How Russell Manser went from robbing banks to helping other prisoners | Australian Story

[Music] i remember the first time i walked through these gates i i was a 17 year old kid and it was my first time in an adult prison [Music] i'd heard a lot of stories about prison [Music] it looked like a very harsh environment you know the smell of um tobacco just everywhere you went you could just smell it [Music] i i was i was terrified i was scared as i never felt fear like that ever in my life [Music] something happened to me on the first night in prison and um and haunted me for the rest of my life i think it played a big part in destroying my life you know why i don't use it as a justification i went down the wrong path but i you know i just couldn't escape it it was like a rocket ship i just couldn't jump off it russell manser was essentially a career criminal he had caused other people to be frightened if not terrified situation of cancer was very dangerous this caprice had escaped from a prison the escapees were identified as 22 year old russell mansour having a history of armed robberies and escapes perhaps the most remarkable thing about his story is just how improbable it was that with his background he was going to break this entire cycle i think i might have said him at one stage russell you've got a one in a million shot of doing this we don't have to get trapped on this cycle you know we can make choices and choices that are going to work well for us russell once said to me you know i'm a good guy that's done bad things but i knew he was always in there he was always that type of a person that would help [Music] i'm not expecting i'm not asking for people to forgive me there's a lot of me that's that is ashamed about what i did to other people there's a lot but i hope that people when i hear my story can realize that people can change [Music] i've known russell about 10 years i met him at uh narrow narrow jail [Music] russell exudes confidence but he has his demons he gets depressed so every day he tries to get to the gym just about every day it's important to russell too because what happened to him when he was younger happened because he was defenseless in a way he wasn't very big he wasn't very strong and he never wants to be vulnerable like that again [Music] you know i still have a lot of prison dreams but for me exercise is the best antidepressant there is i'm in a really good head space at the moment and i'm not going to let my past define me [Music] this is meow druit western suburbs of sydney sold to the earth type people and you know i had fond memories of growing up here i don't know i wouldn't want to grow up anywhere else i love the people of this area [Music] in those days madrid was a very poor area it was very diverse one end of the street you'd have a bank robber who went to jail and then a couple of doors down you've got you know the captain of the australian soccers team my mum worked in a plastic factory and done night shift and my dad worked in a factory they believed in in working hard to get anything he wanted in life i've known russell since i was around the age of five he was just just a happy kid like one of us but he started hanging out with a different crowd once the kind we got to that teenage years as i got older you'd see blokes come home from prison and they were like return war heroes you know and um next me they've got the best car in the driveway they've got the big tv and um they turned up they'd have a glove box full of the one and two dollar notes they would um say you know a young man young russell come here and they'd give me a handful i could be like 40 or 50 in one dollar notes and that was like you know that was like a fortune back then and you know i wanted to be like these guys with the benefit of hindsight you know i can really see how sad that was you know but these guys treated me like big brothers i'd come down here of an afternoon talked to the boys and the boys had come out from jail the other boys would come home from the boys homes and we'd all pool knowledge and and you learn all different techniques how to whether to steal a car or rob a bank or or break into an apartment store this is where i learned it all this is where i've done my apprenticeship one day i was walking home with a friend and a shiny rx7 sports car pulled up it was russell russell says hopping says he come on i'll give you a lift home so you know thinking should i get in this car should i know that my girlfriend's like yes we're in it so she's you know we're in the car before i know i'm in a stolen car really i thought to myself this is not going to end well [Music] i knew what i was doing was wrong but i was just one of these kids that was just searching to have a good time to have some fun because you know life seemed boring at the time [Music] my family were really dirty on me when i first started getting into trouble you know because none of my family had ever been in any trouble with the law they were always encouraging me to get some help [Music] when russell was 15 he and another guy stole a car they were involved in a chase smashed the car and he was arrested and they put him in a place called derek [Applause] i felt really scared about going to derrick boy's home because i'd heard whispers about what was going on there the first night i got to derek i've seen staff grabbing kids out of uh beds and taking them into the ablutions block the second or third night i was there one of the staff members firstly i could smell him breathing on me and he had breath like a sewer and um and he told me to wake up and then march me into the ablutions block and um and then sexually abused me it made me feel ashamed it made me feel embarrassed it made me feel unmanly and from that moment onwards it was like having a massive big hole in my heart people like russell complained even complaining to to women who worked in the laundry net and they wouldn't they just wouldn't believe it and tell him don't come to me with that sort of stuff so this is very frustrating and and just destroys people it wasn't long after