Question Details

“Your job is to produce a case file about an Australian offender or create a profile for an unsolved case. For example, serial killer Ivan Milat, be the focus of your case file. Make sure you focus on an Australian case. Your case file will have 4 sections (aim to have each section utilise approximately 400-500 words) and a reference list:

1. An introductory section that describes the offender, the types of crime/s that were committed, what the offender was convicted of in a court of law, and what sentence the offender is serving. If you are considering an unsolved case, describe the basic scenario of the case.

2. Victimology: Describe who the victims of the offender were. Try not to make this section into a “shopping list”. Focus on similarities and differences in the physical descriptions, describe where the victims were last seen, how they were killed/assaulted and where they were found or where they were assaulted. In this section you would also consider what the relationship between offender and victim was, and what the victims’ “role” was.

3. Offender Profile: This section is VERY IMPORTANT! Describe how the offender fits the “offender profile” of a murderer/rapist/(whatever crime is relevant) and also, what is different about this particular offender, that would have made him/her difficult to have been found if the “typical” profile had been relied upon entirely to guide an investigation. Describe the offender- motives (if known) and modus operandi. Utilise the relevant academic literature (that means peer reviewed journals) to support your descriptions and define differences. You may wish to consider such aspects of the offender as family of origin, evidence of mental illness, whether the offender tried to hide their crime, whether the offender was organised or disorganised, whether the offender was protected from detection by a third party and perhaps what this case may add to the knowledge base about this type of offender.

4. Summary and Recommendations: Describe the offender/victim/crime in terms of investigative psychology, by considering the crime as (a bizarre and twisted!) interpersonal reaction. What would the offender have “gained”, in an interpersonal sense, by committing the crime (i.e. a sense of control, revenge, release from sexual frustration). What would have been the impact on the victim (i.e. intense fear, pain, life-long traumatic stress). Are there more “victims” of this offender than just those who were killed/assaulted? What is the impact of the crime on them (i.e. grief, anger, guilt at being unable to protect a loved one, shame)? Is there any way the public could be protected from those who might perpetrate such crimes?

5. References: Use APA referencing. students will be expected to utilise AT LEAST 6 academic sources that are not old and musty (find some RECENT journal articles!),. “Academic sources” means peer-reviewed journal articles and does NOT mean non-descript websites.You can include pictures (appropriately referenced) in your case file, but try to avoid a “picture book” style that has pages and pages of images. You are encouraged to make use of both non-academic (newspaper and magazine articles) and academic (peer-reviewed journals) sources.”







