TRUE CRIME
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crafting a CRIME SCENE In the more than 20 years since Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent was a detective senior constable at the Homicide Squad, some murder investigations stick in his memory more than others. A killing at a restaurant in Footscray in 1997 is one such case, made forever memorable for DC Nugent by a diorama meticulously crafted and sent to him by the killer while they were in custody awaiting trial. The three-dimensional model of the crime scene today sits in DC Nugent’s office alongside other memorabilia from his career. The diorama is often a conversation piece when people meet with the Deputy Commissioner, who shows that the years have not dulled his
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POLICE LIFE | SPRING/SUMMER 2021-22
recollection of the events, nor his impeccable pronunciation of the names of those involved in the case. At the beginning of January 1997, Melbourne residents Teklemariam Abebe and Gidey Hadgu, while still husband and wife on paper, had been separated for several months. Abebe, aged 46 and originally from Ethiopia, had been offering his help to Ms Hadgu as she set up and ran the African Mesob restaurant in Barkly Street, Footscray. At the trial, Abebe asserted that Ms Hadgu, from Eritrea, considered their marriage over and had begun seeing another man named Kassa Wube, aged 39. It was alleged that there had long been animosity between Abebe and Mr Wube.
Abebe had claimed his marriage had broken down because Mr Wube would regularly visit Ms Hadgu in the months and years in the leadup to the separation. On 2 January 1997, Abebe arrived at the restaurant after midday and saw Mr Wube was sitting and reading a newspaper in the kitchen while Ms Hadgu was preparing food. Abebe asked his estranged wife why Mr Wube was there and she told him Mr Wube was her lover and they would become husband and wife. Abebe grabbed a knife and told Ms Hadgu he was going to kill her and plunged the knife towards her lower back. Ms Hadgu tried to protect herself and suffered three major stab wounds to her forearm before running out the restaurant’s rear door.