i got out of derrick i started stealing luxury cars i got arrested for stealing the porsche from wale beach and the judge sentenced me to 12 months in prison and stipulated that it be served in an adult prison the judge stated that it was would serve as a deterrent from kids from outdoor steel and porsches from affluent areas he was 17 when he went into long bay [Music] and he put him in what's called one wing as a protection wing and some of the most vile criminals in the state were there he was just a young blond-haired blue-eyed boy and he was thrown in a cell with two pedophiles two officers um put me in the cell they put a mattress on the floor and as they were leaving they said to the two blokes in the cell and had fun boys that night i was sexually abused [Music] a couple of days later there was a another bloke who's actually abused me as well and after it he said to me look don't say nothing and he said i'll give you this it was a shot of heroin and he introduced me to heroin you know from the moment i tried heroin i just loved it that void that i had from the abuse was filled straight away [Music] so i came out of there a very angry young man um a very hurt young man um and you know and and a drug dependent young man a few years he's addicted to heroin and he needed to be able to support the drug habit and he started going for serious money [Music] in the early 90s i robbed five banks [Music] i got 90 000 from the lone cave commonwealth you could buy a house in mountain drawer for 25 grand back those days you know it was a lot of money even though russell never physically hurt anybody the violence associated with the possibility was still quite traumatic for the victims of that crime when someone's pointing a gun at you um the feeling you know people freeze um and relive that memory over and over again the screaming and yelling you know give me the money it's quite a confronting situation for someone to be in [Music] i never really stopped to see what the reaction was because i was so messed up in my own head i was so badly desensitized of what had happened to me you know i didn't think people had feelings because i didn't what i'd done was terrible and for a long time i didn't realise that [Music] i was 23 when i was arrested and i was eventually sentenced to 15 years with an unparalleled period of seven and a half [Music] place in a years tight manner where everyone had to who was like the king of the ways really yeah i first met russell when he was in custody when he started his first really big sentence and i was at the time um running the education programs in one of the jails at long bay how long have you been here for i've been here for a couple of years yeah but still learning by that stage you'd had a very extensive record you know stealing cars more serious forms of robbery and a couple of escapes this is one of the rooms that you went into to check on your progress every thursday yeah i remember that and you'd sit around here with david schwartz and a couple of the other officers and they'd tell you how well you're going or how bad you're going and in some cases you know they'll telling you or you're going you're getting you're getting kicked out now not blaming you what i'm just saying is i've tried to talk i've tried to talk i've approached you to talk about it you know so there's nothing to talk about just do better i ran a three-month program called the special care unit at long bay jail all things considered a program that focused on behaviors that got people into trouble constantly no no you're the one who seems to concentrate on all the bad no that's you know that's how it has been with my new this time i don't know what your problem is russell came into the program as a hard-talking kid from the west who was tough he at least acted tough you got to work hard well i know what's going on here saying you're booting me all right sweet why can't you leave it up front with me i'll see you as a bit of a coward david i really do [ __ ] russell never talked about his abuse david what are you all considering he was very defensive in certain areas afraid of getting hurt when i do the good you've never ever praised me for it program was very intense and he could just could not meet those demands well i hope at some other time you'll try again no no by that stage with my abuse i become so accustomed to putting on a facade of everything's okay and those feelings i didn't want to engage in them i had them tucked away so it was really really confronting you know it was really painful and i think he might have been scratching the surface yeah [ __ ] you'll finish this program is full of [ __ ] that's what it is it's full of [ __ ] he's a hypocrite he's a bad liar he just sets you up for failure all the time that's what he's up with another day [Music] i used to go and visit russell in long bay i definitely got the feeling he was battling his own damage i just put it down to perhaps drugs at the time i was trying to encourage him to bring out himself like who he was really russell eventually re presented himself to the program and the second time there was something different what it was i don't know except perhaps the willingness to listen and engage i don't want to rely on my family and friends i want to be responsible for myself in everyday life there was less hustle about him and that was the beginning of what seems to have been a rather significant change i just didn't want to keep repeating that cycle my plans from there from there on end was always to get out and live a productive life i can remember when there's a whole heap of us had an interest in doing some sort of fitness qualification and we took it to you we provided vocational skills and russell was highly motivated to do something he was one of those people who really wanted to learn he wanted to take advantage of every opportunity that he had i heard from russell when he got out of jail around 2004 maybe 2005. he'd become a gym instructor and he'd started his own business and doing really well i met a girl and they had two boys and i just thought to myself