‘Last piece of him’: Bondi widow hails return of camera
Adelaide Lang and Allanah Sciberras |
A camera belonging to a Bondi massacre victim will be returned to his widow after it was allegedly stolen in the chaos of the mass shooting.
Retired police officer and photographer Peter Meagher, 61, was among 15 people killed on December 14, when two gunmen opened fire on a crowd at Bondi Beach.
Naveed Akram has been charged with murder and terrorism offences over the massacre, while his father and fellow gunman Sajid was fatally shot by police.
In the pandemonium, Mr Meagher’s camera equipment was allegedly stolen by a 35-year-old man hired as a photographer at the Hanukkah event.
Mr Meagher, a beloved figure at Randwick Rugby Club, had also been working as a photographer at the religious celebration when he was shot.
The impending return of the camera and the memory cards left his wife Virginia Meagher shocked, gratified and overwhelmed after months of hopeful inquiries.
“It’s miraculous they managed to recover it all,” she said on Thursday.
“My message to the police is thank you for your diligence, your persistence … and for finding the person that did this.”
Mr Meagher’s photos were regularly uploaded from the Hanukkah event, but the final images remained on the memory card allegedly stolen.
“The last 20 minutes before Peter was killed, it’s those images which … I wanted back, more than the camera, more than anything else,” Mrs Meagher said.
She will receive the final collection of photos on Friday and spend the day viewing what her late husband saw before his death.
“It’ll be about reflection and having my little quiet moment to think of him and what he was doing when he was doing what he loved,” she said.
“The last little piece of him is being returned.”
Mr Meagher’s one-time colleague was arrested on Wednesday.
The 35-year-old was charged with larceny after police searched a home in Sydney’s northwest.
Officers allegedly located and seized a camera, handcuffs and electronic devices, a small amount of white crystal powder and further electronics in a car.
He was granted strict conditional bail to appear before Blacktown Local Court on June 22.
Mrs Meagher was thankful the man who allegedly stole her husband’s camera equipment would face justice.
Police spent months combing through footage of body cameras worn by police officers on December 14 to home in on Mr Meagher’s whereabouts and track his belongings, she said.
The deadly events of that day changed a nation forever and revealed how flawed humanity can be, Mrs Meagher said.
“We’ve all got within us the capacity for good and evil, and it’s a choice that we make,” she said.
Six months on, Mrs Meagher is dedicated to honouring the memory and the legacy of her husband and the other massacre victims.
AAP