POLICE nabbed the wrong man for the 2002 murder of security guard Slawomir Tomczyk, but are confident they are now closing in on the right one.
Peter Samuel Smith spent 11 months behind bars before being exonerated by the homicide squad detective who charged him with beating Mr Tomczyk to death.
That detective was cold case squad head Ron Iddles.
Det-Sen-Sgt Iddles yesterday said charging the wrong man four months after the murder had made him more determined than ever to catch the real killer or killers.
He and his cold case crew have continued to investigate the death of Mr Tomczyk, 44, who was attacked outside the Casablanca reception centre in Cranbourne about 10pm on February 21, 2002, They recently discovered new evidence that puts a suspect firmly in their sights.
I always say the answer to unsolved crimes is invariably in the police file on the case and that at some stage in just about every unsolved homicide we have spoken to the person responsible
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The Cold Case Files is a database of every unsolved homicide in Victoria since 2000. Search by name, date, location, reward and map, and alert police to clues. Read more reports here.
“I am particularly interested in a person who was nominated very early in the investigation,'' Sen-Sgt Iddles said.
Security guard Slawomir Tomczyk was murdered in Cranbourne. Picture: supplied.
“On the morning after the murder, before details had really got out in the media, someone rang Cranbourne police station at 8am and named the person responsible and explained why the murder happened.
“The person the caller nominated as the killer was spoken to by police at the time and was eliminated predominantly on the basis that his partner gave him an alibi.
“Of recent times, we can now show that that alibi is not as strong, and I believe that the person nominated in the phone call to police is responsible for the murder.
“I always say the answer to unsolved crimes is invariably in the police file on the case and that at some stage in just about every unsolved homicide we have spoken to the person responsible.
”In the Tomczyk case, I think the person responsible is the first person we spoke to following that 8am phone call on the morning the body was discovered.''
Sen-Sgt Iddles yesterday appealed for the person who anonymously rang Cranbourne police station at 8am on February 22, 2002, and nominated the killer to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
About the Cold Case Files database
He said doing so could lead to the suspect being charged.
Security guard Slawomir Tomczyk's van. Picture: HWT library
Sen-Sgt Iddles said he had no doubt Mr Smith was innocent and that the used car salesman who told police he heard Mr Smith and two other men talking about the Tomczyk murder was mistaken in saying Mr Smith was one of the trio.
But he said he believed the salesman did overhear three men discussing the murder and that the new suspect was probably one of them.
The salesman told police he heard one of the men say: “This will show them we mean business. We bashed him with a bar, you could hardly recognise his face. We don't muck around.''
He said he also heard the men say the victim “had it coming'' and one of them asked one of the others, “Have you got the bar in the car? We have to get rid of it”, and the man then retrieved an iron bar or car jack handle from the rear of the van.
The salesman said one of the men then demonstrated how the bar had been used to beat the victim, swinging it three times in a karate action style.
I have a feeling it was somebody he knew
Polish-born Mr Tomczyk was single and lived in Homestead Rd, Berwick.
He was a jeweller by trade, but due to a downturn in the industry he had taken a job as a mobile security guard for PSE Security Services.
Security guard Slawomir Tomczyk's van was empty but clues to his brutal death were scattered for nearly 2km. Picture: HWT library
Mr Tomczyk's shift started at 6.30pm on February 21, 2002, and involved driving to business premises in the Berwick, Cranbourne and Narre Warren area.
One of those premises was the Casablanca reception centre on the South Gippsland Highway in Cranbourne.
He parked his marked security van in the reception centre driveway shortly before 10pm.
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After walking around the grounds and checking all external doors he returned to his van to discover the front near side tyre had been punctured.
Mr Tomczyk rang his boss, Sandy Sempel, and said: “We got trouble, I got flat tyre. I think someone try to make us trouble, someone know what they doing. They make big holes in the tyre with a knife or something sharp. Maybe six holes.''
Mr Sempel told Mr Tomczyk to change the tyre where it was safe to do so and then continue with his patrol duties.
A man out walking his dog saw Mr Tomczyk changing the tyre about 10pm and spoke briefly to the security guard.
Police gather evidence near the murder scene where Slawomir Tomczyk was slain. Picture: HWT library
Another man saw the security van being driven north along Cranbourne Narre Warren Rd at 10.30pm and the vehicle was later found parked in Thompson's Rd, Clyde North.
At 12.20am on February 22, 2002, PSE security owner Mr Sempel was told Mr Tomczyk had failed to keep a scheduled appointment to check security at the Endeavour Hills McDonald's store.
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Mr Sempel became concerned and got in his car and drove to the various premises Mr Tomczyk was supposed to have been monitoring.
He arrived at the Casablanca reception centre shortly after 2am and on driving in he saw what appeared to be blood on the driveway and tyre skid marks.
His first reaction was that Mr Tomczyk had injured himself while changing the flat tyre, but on going to the rear of the premises he discovered Mr Tomczyk's bound and beaten body.
A police examination of the crime scene revealed Mr Tomczyk had been attacked in the driveway. Blood spatters were found on the car jack, suggesting the attack happened as Mr Tomczyk was changing the tyre.
