Random Act of Violence

Michael Challoner

Linda Lobos was quietly going about her business at her home in the outer-western Melbourne suburb of Werribee when her life was sharply ended by a bullet to her neck.

Mrs Lobos, who lived in the quaintly named Pelican Place, arrived home with her 19-year-old son Leigh at around 4.20 p.m. on Saturday, 18 March 1995. Saturday afternoons are generally a relaxed affair for Australians. Families may be watching sport, shopping or gearing up for a night out. Mrs Lobos was no different to thousands of other suburbanites who quietly go about their lives, not bothering anyone. She got out of Leigh’s car and was on her way to her front door when two loud ‘bangs’ rang out across the neighbourhood.

Anthony Lobos, who was in the house watching television, heard the gunshots and rushed outside to find his wife lying on the path, covered in blood, her teeth and jaw shattered. Leigh also rushed over to his mother, and the pair called for an ambulance, which arrived at 4.37 p.m.

Initially, police who arrived at the scene thought it could have been a drive-by shooting. The area was mostly housing-commission and police were frequent visitors. Werribee is an often-derided area of Melbourne’s outer west, halfway between the CBD and Geelong (the second most populated city in Victoria), as it is home to Melbourne Water’s Western Treatment Plant for sewage – a common Melbourne saying for someone in trouble is that they are in ‘more shit that a Werribee duck’. However, the suburb also has the attractions of an open-range zoo and the famous Werribee Mansion, popular for weddings and functions. These days Werribee is the centre of an area of massive growth where new housing developments are commonplace and more affordable and spacious for young families. But back in 1996, Werribee had the reputation as an undesirable, low-socioeconomic area and police worked quickly to find out whether Mrs Lobos, or anyone in her family, would have enemies who would target them in such a cold-blooded manner.

Victoria Police homicide detective Charlie Bezzina, who is now a crime commentator for News Australia, was in charge of the investigation and in his memoir The Job, said he feared the murder could be a thrill kill, which meant finding the killer would be extremely difficult.

But it turned out that police didn’t have to look very far for who killed the suburban housewife. Virtually across the street, 28-year-old Michael Joseph Challoner lived with his parents in Parakeet Road. The front door of Mrs Lobos’ home was visible from the Challoner residence as it was on the corner of both streets.

The drama that had unfolded that afternoon had the neighbours out and about and checking on each other, no doubt trying to find out more about the incident. Challoner was seen and spoken to by several of his neighbours, telling one he was ‘a tad scared’ when he heard gunshots. Challoner was home alone while his parents were on holiday. Challoner was also seen sitting in his front yard watching across the road as police secured the crime scene at 2 Pelican Place.

Later that evening, police were still at the scene, waiting for forensic examiners to finish their work. It was now after 8 p.m. and it was quiet, which was why the sounds of banging from across the road caught their attention.

Police who went over to investigate found a most unusual and disturbing sight. Challoner was naked, holding a knife and cowering in the alcove between the security and front doors. And it wasn’t a small kitchen knife. The blade of the large Bowie hunting knife was at least 20 centimetres long. The man had locked himself out of his house and he told police that he was naked for ‘sexual gratification’. The main priority for police was to get Challoner away from the knife and he dropped it after repeated requests from the officers. Forcing the door open, police searched the property. In his report, Detective Bezzina said Challoner appeared shocked and smelled of alcohol but was able to communicate with police.

A hole in the security door was of great interest to the officers. They had found a Winchester Model 94 lever-action .30-30 rifle in the lounge room and it was beginning to look like it had been fired through the hole in the door in the direction of Mrs Lobos. This high-power model of rifle is popular for hunting, especially in the United States where it is used mainly to hunt deer.

Challoner was arrested and taken to Werribee Police Station at 10.15 p.m. He was swabbed for tests to find gunshot residue on his body. The tests revealed gunshot residue on his right palm and investigators at the scene also found residue near the hole in the wire door of Challoner’s home.

