Brett Peter Cowan was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Daniel Morcombe.
The killers “If you can create the right conditions, the right opportunities, anyone is capable of doing anything.”
But last month saw a dramatic resolution in this 11-year mystery with the conviction of Daniel’s killer, Brett Peter Cowan. Queensland Police undertook the biggest murder investigation in its history with more than 100 officers interviewing 10,000 people and following a whopping 20,000 leads. But it just took one great undercover sting, lasting months and involving WA police officers, to capture Cowan and elicit a detailed confession in a Perth hotel room. While police officers are trained to study the crime scene, catch the bad guy, lock them up and let the court decide their fate, one elusive question may remain unanswered; why do they do it? What pushes someone over the edge and leads them on a downward path of taking another person’s life? And what if that victim is just a child? As we learnt from the covert police tapes, Cowan’s primary objective was to molest Daniel and not kill him. So what turns someone into a murderer? And what can we learn about them from the harrowing scene they leave behind?
WA Police Behavioural Analyst, Detective Senior Sergeant Kristine Giesen, said homicides generally fell into two main categories; instrumental or expressive. Det. Sen-Sgt Giesen described expressive homicides as those in which the killer is more impulsive, disorganised, reactive, spontaneous or messy. This can infer there is an emotional connection between the killer and victim. Instrumental homicide, according to Det. Sen-Sgt Giesen, describes a murder in which killing was the primary objective. These killers seem to be more organised, are more likely to carry weapons to the scene, try to avoid detection by completing a forensic clean and are generally more controlled, educated, unemotional and skilled. They are also more pathological and sinister than expressive types. “The more common type of killer is the more expressive, spontaneous type of person who could just be like you or I,” she said. “Give us the right context, the right situation and anyone is capable of killing.” This is supported by Terry Goldsworthy, Associate Professor of Criminology at Queensland’s Bond University and a former police officer with nearly 30 years’ experience. “If you can create the right conditions, the right opportunities, anyone is capable of doing anything,” he said. “Potentially any of us, under the right pressure are capable of committing a crime. Where the differentiation comes is some people will resist the urge or temptation.” He says most humans have an “in-built circuit” which says ‘you can’t kill another human being’. ▷ 15 Police News APRIL 2014