Slawomir Tomczyk's niece Eva (left) comforts the slain security guard's mother Janina at a media conference calling for any help in the investigation. Picture: HWT library
The killer or killers dragged Mr Tomczyk through the gardens of the reception centre to the carpark, where police later found a large pool of blood - indicating he had been left there for a short period of time.
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Mr Tomczyk's body was later moved from the carpark and put behind a small wooden gate at the back of the reception centre, which is where his boss found it.
Police found Mr Tomczyk's stolen security van at 6am in Thompson's Rd, Clyde North.
Several items from the van were found scattered on both sides of the road over a 2km stretch.
An autopsy revealed Mr Tomczyk died from head injuries caused by some sort of blunt object.
Mr Sempel yesterday said he hoped the murder of Mr Tomczyk being in the news again would produce clues as to why he was killed and by whom.
He said he hadn't been too concerned when Mr Tomczyk rang him shortly after 10pm to say he had a puncture, but he became very concerned when he got a call from McDonald’s in Endeavour Hills after midnight to say Mr Tomczyk hadn't turned up to pick up the cash takings
Peter Samuel Smith was charged but exonerated of the murder of Slawomir Tomczyk and spent 11 months behind bars on remand. Picture: Norm Oorloff
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“I went into an absolute panic. I flew down there and did the cash pickup and then started back tracking to the places Slawomir should have visited on his rounds,'' Mr Sempel said.
“I drove through Casablanca and didn't see his car anywhere.
“I was driving back out and thought, ’Gee, that's a big oil stain', and I stopped to check and it was a pool of blood.
“So I searched the gardens and found him tied up and dead inside the little enclosed area beside the building.
“I have a feeling it was somebody he knew.
“He was a smart and well trained enough guard to not let strangers near him and especially not to let strangers near him when the vehicle had been damaged.
“I can't see somebody getting that close to him if it was a stranger.''
Det Sen-Sgt Ron Iddles shakes the hand of Peter Samuel Smith who charged, but cleared of involvement in the murder of Slawomir Tomczyk. Picture: Norm Oorloff
Why police never give up on a cold case
Peter Smith was so grateful for the work done by Sen-Sgt Iddles to clear him of murdering Mr Tomczyk that he warmly shook the veteran detective's hand as they walked out of the Melbourne Coroner's Court in September 2007.
Sen-Sgt Iddles had earlier that day given evidence at the Tomczyk inquest that cast doubt on the version of events given by a witness who implicated Mr Smith in the murder.
It was only after a magistrate ordered Mr Smith to stand trial that Sen-Sgt Iddles acted on his concerns over key eyewitness evidence against the accused.
Sen-Sgt Iddles choked back tears during his evidence at the 2007 inquest as he described the doubts he felt after Mr Smith's preliminary hearing in April 2003.
The coroner heard the detective formed the view that a witness - a used car salesman who gave evidence that he overhead Mr Smith describe beating a security guard to death with a metal bar - had been mistaken.
Sen-Sgt Iddles said while he believed the used car salesman did overhear a conversation between three men who were unaware of his presence, he wrongly identified Mr Smith as one of them.
The coroner heard Mr Smith had innocently visited the used car sales yard during that period to test-drive a vehicle.
Sen-Sgt Iddles, who has investigated more than 200 murders since joining Victoria Police in 1973, said he'd always had “gut'' doubts over Mr Smith's guilt, but said the evidence had pointed towards him.
“Your personal view can't come into it,'' Sen-Sgt Iddles said.
“There was sufficient evidence to charge him.
“You have to be impartial as an investigator. You can't get emotionally involved.''
After Sen-Sgt Iddles' further investigations cast more doubt over the used car salesman's evidence he approached the Director of Public Prosecutions, who then withdrew the charges against Mr Smith.
“Police have an enormous duty to get it right if you're going to take someone's liberty away from them,'' Sen-Sgt Iddles said.
“I know I've acted with integrity. There is nothing I would have done differently.''
Outside court on the day of the 2007 inquest, Mr Smith praised Sen-Sgt Iddles, saying, “He was just doing his job.''
“I've been no angel either,'' Mr Smith said.
“I have a fairly extensive criminal record but I've got a hell of a lot of respect for Ron.''
Mr Smith said he was “a bit bitter'' over being wrongly accused and jailed.
“But I'm pretty happy to be standing here today. Hopefully they will find out who did it,'' he said.
“I wouldn't mind getting a look at him. He's obviously walking around laughing at me.''
The evidence Sen-Sgt Iddles gave at the Tomczyk inquest in September 2007 led to Coroner Peter White two months later formally finding the evidence against Mr Smith was unreliable.
He said he shared Sen-Sgt Iddles' concerns about the accuracy of evidence given by the used car salesman that he had overheard Mr Smith and two other men discussing the murder of Mr Tomczyk.
The coroner said that while he believed the used car salesman did hear the conversation, his identification of Mr Smith was “unsafe''.
He said the work of Sen-Sgt Iddles to correct the miscarriage of justice against Mr Smith was to be commended.
Sen-Sgt Iddles yesterday appealed to anyone with information on the murder of Mr Tomczyk to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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