Perre found guilty in NCA bombing case

Tim Dornin | June 30, 2022

The man accused of bombing the National Crime Authority office in Adelaide, killing a police officer and seriously wounding a lawyer, has been found guilty of murder and attempted murder.

In the South Australian Supreme Court on Thursday, Justice Kevin Nicholson handed down his verdicts against Domenic Perre who is already behind bars over drug offences.

The 1994 bombing killed Detective Sergeant Geoffrey Bowen and seriously injured lawyer Peter Wallis.

Sgt Bowen died from horrific injuries, including the loss of his left arm, while Mr Wallis, who died in 2018, lost an eye and suffered severe burns.

In reasons for his verdicts, Justice Nicholson said while the prosecution case was largely circumstantial he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Perre had built and posted the bomb.

He also found that Perre had intended to kill Sgt Bowen or anyone else who happened to open the package or be close by when it detonated.

“I am satisfied that Mr Perre’s responsibility, in fact, is the only rational conclusion that the circumstances established by the prosecution permit me to reach,” the judge said.

“I have excluded, even as a reasonable possibility, that any other person, independently of Mr Perre had any knowing involvement whatsoever in the NCA bombing.

“Mr Perre wanted to kill Mr Bowen but intended the NCA bomb to do its work and kill whomever it did.”

Perre had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Sgt Bowen and the attempted murder of Mr Wallis at the start of his near-year-long trial which began in October 2020.

He was first charged with murder soon after the bombing but the case against him was dropped six months later because of a lack of evidence.

The 65-year-old was arrested again in 2018 after a joint investigation, lasting more than two years, by a number of state and federal authorities including the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

As part of an incredibly detailed and complex case, prosecutors argued the bombing was a personal attack on Sgt Bowen.

They said Perre’s hostility towards him had grown because of their interactions following the seizure of a multi-million dollar cannabis crop in the Northern Territory in August 1993.

Perre elected not to give evidence but his defence team said the investigation into the bombing was plagued by tunnel vision, with detectives believing only Perre had the motive to make and send the bomb.

After Thursday’s verdicts, a spokesman for the Bowen family said the bombing remained unprecedented in its violence against law enforcement in Australia.

“Today’s guilty verdict will allow us to move forward knowing the individual who caused Geoffrey’s death has finally been convicted,” he said.

“Despite the years which have passed since 1994, justice has been served.”

Genevieve Wallis, the daughter of Mr Wallis, said her father’s life had been inconceivably changed on the day of the attack.

“As a result of the bombing, dad lost his great mate Geoff, his career was cut short and he battled daily with the profound physical and emotional scars,” she said.

“There was no doubt he was a different person in the aftermath of the bombing.

“It’s our greatest sadness that he’s not here today. As a lawyer and as a human he valued truth and justice above all else.”

SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the verdicts vindicated the unrelenting efforts of police and other investigators.

“I’m also hopeful that this result gives the families some ability to move forward,” he said.

“You never get over something like this. We can’t even begin to imagine the impact that has had on the families of Geoff Bowen and Peter Wallis over the past 28 years.”

Major crime squad boss Detective Superintendent Des Bray thanked all of the witnesses who had the courage to make statements almost three decades ago and to “never step back”. 

“Today, Domenic goes off to commence his prison term and South Australia is a much safer place because of that,” Supt Bray said.

Under SA’s sentencing laws, Perre will be jailed for life, but submissions in relation to a non-parole period will be heard in September.