The Spit Bridge Siege
Bunnies TV True Crime
Former crime reporter Norm Lipson has told some great stories over the years so when he shared this one at Redfern Oval last week I asked him to put it in an article for our site. It was front page news back in 1984 and Norm was lucky he didn’t become part of the story.
“That’s when Atahan pointed the pistol at my head and simply said: “F..k off or I’ll shoot you”.
This is something a bit different for our site, if there’s a tale to be told we’ll tell it on Bunnies TV. (Steve Mavin)
The afternoon of Tuesday, January 31, 1984, was as hot and humid as it gets in Sydney town.
The weather was oppressive and by midafternoon, the journos in the Daily Telegraph newsroom (those few who were not at the pub or out on jobs), had removed their ties, rolled up their sweaty sleeves and were contemplating a “cold one”.
For colleague Steve (Rocky) Warnock and me, that “cold one” was not to be – events of a monumental nature would intervene.
The message had come over our office police scanners – there had been an attempted holdup at a bank in Martin Place. A shot had been fired and the crazed robber was holding hostages at gunpoint. He was making demands and police had the bank surrounded.
We Had To Cover The Story
Lives were in danger. A huge yarn was breaking, our adrenalin was pumping and both Rocky and I knew we had to get there to cover the story.
The chief-of-staff agreed and within minutes, together with photographer John Burney, we were in an office car pulling up as close as we could to the siege.
Tactical cops and snipers had sealed off the area and had taken aim at the building while ambulance paramedics were on standby.
Somehow, Rocky managed to break through the police cordon and finagle his way beside a narrow, side door to the Commonwealth Bank.
Burney’s Incredible Picture
Just at that moment, that same door swung open and there were five male bank employees in a sort of scrum formation. They were being used as human shields. The robber, a Turkish immigrant, 35-year-old Hakki “Tim” Bhadir Atahan was holding a pistol to their heads. John Burney’s incredible picture of this ran on the newspaper’s front page the next day.
How Rocky did not become a hostage himself as they brushed right past him is beyond me.
Would Kill If Cornered
Atahan had already fired one shot inside the bank as a warning, so police, with advice from a forensic psychologist, had no doubt he was crazed and would kill if cornered.
With this in mind, police had stopped city traffic and a cop on a bullhorn began screaming at motorists and pedestrians to take cover in case of a shootout.
I watched incredulously as motorists left their cars in the middle of the street. They ran for their lives while Atahan and his human shield of five bank employees marched along the road until they came to a blue Datsun 180B with the keys still in the ignition. This was to become the getaway car.
Atahan bustled the hostages into the small car. He forced one of the hostages, the bank manger, to drive while he sat in the middle threatening to shoot if they didn’t comply.
I watched all this take place and as the hostage car, with its windows wound down, drove very slowly up one of the city streets. I sprinted up to it armed with a notebook and pen.
Is Everyone Ok?
My adrenalin had taken over. I might have a pretty good scoop here. I ran alongside the driver’s side of the car and asked: “Is everyone ok”?
That’s when Atahan pointed the pistol at my head and simply said: “Fuck off or I’ll shoot you”.
That brought me straight back to reality and I immediately complied. What did I do? I ducked to the ground…in other words, I fucked off.
I grabbed my photographer, ran back to where the office car and driver were waiting, hopped in and we attempted to follow the hostage car by pinpointing its whereabout via the messages coming over the police scanner in our car.
The Chase
By this time, cops and media were all over the situation. Police and media cars were in on the chase and police and media choppers hovered overhead.
This was being beamed live to the entire country via television and radio. The Australian pubic had become a first-hand witness.
Soon we were stuck in heavy traffic in William Street, unable to move, when we heard a call over the police scanners say that the hostage car, which was headed towards Bondi, had made a U-turn and was now heading back towards the city.
We had no choice. The driver couldn’t turn around so John Burney and I jumped out of our car and ran across the road. I had no idea how we would follow the hostages as they slowly drove past us. We could see the hostages and the gunman, but we were stuck on the side of the road.
Follow That Car
In desperation. I waved down a driver in a four-wheel drive vehicle about six cars behind the hostage vehicle. I told him I was from the Daily Telegraph and explained there was a hostage situation. From my pocket I pulled out a $50 note and offered it to him to “follow that car”.
He agreed and the chase was on. We were now just behind a few cop cars on the tail of the hostages. The only trouble was, John Burney, who had his camera bag slung over his shoulder, didn’t manage to get inside our car when it took off.
