SA: Lawyer injured in NCA bombing to give evidence

AAP General News (Australia)
04-07-1999
SA: Lawyer injured in NCA bombing to give evidence

ADELAIDE, April 7 AAP - The lawyer who was seriously injured in the parcel bomb attack on
the National Crime Authority's Adelaide office in 1994 will give evidence to a coronial
inquest into the attack today.

Peter Wallis, who suffered serious burns and lost his sight in one eye, is expected to be
the first person to give evidence to the inquiry by Coroner Wayne Chivell which opened
yesterday.

Mr Wallis was in the room in the NCA office when Detective Sergeant Geoffrey Bowen opened
the parcel bomb which killed him on March 2, 1994.

Yesterday, counsel assisting the coroner Josie Atkins said the inquest should consider who
made the bomb and what it was made of, how it escaped detection in the NCA office and the
issue of general security at NCA offices.

But Detective Sergeant Bowen's widow Jane said she had reservations about the inquest being
held in South Australia because Mr Chivell does not hold the same powers as coroners in other
states.

For instance, he cannot make a finding or a suggestion about criminal or civil liability.

"I guess at the end of the day, we would like justice to be done, someone to be charged
with Geoff's murder," Mrs Bowen told reporters outside the court.

"I don't know if that's a realistic expectation but that will always be my hope."

Ms Atkins also told the court that Domenic Perre, the man who was charged with murder and
attempted murder over the NCA bombing, has provided the court with a large amount of
information previously unavailable to police.

The charges against Perre were dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions in September
1994 because of a lack of evidence.

AAP sn/cfm

KEYWORD: NCA DAYLEAD

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