their sights, time of death was now critical to the Crown's case. It had to fit between 5.00 and 6.40 when they claimed Szach was at the scene.

Dr Byron Collins

There is no formula that can accurately be used to assess the time of death of a deceased individual.

Graham Archer

Despite an answer being almost scientifically impossible, particularly given the body was found almost frozen solid a day later, the State’s Chief Forensic Pathologist, Dr Colin Manock, using guess-work to fill in the blanks, came up with a result which perfectly fitted the prosecution case.

Graham Archer

What value do you place on the results?

Dr Byron Collins

None. Absolutely none.

Graham Archer

Dr Byron Collins is an independent forensic pathologist who has studied Dr Manock’s application of this bizarre formula.  

Dr Byron Collins

In my opinion it was totally inappropriate and it would not have been used if I'd been asked to carry out that procedure. What I would have done - and I imagine a number of other pathologists around Australia - would be to tell whomever asked - that it could not be done.

Graham Archer

Even more critical was Dr Manock's finding that the time between death and placement in the freezer must have been less than one hour. It meant Szach alone had time to commit the crime. Again, his reasoning was highly suspect.  

Dr Byron Collins

Again, totally useless in my view, providing even an indication as to how long a body has been dead.

Graham Archer

Manock's evidence has since been seriously discredited. Even described by world expert Professor Bernard Knight as being "totally without foundation". [Extract from letter shown on screen]

Dr Byron Collins

It really reflected the parlous state of the estimation of time of death when a pathologist is asked to do so.

Graham Archer

So, Szach - just 19 - executed his sole benefactor with a clean shot to the back of the head, cleaned up, dumped him in a freezer, glued the lid shut - all in 40 minutes. And then calmly drove off to cancel his bus ticket and then on to visit his parents. Does that sound like you?

David Szach

I can’t believe that - when it's put as you've put that - it could be deemed believable. 

Graham Archer

Of course, the minute traces of Stevenson's blood apparently found on door handle of the car he was driving didn't help his defence

David Szach

I am advised that the evidence given by that scientific witness was not viable.

Graham Archer

Indeed the tests have since been found to be unreliable. It appears to have been a case of Lindy Chamberlain all over again.

Dr Byron Collins

Well in some ways it does have that unpleasant odour to a certain extent.

Graham Archer

Szach was convicted in 4 hours and sentenced to life in prison. But there was always another possibility. Someone else's car was seen at the house on the night murder. That of Gino Gambadella. So Gambadella definitely had a dislike of you?

David Szach

Definitely.

Graham Archer

Sufficient to set you up in a murder?

David Szach

Perhaps sufficient to cause difficulty for me.  

Graham Archer

Originally, the police thought Gambadella and Szach were in league, but somehow Gambadella slipped out of net. He later jumped bail on unrelated sex charges and fled to Italy. But what about his appearance at the house after 8.30 that night and the possible Alan Barnes connection?

David Szach

It’s just very coincidental that Derrance Stevenson had been so brutally murdered in the first week of June and Alan Barnes more so brutally murdered in the last week of June.  And the similarity of his physical description to the person apparently seen leaving at about 6.40pm.

Graham Archer

What if Dr Manock's worthless guesswork on time of death did mislead the jury? And what if it wasn't David Szach leaving the house at 6.40pm?

David Szach

I wasn't wearing jeans and a jumper. I didn't even have that property in Adelaide.  

Graham Archer

And what if Alan Barnes stumbled on Gambadella and the murdered Stevenson later that night? And what if it was a terrified Barnes who turned up at Legal Services the next morning desperate for legal advice? There was no doubt that wasn't you?

David Szach

Absolutely.  

Graham Archer

And what if his death shortly after was to silence him? And what if the police's focus on Szach left the killer free to continue killing other young men?

Dennis Hood MLC

These are very serious questions and at the very least it says to me this case needs to be looked at once more.

Graham Archer

And what if Szach passed that lie detector test?

Polygraph Expert

Did you have any involvement in the death of Derrance Stevenson?

David Szach

No.

Polygraph Expert

Did you lie to me about having no involvement in the death of Derrance Stevenson?

David Szach

No.

Graham Archer

So what was the result? So did David Szach pass or fail the lie detector test?

Polygraph Expert

He passed today Graham.

Graham Archer

So according to the test he's innocent?

Polygraph Expert

According to the polygraph test - yes.

Graham Archer

Now you passed that polygraph test.

David Szach

I had no reason to doubt it.  

Graham Archer

During the early 1990's serious questions surfaced about Dr Manock's work in this case and a number of others including the Baby Death cases. Following this, without warning, after 14 years, Szach was suddenly told he was free to go. Are you saying it was an easier option for the government to let you go rather than to investigate the case?

David Szach

Definitely. And that fact stands given the circumstances of that release.

Dennis Hood MLC

The worst thing anyone wants to see is an innocent person going to jail.

Graham Archer

Over time, more and more people have become concerned that a series of injustices or at least miscarriages in the process have occurred - including a growing number of politicians such as Dennis Hood from Family First.  

Dennis Hood MLC

There needs to be a look into all these cases again and probably it' time to have a full inquiry into this issue.  

Dr Byron Collins

In my view I think this case should be returned to the courts system for assessment of the evidence as it was at the time and new evidence that has been provided.

Graham Archer

In short who killed Derrance Stevenson?

David Szach

That remains a matter to be investigated and answered by the police.

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