‘Drop bomb counts or I stay on the run: racist’
The West Australian
Sean Cowan and Luke MorfesseWA’s most wanted man, racist Jack van Tongeren, has finally broken his silence by vowing to remain a fugitive from justice unless police drop three charges against him of plotting to bomb Chinese restaurants.Despite having been on the run since mid-February, the racist leader sent The West Australian a handwritten statement, dated March 8, in which he claimed he feared police would kill him.
Mr van Tongeren, a Vietnam War veteran whose father was Eurasian said the entire case against him was fabricated in an attempt to keep him from winning a seat in Federal Parliament.
Now, on the run from justice, he could not lead his “Aussie people” into a better age.
“Make no mistake, my comrades and I now face possible death at the hands of Stalinist-like armed TRG and their ilk or, at the best, spend the rest of our lives in State-run Gulags,” he said.
Mr van Tongeren made a mockery of the justice system [?!?] and sparked a nationwide police alert when he absconded with co-accused Matthew Peter Billing just weeks after a judge ordered he be released from Hakea Prison on bail.
In his statement, he said the pair had followed their bail conditions but were set up by a prosecution witness who approached them at a court hearing.
Under their bail conditions the pair could not talk to the witness and, as a result, police planned to rearrest them, he said.
“Drop all charges against my comrades and I that were levelled against us just before the 2004CE Federal election,” the statement said.
“Only then will we present ourselves publicly to the WA people, safe from threats of death or jailing by the WA police, and then lead our Aussie people into a far better, freer age.”
Det-Sgt Dario Bolzonella, of the State security investigation group, said police were almost certain the letter was written by Mr van Tongeren.
“It’s in a similar style to his previous writing but obviously that needs to be authenticated,” he said.
“It’s being treated forensically and also being analysed . . . to see if it is consistent with something that Mr van Tongeren would have written.”
Sgt Bolzonella said the charges against the two men would not be dropped.
He also said Mr van Tongeren’s claim that he and Mr Billing had been set up to breach their bail conditions after a contrived confrontation at the Central Law Courts was wrong.
“Mr van Tongeren is not wanted for (anything) stemming out of the incident at the Central Law Courts,” he said. “What he is wanted for is breaching his bail (by not meeting daily reporting conditions).”
Investigators also believe the different dates on the letter, March 8, and postmark, March 22, indicate that the fugitives are being helped by family or friends.