Ivan Milat- Case File
Introduction

IvanRobertMarkoMilatwasbornonDecember27,1944inAustralia.Hewasoneof the14childrenofanextendedimmigrantfamilyfromYugoslavia.Growingup hewasdescribedasahandsome,muscularboywhowasfascinatedbygunsandhuntingwild game.Hisfamilylivedinaruralandinsularlocation.Having14childrentoraise,Ivan'sparentswerealwaysstrictandalwayskepttothemselves.ThisbecameoneofthereasonsfindingreliableinformationaboutIvanMilat'slifeandupbringingdifficulttoget.IvanMilat'sparentsfounditverydifficulttoinstilldisciplinetoallof theirchildrenbecauseoftheirlargenumber.Ivanandsomeofhisbrothersbeganhavingareputationforbeingunlawfulanddisorderlyintheirlocality.Earlyinlife,IvanMilatexhibitedpsychopathicandtemperamentissues.HisbrotherBorisconfirmedthisduringaninterviewthoughsomefamilymembersdisputedthisfact. (Biography.com)
Ivan'sfamilytoleratedmanypoliceraidstotheirhomeasIvanandhisbrothersgrewolder.FinallywhenIvanhadattainedalegalage,hewasalwaysintroublewiththepoliceandjudicialsystemsonvarietychargesrangingfromautotheft,housebreakingandrobbery.
Intheyear1971,IvanMilatwasarraignedtocourtfortheallegedsexualassaultoftwofemalehitchhikers,whoclaimedthathewasarmedwithaknifewhenheattackedthem.ThechargesraisedagainsthimwerelaterdroppedbecausetheprosecutionhadfailedtocomeupwithacomprehensiveandconvincingcaseagainstIvanMilat.Ivanwasinvolvedinvariouscrimesinhislife,buttheonesthatbroughthimintothelimelightweremurderandsexualassault.Hekilledhisvictimsbyparalyzingthemwithaknifewoundtothespine,stabbingthemseverallyorshootingthemmultipletimesinthehead.Oneofhisvictims,AnjaHabschied,hadherheaddecapitatedanddumpedfarawayfromherbody.Allhisvictimshadtheirtrousersunzippedbuttheirtopbuttonson.Althoughmostofhisvictims'bodieswerealreadybadlydecomposedbeforetheywerefound,thiswasevidenceofasexualassaultcommittedhurriedlyandanattempttocoveritup. (Biography.com)
ThepolicethroughthehelpofaBritishbackpackerPaulOnionswereabletoidentifyandvindicateIvanMilatwithsevencountsofmurderandanattemptedmurderofPaul Onions.PaulOnionswasavictimofIvanbutwasabletoescapefromhimafterhepointedarevolverathim.Paulreportedtheattemptedmurdertothepoliceand4yearslaterheflewtoAustraliatoidentifyandtestifyagainstIvanMilatinacourtoflaw. Ivanwasfoundguiltyofsevencountofmurderandwassentencedtosevenconsecutivelifesentences.
Victimology
Ivan Milat was convicted of seven murders in Australia. The victims were both male and female. Among the seven victims six were women and only one of them was male. This implies that the serial killer did not target women only, even though women are considered as the weak gender in terms of defending themselves.(Biography.com)
The seven victims were backpackers. Backpacking is form of low cost international travel. Backpackers usually carry their bag with basic needs such as sleeping bags for long distance during the travel period. They are characterized by the use of public means of transport and also staying in inexpensive place, such as youth hostel. The Milat- victims were travelling in a group of two with only one of them was travelling alone. This means that the victims were helpless as Ivan Milat was armed with a gun and a sword. Being alone or a group of two made it impossible for the victims to defend themselves against the serial killer. It was only during one encounter where the victim managed to escape and proved to be a key witness during the trial of Ivan Milat.(Peel, 2007)
The bodies of the seven victims were found in Belanglo State Forest. Based on the fact that the victims were backpacker, Milat is likely to have lured the victims in assisting them in some way, for example he gave Paul Onions a ride. He managed to escape from the serial killer and got a lift from a woman and reported the matter to the police. Pretending to befriend with the victims who were clueless about his intention, gave Milat ample time to prepare to sexually assault the victim and kill them.(Blatchford, 2014)
The victims’ bodies were always next to a fireplace. Although Milat didn’t bother to dump thebodies, we can imply that Milat did not have someone to help him in dumping the bodies and also he did care about the bodies being found. By killing all his victims, there was no one for him to report the incidences of rape and murder to the police. In case the bodies were found, Milat was sure that there was no evidence enough to convict him for the inhumane acts of rape and murder. This explain why Milat maintained that he was innocent during and after the trials.(Biography.com)
For the bodies on which post-mortem examinations were carried out, the examination revealed paralyzing spinal knife wounds were inflicted to the victims. Also, in cases where the clothes of the victims were not damaged by the weather, zips were unzipped even though top button was fastened. The two statement indicate that, Milat sexually assaulted both the male and female victims before taking pleasure in inflicting pain to them and finally killing them.(Biography.com)

Offender Profile
Ivan Milat was a murderer, a serial killer, a rapist, a sadist and a sorry excuse of a human being. He murdered seven different people in cold blood, assaulted them sexually and even decapitated a young girl- head. He is a perfect epitome of who a serial killer is. Milat can be perfect describe as killer who did not bother to hide evidence of his killings, he used the same style of killing people to cover up the sexual assaults. He also built a fireplace and left several used bullet cartilages on the crime scene. This was most probably so that he could later identify the killing locations to know whether the bodies had been found.
The fact that he did not bury or burn the bodies, showed that he was not afraid of being caught. It also showed that he did his killings alone and with no help whatsoever, so he would not be able to get rid of the bodies by burying them. Ivan- physical appearance was not that of a murderer. He had managed to evade imprisonment for sexual assault after the court was unable to prove that he was involved in the crime. Had the investigators followed the lead of a murderer on the loose or a rapist, they would not have linked Ivan with the murders. This is because the people around him did not see him as a murderer and some of them covered for him including his brother who later confessed that Ivan had killed a taxi driver. The investigators would have never raided and searched his home because there was no evidence linking him to the murders.

