The Family Murders. Greg McInerny
Preacher worked as a tray boy. The two became mates very quickly.
As with all relationships however things change over time. The two mates had once crawled home on the footpath together after drinking too much one night. Mr Barnes found Alan asleep in the toilet. Both boy’s knees were skun through their jeans as a result of crawling a long distance. In early 1979 Preacher had met a young lady called Bronwyn, and they fell in love. The two quickly began to see more and more of each other and for the first time since meeting, the two mates were no longer each other’s top priority.
Further to this, his other friend ‘Champ’ had moved to the country and suddenly Alan was seeing less or nothing of his best friend and nothing of his next best friend. Alan seemed a little defiant at this time, his mate Preacher later recalling how at one stage Alan had dyed his hair green and had also put 7 earrings into one ear. Nothing in this day and age, but in 1979 this was considered a highly unusual thing for a male to do, even a young male.
At around the same time another occurrence had turned Alan’s life upside down and may have had a bearing on his mental state. In early 1979 Alan was charged with rape, a charge he vehemently denied. With this weighing on his mind and his contact with Preacher lessening, Alan was certainly feeling a little lost but he still had his girlfriend Lisa who lived at Elizabeth Downs, just a short bus ride from Salisbury.
Long time friend Bowsey became more prominent in Spooks life at this stage and with other friends they frequented hotels including the Inglewood Hotel in the inner Adelaide Hills. It was at this hotel in February 1979 where the alleged rape took place.
On the night in question whilst drinking at a table with Lisa, Bowsey, Preacher and other friends, Alan was approached by two men who asked to speak with him outside. A few minutes later he walked back inside, sat down and told Bowsey and Lisa that he had just been accused by the men of sexually assaulting a woman. The sixteen year old pointed the woman out to his friends and denied that it was anything but consensual.
The police were contacted and after being given the wrong nickname by the alleged victim, they arrested Preacher instead of Spook. Alan’s best mate Preacher spent a while in the cells until the names were sorted out and he was released.
Details are sketchy but it appears that one day in early 1979 the alleged victim had been singing at the Inn and at some stage Alan and the woman had a sexual encounter in a vehicle somewhere in the car park, but as far as Alan was concerned it was consensual. He was shocked to hear that he had been accused of rape and always denied the charge.
By May 1979 Lisa had broken up with him and at just 16 years and 11 months of age, it appeared that Alan Barnes had already lived an adventurous life. Added to this, both Preacher and Lisa had openly displayed their disdain for his new friend Darko Kastelan.
Lisa felt that Darko was ‘up himself’ so to speak, especially after she had witnessed an angry reaction from him when he was turned down by a female friend. Preacher thought that he was too tight with money and felt that he was strangely effeminate. Added to this but unknown to the others was that Bowsey had recently had a very unpleasant experience when driving into the city with Darko in the weeks leading up to Alan’s murder.
On their way up Torrens Road heading toward the city Darko swung right onto South Road and stopped at a Chiropractic Clinic. They were greeted by an Italian man named Gino Gambardella who seemed to be expecting them. Confusion reigned when Bowsey, a skinny red headed 15 year old boy, ended up witnessing what looked like ‘mutual masturbation’ taking place between Darko and Gambardella.
Despite being assured that the scene was just ‘mucking around’, Bowsey ran for his life. He felt that he had been set up and wanted nothing to do with it. Things were becoming strange within the group of friends and relationships were already deteriorating, however in mid- June 1979 everything went from bad to worse. Bowsey later came to the cold conclusion that he had been lured to take part in some sort of sex film but his failure to comply may have turned their attention to Alan.
On the 15th June 1979 Alan Barnes left his home in Hoyle Court Salisbury in the company of Darko Kastelan. Preacher and Alan sat in Darko’s car outside the Barnes house when Alan had told him of a party that was happening that night.
Preacher declined, knowing Darko was going along too. He talked with Alan for a while longer then left. Mrs Barnes got the Kastelan home phone number from Darko and the pair drove away. Mrs Barnes never saw her son again.
Alan walked out wearing a maroon jacket with stripes on the sleeves, a light blue body shirt, light coloured dress pants and brown RM Williams boots. He was wearing the same clothes when his body was found 9 days later.
Exactly what went on over the next 8 days is only partly known. According to Darko, he and Alan went out on the Friday night. They spent part of the night at the Old Lion Hotel in North Adelaide. Towards the end of the night Darko’s car was defected by the police just after they turned onto Melbourne Street, only a short distance from the pub.
With two girls in the car, the boys rang Darko’s brother for a tow. The girls rang for a taxi and the boys made their way back to Darko’s home in the towed car.
The following day the boys visited two girls at a home near Darko’s house. Later the boys hitched a ride to North Adelaide and went to the Old Lion Hotel once again. At the end of the evening they hitched a ride back to Darko’s again where they both stayed for the remainder of the night.
They woke up around midday and had some breakfast, then decided to hitch a ride to Alan’s house at Salisbury to finish the weekend. They caught a lift only part way with Darko’s brother who dropped them off near the corner of Addison Road and Grand Junction Road.
After walking approximately 2.5 kilometres the pair parted company. Darko turned around to walk home and Alan continued to hitchhike in the hope of getting a lift. A short distance up the road near the Mansfield Park Hotel, Alan was seen running to a car that had pulled over and had its rear passenger door open. The car was described as a white 1972 HQ Holden sedan.
The person who claimed to have witnessed this was a man known as Fehim. He stated he had noticed Alan hitching and recognized him as a lad he had recently met through Darko Kastelan. Fehim observed Alan in his rear view mirror whilst stationary on Grand Junction Road waiting to turn right in heavy traffic near the Mansfield Park Hotel. He said that he assumed that Alan had found a lift.
When Alan had not returned home on Monday the 18th June Mr and Mrs Barnes contacted police to report their son missing. The police felt that Alan was probably just at a mate’s or girlfriend’s house, the old ‘boys will be boys’ type of attitude. However, knowing her boy better than that Mrs Barnes contacted a private investigator during the week in an attempt to locate her son. Police would not contact the Barnes family again until Friday the 22nd June when an officer called to their home to gather more information.
Sadly, Alan’s mother’s fears that something more sinister had happened would soon be realized.
Alan’s body was found under a bridge 3 km out of Williamstown on the road to Kersbrook on Sunday the 24th June 1979. He had been thrown from the bridge on the Saturday but pathology reports determined that he had been murdered on Friday the 22nd June - the day that police had called to his home, five days after he went missing and just one day after his 17th birthday.
Pathology reports determined that Alan’s death occurred due to a blunt instrument such as a ‘pick axe’ brand beer bottle being violently and suddenly forced into his anus which resulted in the rupture of blood vessels and tissue, causing massive blood loss and shock. There were also signs of beating and torture, and one of his eyelids was bloodshot as a result of a forceful hit just prior to death.
Urine, liver, bile and blood tests were undertaken on the 25th June 1979 and on the 3rd of July the results were reported. They showed that Alan had consumed alcohol with his blood alcohol level being a hefty .19 milligrams per litre of blood. At this stage only a basic test had been undertaken with only ‘overdose’ levels of other drugs being screened for. Later tests conducted in mid 1983 would show a higher than therapeutic level