The Russell Street Bombing by Vikki Petraitis Page A

Zelinka, Craig and Rodney Minogue had lived with him at Haros
Avenue and Peter Reed would often visit the house. Two days before the bombing,
Zelinka had seen the two-toned Commodore later used at the bomb car being driven
into the garage. He had also seen the stolen Brock Commodore at his house.
Earlier, he had seen a case of explosives in the garaged and when he asked about
them, Craig Minogue told him to forget he's seen them.
    Zelinka admitted to committing a burglary with Craig Minogue and Peter Reed
on the milkbar in Braeside. It was during this burglary that the milk crates had
been stolen. He also said that Craig had a bull terrier puppy who slept on a
blanket similar to the blanket found it the bomb car.
    As well as Reed, the Minogues had another regular visitor, an older man they
referred to as 'Stan the Man'. Zelinka didn't know his full name.
    Craig Minogue had bought Karl and Karen tickets to Sydney for Easter. They
had left on Wednesday, the day before the bombing, and when they returned, the
Minogue brothers were moving out of the Haros Avenue house. It was at this
point, Zelinka was told to get rid of his rubbish bin lid. He tossed onto a pile
of rubbish that was bound for the tip.
    Using police intelligence sources, and checking known aliases against the
description Zelinka gave of Stan the Man, Taskforce detectives soon identified
him as 50-year-old Stanley Brian Taylor. Taylor's prior convictions dated back
to 1949. He had first been arrested and charged with stealing fish when he was
just 12-years-old. Stan Taylor did time in Pentridge Prison's notorious
H-Division and was dubbed 'Wild Man' for his part in the 1972 prison riots. He
was paroled in 1978 and by 1979 he had been given a job with the Youth Council
of Victoria working with troubled teens. He had even played bit-parts in a
couple of long-running Australian television series including Cop Shop and Prisoner .
    So the big question for the Taskforce was: why had Stanley Brian Taylor
visited the bomb house? Was he trying to talk the bombers out of their task, or
was he involved?
     
    Acting on information from Karl Zelinka's statement, Wayne
Ashley was sent back to Haros Avenue on 20 May. The white weatherboard house had
a full concrete driveway beside it which led to a garage at the rear of the
property. The entire concrete floor of the garage was swept for evidence. Apart
from the lounge room which was carpeted, floors in the house were either
floorboards or tiles. These too were swept and the dirt was bagged for later
examination.
    A Chux Superwipe similar to that found on the bomb timing device was located
in the kitchen, and another found under the house.
    Two days later, Ashley and his team of crime scene examiners would be back
examining the garage floor again. This time each crack in the concrete was
examined, swept and diagrammed. Most of the evidence was handed over to Bob
Barnes. In the search, they found rivets that could have been removed with the
identification plates were ripped from the bomb car and the Brock Commodore.
These were taken to the forensics lab for examination and comparison.
    On the concrete in one of the corners of the garage, was an area where
something had been spray-painted and the overspray had hit the concrete wall of
the garage. This area was measured and photographed. A sample of the paint was
taken for analysis. When compared, the overspray pattern was similar to the
front grille of the Brock Commodore sitting in the police compound in Port
Melbourne. The grill had been sprayed with silver paint.
    Another connection between Zelinka's house and the bomb was found in a packet
of 50mm nails. These had identical tool marks to the nails hammered into the
block of wood to set the timing device in place.
    On 27 May, Peter Reed and his brother Steven Komiazyk were charged with the
bombing of the Russell Street police headquarters and the murder of Angela
Taylor. Both were remanded into custody. The charges against