Denis Robert WARE
Detective Constable 1st Class Denis Robert WARE
Regd. # 11542
Age: 32
Accidentally Shot
Sutherland
2 October, 1970
On 2 October, 1970 Detective Constable Ware was part of a specially formed squad attempting to apprehend an armed and dangerous rapist who had been operating in the Sutherland area. A decoy car was set up at Loftus Oval with a number of police both inside it and surrounding it in the darkness. During the stakeout one of the police could not be contacted on his portable radio and when the decoy vehicle left the oval for a short time Detective Ware went to find out what had happened.
As he neared the man with the faulty radio he was mistaken for the rapist and shot. Detective Ware had not answered when challenged and almost walked over the man on the ground. Visibility and conditions were extremely poor at the time. The detective constable was conveyed to the Sutherland District Hospital where he died a short time later.
The constable was born in 1937 and joined the New South Wales Police Force on 16 August, 1965.
This was my uncle.
I grew up never knowing him and never knowing the truth of what happened to him.
Thank you for posting this and allowing me to finally know the story of how my uncle died on duty.
The young fella who fired the shot had been seconded at the last moment due to shortage of man power. Sadly he had not long been back from Vietnam war and still had the “soldiers caution of self defence”. We were trying to call him but in those days with the old big radio packs if you did not fully push home the ear plug jack plug, it muted both the ear piece and the radio itself. It was a dark moonless night and all police were aware that the bloke we were hunting was armed and dangerous. Dennis offered to go check and normally walked to the kids position in the bush. Confronted with a dark figure of a man coming at him, the kid waited until the last moment before firing, so close in fact that Dennis fell on top of him. The kid was charged with murder but it was a cunning move to so as not to give Civil Liberties, who were always wanting to crucify police, the right to questioning at the Inquest. I believe the charge was not proven on grounds of self defence. Hope that answers some of your questions. It was a very sad night for us.