russell's finally got his life on track but it was just on the surface for a long time i was clean and sober but you know i was still fighting my demons on the inside i started drinking and then it started to uh unpack the suitcase of all the stuff that i'd suppressed you know i started hanging out with an old mate and were using a lot of drugs and it wasn't long until my life fell apart completely again he's married split up stuffed after marriage then he found himself going in and out of hospitals mental hospitals and rehabs he was starting to have hallucinations thinking people after him he finished up turning the crime again as well january 2014 i led an investigation into a number of bank robberies um in sydney bank robberies were sort of a dying art form for criminals with security um and changing amounts of cash that was available but russell was desperate in one case he stuck his finger under his jacket to make it look like he had a firearm in some of those robberies he was apologising to the victims whilst he was doing them which is you know unusual he appeared to be a person that was at the end of end of the line who's ready to be caught when i was uh arrested i ended up in the police station and i kept on seeing these blinds come down and a pair of eyes staring at me and um all just young coppers and and it was like they'd never seen a bank robber before and i was like a tasmanian tiger it was the first time i'd ever seen a tasmanian tiger and i was at a stage in my life at that point in time that i i i just wanted to end it [Music] in 2014 when he did go back to jail i do think that that was rock bottom for russell and he really needed to address why he was feeling the way that he did i was watching tv and a report came on about the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse the outgoing archbishop of sydney cardinal george pell is being questioned about his role in the church's vigorous defense of child sex abuse claims [Music] previously i'd been let down by the authority figures who i did try to report my abuse to that when i saw the head of the catholic church george pell getting questioned about church cover-ups you know it'd give me a lot of faith i give me a lot of faith that my story may be believed russell wrote to the royal commission they then had a private session with him he detailed the sexual abuse that he suffered and the impact that it's had on his life he had developed post-traumatic stress disorder recurrent intrusive distressing memories panic attacks generalized anxiety depression hypo vigilance truly truly debilitating disease he was able to negotiate an outcome of compensation but also a letter of acknowledgement and apology from the new south wales government i got this apology letter and a line that really stood out with it for me it says i acknowledge the impact the abuse has had and continues to have it on your adult life after receiving this i felt validated you know and someone was making sense and taken ownership of the madness the royal commission process was a really long process i was making regular phone calls for them and there's normally 50 blokes in a prison yard and everyone knows what everyone's talking about if you get labelled with a tag of a police informer or a dog it could cost you your life i had to make a disclosure to the whole yard i said i'm not talking to the police or anything i'm talking to royal commissioner institutional responses of sexual abuse i said i'm i'm talking about abuse that happened to me because it's ruining my life it's been ruining my life for a long time other people started coming up to him and sharing their story of the abuse that they had suffered and that they had never spoken about and i just put them in contact with you know with the royal commission and that's when you know a big seed was planted in me too to see that i could help these people it's really important for people to have a sense that they can be a better person i think that was really important for russell to imagine a future for himself where he was accepted by the community but in 2017 uh just weeks before it was due to be released uh russell was charged with a series of new south wales armed bank robberies committed before the offences for which he was serving his time we were able to secure in bail [Music] russell was admitted to a rehabilitation center a dell house in coffs harbour where he really did attempt to address his addiction issues and that's been an ongoing battle for russell he was still approached by survivors of abuse who had heard his story russell was referring survivors of abuse to different law firms for legal advice and that's when i met him when he got out of rehab he set up a small business the business is a support and advocacy service to refer survivors of abuse for rehabilitation or treatment or legal advice about compensation i started the business on a barbecue table in my little one bedroom unit at coffs harbour with a laptop computer and just myself and i didn't even know how to use that laptop computer eventually we moved into a fully operational office morning russell worked and he worked pretty hard building his business up [Music] taking phone calls at two and three in the morning particularly people in jail he was the guy they wanted to talk to because legal people didn't believe them before but when they got someone like russell who's been there and done the same things they've done they feel good and they'll go with him majority of our clients are former prisoners or prisoners themselves we refer them off to one of our lawyers that we work with to see if the lawyer believes that they have a viable case we give some initial advice in relation to options such as redress which is a capped amount of monetary assistance through the national redress scheme they can do that themselves but people who are prisoners or have been sentenced to over five years they may not be entitled to redress there's a further assessment process so some people choose civil litigation often we'll take the initial report the abuse report we charge a fee for