Ivan- motive for killing all the people he did not clear to date. No one really knows the exact reason why he did that. It would have been out of sheer malice, revenge, psychological issues or even to satisfy a craving he had.
Ivan- family was large considering that he had 14 other siblings and only two parents to look after them. With such a large number of children, the parents were not able to bring Ivan and his siblings properly. This contributed to Ivan- terrible attitude towards fellow human beings and particularly foreigners. There is no known fact that he had any mental illness apart from claims from some family members that he had psychological issues when young. As mentioned before, Ivan did not bother to hide his victim- bodies, in fact he built a fireplace near them most likely to trace back the crime scene later. His manner of killing was exactly the same in all his victims. He inflicted a wound to the spine, this immobilized the victims by paralyzing them. He then stabbed them severally most likely to bleed them out so that they’d die a slow painful death. Some of his victims had several shots to their heads which proves he was a merciless, ruthless killer. His crimes were well organized and at some point choreographed. All his victims had an unzipped zipper and a buttoned up button. It was his idea of covering up sexual assault. (Biography.com)
Ivan Milat did not have anyone to help him escape from his crimes. He had even fired his lawyer for asking him to plead guilty. This case study shows that a serial killer, rapist or a pedophile may necessarily not have a history of any wrong doing but that is not reason enough not to investigate on them.
Summary and Recommendations
Ivan Milat was a serial killer with no heart or sympathy for his victims. In fact he enjoyed inflicting pain to people, this is evident in that his victims had similar spinal wounds which he inflicted on them most probably to immobilize them. His actions displayed him as a beast in sheep- clothing because he would lure his victims with a ride like in the case of Paul Onions. He acted as good guy towards his victims then strike and kill them. From his childhood crimes, it is clear that Ivan was troubled psychologically either by the poverty his family endured or the tough environment he was brought up in. He must have engaged in petty crimes such as house break-ins and armed robbery to support himself. When his brother is interviewed, he reveals that Ivan had killed a taxi driver earlier in his life. This meant that he really did enjoy inflicting pain and particularly killing people he felt were in a better place than he was.
Dwelling on Paul Onion- encounter with Ivan Malik, we find that he was being racist and abusive towards him. Ivan Malik was not happy about foreigners and that would explain why he targeted foreign tourists especially couples. From evidence gathered during interviews and witness accounts, it seems Ivan was committing the murders with a purpose whether psychological or physical. The fact that he would sexually assault both his male and female victims, showed that he sought to fulfill his sexual urges and fantasies. It also looks like he was out to seek revenge and exert dominance over his victims. Revenge reveals itself in that he only aimed foreigners and especially hitchhikers who in most cases were backpack tourists.
Ivan Malik- actions sent a cold shiver to people in the locality and particularly backpackers. Many people were afraid to hitchhike and many countries issued travel advisories to its citizens against hitchhiking alone in the Australian mountains. If one of Ivan- victims would have survived after being paralyzed or stabbed severally, the ordeal would have caused a lifelong trauma and fear of the unknown. Apart from intense fear, the victims went through tremendous pain because of the evident stab wounds and the case in which he decapitated one of his victim- head.
It is believed that the seven badly decomposed bodies found were not the only people killed by Ivan Malik. He may have killed many more that were never found because of his manner of killing and the location he killed his victims in. Paul Onion, a victim that escaped Ivan- snare must have faced trust issues after the ordeal. He had trusted Ivan to give him a ride and he almost died because of that. Ivan- victims were not only the ones that he killed but also their family members and even his own family. Ivan- family faced shame and rebuke from the community at large for raising a rapist and a murderer. Grief and anger was what family to the victims faced. They grieved for their missing relatives some of whom went missing for over a year and when found they were nothing but bone and badly decomposed flesh.
From the manner of the crimes committed by Ivan, the public may or may not be protected from such acts. It is a matter of self-protection by not visiting remote areas on your own without a guide or a weapon. However, the government can come up with strategies to prevent foreigners from visiting secluded places.
 
REFERENCES

Peel, V., & Steen, A. (2007). Victims, hooligans and cash-cows: media representations of the international backpacker in Australia. Tourism Management, 28(4), 1057-1067.

Ivan Milat. (2015). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 05:38, Aug 14, 2015, from http://www.biography.com/people/ivan-milat-17169710.

Allen, J. (1999). Crime against international tourists.

Kwiatkowski, M. (2004). Re-creating the Polish ‘homelandscape’. POLONIA IN AUSTRALIA, 19.

Blatchford, E. (2014).A wolf in sheep's clothing.

McGrath, T. (2015). R v Milat: A case study in cross-examination [Book Review]. Alternative Law Journal, 40(1), 67.
 
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