The rifle belonged to Challoner’s father Harold, who was ex-military and had several powerful hunting weapons in a locked gun cabinet in the garage. On the day of the murder, Challoner was alone in the house after his parents left for a short holiday together. Challoner spent the day drinking cask wine and watching two porno videos that he had hired from the local shops. To get in the mood for his private movie viewing, Challoner had rubbed baby oil over his naked body and settled in for the day. He told police he had ‘settled in for a sexy afternoon by myself’.

He was 28 and still living with his parents so Challoner no doubt relished his time alone. He was a registered nurse who had enjoyed the privilege of a top education at one of Australia’s most prestigious (and expensive) schools, Scotch College in Melbourne. His father taught weaponry at the college and thanks to a generous staff discount was able to give his son the best education. Challoner certainly seemed to have more opportunities than most people who lived in Werribee at the time.

Challoner’s parents, who were self-described ‘battlers’, wanted the best for their son, who left school in year 11 and until arrested for Mrs Lobos’ murder, had never been in trouble with the law. He had been accepted into honours for his nursing studies and had even worked at the Pentridge Prison Hospital.

Challoner was born in England in 1966 and the family migrated to Australia in 1974. His father had served in the British Army and had maintained his interest in hunting and weapons. Police found that Mr Challoner Sr was an upright citizen who was a responsible gun owner.

Having drunk most of the four-litre cask of wine he had bought that morning, Challoner, for reasons known only to himself, broke into his father’s gun cabinet and assembled the Winchester rifle (police found baby oil all over the cupboard) then took ammunition from the garage and loaded the weapon.

What is known is that for no known reason, Challoner took aim through the flywire screen door directly at Mrs Lobos, who had come into her neighbour’s sight at the precise moment he decided to take a shot. He poked a small hole through the wire, crouched down and took his fatal aim. The families did not even know each other and the killing was an absolutely random act of violence.

Challoner claimed to police that he had virtually no memory of what happened, but his behaviour after the murder betrayed his words. Challoner shot a random bullet over a neighbour’s fence to try and make it look like there was a gunman on the loose and while talking to neighbours in the aftermath, pretended to be ignorant of the shooting. The street had been abuzz the evening prior because there had been some disturbances at two houses opposite the Challoners’ where washing had been slashed and something thrown through a window. Later while in custody, Challoner allegedly used this event to explain to his parents that he had only broken into the gun cabinet and armed himself because he had been alone and worried about being attacked.

At Challoner’s 1996 trial, the court heard that there was evidence that Challoner had confessed to a fellow prisoner, a serious sex offender, that his girlfriend had been over at the house earlier that day and they had fought. The prisoner said Challoner told him he had wanted to kill his girlfriend but she had left by the time he had assembled the rifle. Mrs Lobos was the tragic victim of Challoner’s impulse to kill. A letter that Challoner had written to his then girlfriend was also used as evidence, in which Challoner admitted he’d had the murder weapon on the day of the shooting; however, Challoner said in the letter that he had been playing around with it after Mrs Lobos had been killed.

A jury found Challoner guilty on 24 May 1996. His crime was ‘unusual, if not unique’ said Justice John Hempel, who presided over the trial.

His stable home life, education and family support were noted by Justice Hempel, who handed down Challoner’s original sentence of 19 years with a non-parole period of 15 years. ‘You have had a fortunate background … your family history is a normal one,’ Justice Hempel said at the 31 July sentencing. He also mentioned Challoner’s lack of remorse for his crime. The killer seemed unwilling to take responsibility for his actions.

Psychologist Dr Kenneth Byrne assessed Challoner and found he had personality difficulties, including immaturity and unconventional approaches to life in general. After extensive examinations, Dr Byrne reported that he did not find any psychotic illness or sociopathic personality disorder. The pornographic films Challoner had viewed on the day he murdered Mrs Lobos were not violent or sadistic.

Dr Byrne even said in his report that ordinarily he would treat a person like Challoner with counselling and antidepressants ‘to help you mature and grow up’. But Challoner was a quirk of nature who had decided one day on a whim to shoot and kill a person he didn’t know. Justice Hempel said Dr Byrne was puzzled by Challoner’s personality problems and the fatal act of extreme violence on Mrs Lobos.