taking the statement and supporting the client throughout the whole process we you know we we do welfare checks on them so what are you doing to uh to be looking after yourself there i've been going to a counsellor now for nine months yeah [Music] i first met russell in 2004 in jail in queensland i was i served in a sentence of 19 years at the time for armed robbery and a lot of that was my attitude to self and the world i didn't grow up with a lot of care and i didn't extend a lot of care i was made of water this date when i was around 11 years old and i was in institutions from that age until 16 and it was during the course of those years that i was a victim of of sexual abuse and physical abuse pointing something away for so many years and pretending it didn't happen um did damage too yeah i kept the story for most of my life that shame and all of those horrible feelings that is attached to that anxiety and that don't belong to you that actually belong to the perpetrator themselves you know and and we can never forget that i think that the greatest help that i got from russell was that the abuse wasn't my fault if you're struggling at all mate like always you've got my number you know being part of someone's healing process is so rewarding you know i used to in my life i've done a lot of bad things myself you know and it's really pleasing to be a part of that all right mate you take care he was just getting on the front foot for the first time however there were these criminal charges um that he still hadn't answered to and that he could go back to jail in which case this could all come crashing down [Music] the day i went to court it was um i'd say it was a really emotional day for me that that day because my life hung in the balance i wrote a pre-sentence report i told the court that his criminal offending was a direct unequivocal consequence of being sexually abused and physically abused and emotionally abused i formed the view that the prospect of him reoffending [Music] was remote i was sincerely apologetic for for the trauma that i'd caused the victims of my crimes and fully come to understand the impact that my actions that had on on victims themselves i explained how my life had changed and i told the judge that i you know i believed that i had a purpose in life and that was doing the work that i was you know i'm doing and it was pretty amazing what he what he had to say [Music] the judge came to the view ultimately that russell had passed the crossroads that he was rehabilitated and that he was on the right path [Music] i was blown away and so relieved that i wasn't going to have to return to prison i just wanted to be able to get on with my life you know we've been operational for five years now it hasn't been smooth sailing people have been trying to suggest that we've been doing things untoward which is really hurtful [Music] what do you say to the idea that you'll claim farming approaching people in order to get business and that you cold call survivors we don't have to claim farm people are approaching us we don't have to do that but you know not for one second what i say we're making mistakes we had people in that were working with us that they were doing some unscrupulous things one bloke in particular sent out a whole heap of pamphlets to different prisons and that you know there's a suggestion that that offered money for for referrals and but that was done by an employee who's no longer with us he's got who actually got the sack over that i think that a mistake had been made and we've been very clear that we can only and will only assist people that have approached russell's organization um directly and and asked for assistance you've been accused of taking kickbacks or commissions from law firms of several thousand dollars for referring prisoners no we don't do that we actually invoice for uh a report right and the support that we provide the survivor we've created something that for people who would never talk would talk with lawyers we we've we've created an opportunity for them to get justice as well we haven't broken the law in doing what we're doing but i just think for me i've been under attack because i'm that guy that should be in long bay get my name called off master every night that that's where these people want me and my place they see me as being out of my lane i'm going nowhere i'm here to stay [Music] come up and down these stairs a fair few times i've got a lot of plans for the future i really want to get actively involved in in helping um people in prison get proper rehabilitation dealing with trauma and getting skills and and reintegrating back into community i want to play a part in that my name's russell and i grew up at now drew it and um sort of got into trouble and i was like 14 years old and ended up in a boy's home out west i've asked russell to come and speak to prisoners and i've asked him to come and speak to staff about his experience because it's fantastic to learn from people who've managed to move beyond their criminal life to me the change field that took place where you know i had to take ownership of my actions you know i mean i was like russell like most humans he's a complex human being he's not all good and he's not all bad look mate i'm not a criminal mastermind i'm 23 years ago i sort of accept that maybe i'm not good at it russell does continue to struggle as an addict there's times when he will be off the grid and take himself to in-house rehabilitation centers to ensure that he stays well for us blokes it's hard for us to put our hands up and ask for help i do a lot of narcotics anonymous meetings because i understand that i'm an addict for life and i've always got to address it russell's had some ups and downs in the last few years but he doesn't feel a failure he doesn't feel that he's just been another useless crim there's nothing in that old life that appeals to me nothing not one thing i want a good peaceful life and so i'm hell-bent on making the right choices [Music] [Music] [Music] you

2022-05-31 21:22

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