Sunday night’s episode of Channel 7’s program Sunday Night aired – for the first time ever – footage of the police interviews of Port Arthur killer Martin Bryant after the massacre.
The footage, which has previously only ever been shown in court, reveals Bryant’s childlike approach to the proceedings: smiling and laughing, deflecting questions, and – despite being in a wheelchair because of a fire he lit at the scene – claiming that he was out surfing that day.
The interviews are punctuated with interviews with Bryant’s lawyer John Avery, who details his attempts to make his client plead guilty, and claims to be using the interview as a way to lift the weight off his shoulders after all these years.
The crux of the story reminds us of the ending of Andrew Jarecki’s HBO documentary The Jinx, in which property developer Robert Durst admits to murder when he thinks the camera has stopped rolling.
Bryant tells investigators that he’s “sure you’ll find the the person who caused all this” before smirking and pointing at himself, mouthing “me”. He looks marginally less casual when the investigator tells him that moment was captured on camera.
It’s definitely worth a watch as a new perspective on one of Australia’s worst crimes.
Source: Channel 7
Photo: Channel 7