‘This is the sort of crime that horrifies the community. Its random nature and lack of motive are factors which create real fear and concern,’ Justice Hempel said.

Challoner’s parents refused to believe that their son was guilty and spent over $30 000 to fight for his release. Challoner appealed his 1996 conviction successfully and on 28 July 1998, his sentence was quashed and a new trial ordered. The appeal was successful over a legal matter of evidence from a university senior lecturer in geomatics (collecting geographic information), which was found to be misunderstood by the jury. It related to the path of the bullet that killed Mrs Lobos. There was also an allegation by the defence, unsupported by the appeal judges, that the witness altered his calculations on the trajectory of the bullet from the murder weapon to suit the Crown’s theory on Challoner’s actions that day.

One of the appeal judges, J A Kenney commented, ‘This really was a most unusual case in which, through a combination of misunderstandings, a point most material to the case was withheld from the jury’s consideration.’

Challoner’s retrial was in 1999 and, again, he was found guilty. This time Challoner was represented by high-profile Melbourne Queen’s Counsel David Galbally, recognised as one of Australia’s leading legal authorities. He is also the son of Australia’s best-known criminal defence lawyers Frank Galbally.

Justice Philip Cummins said while Challoner had behaved ‘cooperatively and constructively’ while in custody, this was negated by his apparent lack of remorse.

‘Mrs Lobos was an innocent wife and mother,’ Justice Cummins said. ‘The victim impact statements, which I have read with care, are the most moving in the anguish and despair that such a random killing evokes. The shooting was a cruel act of self-indulgence by you.’

Again, Challoner was sentenced to 19 years with a minimum of 15 to be served.

Challoner’s father told the Herald Sun he still believed his son was innocent of the crime. ‘We will fight to the end of our lives to prove his innocence,’ Mr Challoner said.

Meanwhile, the Lobos family were left to endure the pain and disbelief at the violent and random manner in which their wife and mother had died.

After Challoner’s retrial and sentencing, veteran journalist and TV presenter Jill Singer wrote an editorial for the Herald Sun on 4 March 1999 titled ‘Men Who Hate Women’. Singer made reference to the judge’s remarks that the murder was the ‘nadir of self-indulgence’ and was seemingly motiveless and without remorse. ‘The judge’s comments however speak volumes about what he suspected was at play and what many women fear is at play in the minds of too many men. [Challoner] is a misogynist,’ Singer wrote.

This was an interesting observation because by now Challoner wanted to be a woman and was referring to himself as ‘Michelle’. In fact, Challoner told a psychologist that at his first trial in 1995 he was already identifying as a female trapped in a male body but that he had kept it a secret.

In 2000, Challoner launched an appeal against his second sentence but it was dismissed.

In 2002, it was reported in the Herald Sun that Challoner wanted state-funded hormone therapy to become a woman. He launched a discrimination claim in the Victorian and Civil Administrative Tribunal against the Victorian Justice Department, former correction services commissioner Penny Armytage, a former Ararat Prison officer and a Department of Human Services psychologist. In his claim, Challoner said he was being discriminated against because the prisons he had been held in had refused to give him female hormones and that this was because they would be liable for his sex-change surgery if treatment began while he was in jail. He also complained that being forced to shower with other males was discriminatory and that he was entitled to reasonable medical care and treatment, as would any other prisoner who had a medical condition. His claim was denied.

One of Victoria’s most notorious prisoners, serial killer Paul Denyer has also made unsuccessful bids for hormone treatments while in jail. Denyer, who refers to himself as ‘Paula’ and has adopted a female persona, murdered three women in 1993 in and around the bayside Melbourne suburb of Frankston.

Challoner was released from prison on 30 June 2010. His parole order will expire in April 2014. The Adult Parole Board of Victoria granted Challoner’s request to have his parole order transferred to Western Australia.