EXCLUSIVE
A shocking act of mutilation can be revealed as the horrifying incident that sparked one of the biggest controversies in n legal history.
More than 30 years after Victoria tossed more than 1,000 years of common law precedent in the bin to keep one man in jail after he had served his maximum sentence, it can be revealed it was a severed penis that prompted Victoria to deny a man his legal right to freedom.
Garry David had served every day of his 14-year sentence handed down for the attempted murder of three people during a pizza robbery in Rye, Victoria in 1982, when Victoria sentenced him to another 12 months in jail.
This happened even though he hadn’t been convicted or even accused of committing a crime.
And until now, the real reason that Victoria risked committing a civil rights atrocity has never been revealed.
Glenn Broome (pictured) was just 17 when he was sent to Pentridge for theft. He was soon caught up in a shocking act of violence
Garry David (pictured) had served every day of his 14-year sentence handed down for the attempted murder of three people during a pizza robbery in Rye, Victoria in 1982, when Victoria sentenced him to another 12 months in jail
‘He committed an act that was so shocking that prison authorities, police and medical professionals and the Supreme Court of Victoria decided that he just had to be a threat to others even though he had not committed a violent act against another person during his 14-year stint in Victoria’s most secure jail,’ n crime author, James Phelps, reveals in his new book, ‘s Most Infamous Jail, Inside the Walls of Pentridge Prison.
Glenn Broome was just 17 when Garry David handed him a severed penis. The now respected community worker had just arrived in Pentridge for theft when he became directly involved in the atrocity that made David too dangerous for even the law itself.
The following is a graphic account told to Phelps and published in his new best-selling crime book.
A shocking act of mutilation at Pentridge Prison (pictured) can be revealed as the horrifying incident that sparked one of the biggest controversies in n legal history
Garry David was so notorious in Pentridge, there’s a mural of him on the wall (pictured)
‘I was just a kid, in there for nicking cars. They gave me a job as a billet, which meant I had to serve food to all inmates in “D Division”, which was the remand prison at the time.
‘My job was to follow a guard around and place the meals in the traps, which would either be open or would be opened when the food was announced.
‘Anyway, we got to one particular cell, and the guard yelled out: “Meal’s up!”‘
Broome picked up the meal tray and was about to place it on the open trap door when a bloodied hand rifled through the opening.
‘Cock’s up!’ the inmate screamed before slamming his detached and mutilated penis on the trap door.
‘I could believe it – It took me a moment to work out what it was, but there was no doubt what it was.
‘He had cut off his penis and slammed it in front of my face when I opened his trap. It was a bloodied, severed penis.’
Broome was stunned, still and silent. Even now, 43 years later, he struggles to comprehend what he saw next.
‘He was covered in blood and standing there without a penis,’ Broome revealed. ‘And he was laughing. He was staring straight at me, and he was laughing.
‘It wasn’t a happy laugh, either. It was a blood-curdling laugh. I can’t even begin to describe how disturbing his noises actually were.’
The guard slammed the trap shut and ordered Broome back to his cell. And forget counselling; Broome wasn’t even asked if he was okay.
‘I was horrified. I enquired the next day and learned that this Garry David was a nutter. He was what they called a “self-harmer”. He had a history of self-mutilation.
‘I had never heard of self-mutilation until I got to Pentridge. It was called “slashing up”, mostly done for attention. But poor Garry wasn’t right in the head.’
David, also known as Garry Webb, would commit 39 shocking acts of self-harm before he died of a blood infection in 1993. Remarkably, surgeons were able to reattach his penis following an act that was so shocking, Victoria changed the law.
The surgeons were not able to save David’s penis next time round. Nor were they able to reattach his testicles when he ripped them off with just his bare hand and his fingernails in a separate self-mutilation.
In addition to attacking his own genitalia, David also nailed his feet to the floor, severed his Achilles tendon, drank battery acid and even swallowed razor blades.
A former guard in G Division said working with prisoners suffering from mental illness could be a very serious challenge.
‘You never forget inmates like Garry David,’ the guard told Phelps.
‘The things he did. I don’t even want to think about it.’
Broome, released from Pentridge prison in 1992, now works as a prison advocate.
His complete and uncensored account can be heard on a new bookcast which combines narration and actual interviews on Bookenstein.
Until now, the real reason Victoria risked committing a civil rights atrocity over an incident at Pentridge Prison (pictured) has never been revealed
Glenn Broome (pictured) turned his life around and became a respected community worker
readers can listen to a free episode of ‘H Division’
The has secured an exclusive deal for readers to access premium paid-for content free of charge.
Readers can download Hell Division, the complete and shocking story of H Division – Pentridge’s infamous punishment jail at www.bookenstein.com.au.
‘s Most Infamous Jail, Inside the Walls of Pentridge Prison, is available at all leading bookstores, and Amazon offers free next-day delivery for $22.
readers can log on to www.bookenstein.com.au to redeem a free episode of H Division.