But he did manage to get hold of a ladder at the rear of our vehicle. So there he was, hanging on with a death grip as we crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
John Hanging On
Police had coordinated the traffic lights so they had green lights all the way to the Spit Bridge. John Burney remained hanging on to the back of the vehicle until we arrived at the top of The Spit as night was falling.
This rolling hostage siege through Sydney, which lasted several hours, was compulsory viewing all over the country. It was being beamed on live television via news helicopters. It was also being broadcast live on radio and as the hostage vehicle’s position was being broadcast, a member of the public would run out to the sidewalk and wave at the car.
Convoys of police and media cars were all giving chase and the sky was full of choppers. It reminded me of that chase scene in the movie The Blues Brothers.
The Spit Bridge
And eventually it was on the Spit Bridge, which has two spans which can be lifted by a motor to allow yachts to pass through, where the rolling siege, which had Sydney gripped, eventually came to a dramatic and deadly end.
As the hostage car was approaching the bridge, police had the two spans opened so the car would have nowhere else to go and would come to a stop – as it did.
Police had the car surrounded and, through a bullhorn, pleaded with Atahan to free is hostages and surrender peacefully. Atahan refused, yelling abuse at the cops and swaying from side to side so that any officer who had a bead on him with a gun, wouldn’t fire for fear of hitting a hostage.
Detective Steve Canellis
Eventually, Detective Steve Canellis, from the armed holdup squad approached the car gripping a rifle. He gingerly inched his way up to the open window on the drivers side and began negotiating with Atahan. There was no way he could convince Atahan to surrender.
Then, a shot from Atahan’s pistol rang out and Detective Canellis was on the ground, blood coming from his head.
The Kill Shot
With that, a police sniper, positioned on a high point of the bridge, as cool as a cucumber, squeezed he trigger of his rifle and fired. Bullseye! The bullet smashed through the rear window hitting Attahan in the head. It was a kill. It had to be.
Police rushed the car, freed the hostages and dragged Attahan’s lifeless body from the vehicle. The siege itself was over, but not the repercussions. Detective Canellis was seriously injured with a gunshot wound to the head as a result of Atahan’s shot.
A doctor who lived nearby was quickly on the scene and began treating Canellis until an ambulance rushed him to hospital where doctors worked feverishly to save his life. He did survive (The next day, the Telegraph ran Burney’s dramatic photograph of Canellis being loaded into an ambulance).
Canellis Carried The Bullet
Detective Canellis still carried the fragment of that bullet in his body until his recent passing. Surgeons left it there because it was too close to a vital organ called the brain.
That story ran on the front page of the Daily Telegraph the next day with follow-ups and stories over the ensuing days.
It was a story of real-life drama and heroism. It was also an example of the lengths journos and photographers will go to bring the latest and most accurate news to the public…and scoop their competitors.
In subsequent days following the dramatic events of January 31, 1984, we found out more about what had happened and who Atahan was.
A Serial Bank Robber
He was a Turkish immigrant who had become an inveterate gambler and was addicted to prostitutes. To finance his high life, Atahan became a serial bank robber.
The cops believed he was responsible for at least 18 bank jobs before this one…and his modus operandi was the same. He would wear a wig as a disguise, enter a bank, with a briefcase, threaten staff and order them to put cash in the brief case and then he would bolt.
But he wouldn’t bolt too far, because he would then charge into another bank nearby while police were attending the bank he had previously held up.
Another incredible fact was that he once held up a bank at Bondi where the daughter of the head of the armed hold-up squad worked. It was the head of the armed holdup squad who was coordinating the Spit Bridge Siege.
Detective Steve Canellis should not have even been on duty that day. He was giving evidence in a court case and returned briefly to the office to collect something. When the siege broke out he then became involved.
The bank manager was one of five hostages and the driver of the Datsun 180B. His wife discovered her husband’s plight after she picked their children up from school, came home, turned on the television and watched as her husband was being bundled into the car at gunpoint.
Dog Day Afternoon
This dramatic event became known as Sydney’s Dog Day Afternoon.
Channel 9 made a comprehensive documentary in which they recounted the events with actual footage, hostage and journalist’s interviews. That can now be viewed on YouTube.
They also reunited all the unwitting participants, hostages, police, John Burney and me at a restaurant near the Spit Bridge. We all reminisced about an event none of us nor Sydney will ever forget.
The Spit Bridge Siege.
By Norm Lipson for Bunnies TV.
Add comment