Nearly 30 years after a brazen armed robbery left three people shot at one of Melbourne’s busiest shopping centers, a former Australian rugby league world champion has been extradited and charged in connection with the high-profile cold case, with court documents revealing serious underlying health issues that complicate legal proceedings.
Seventy-eight-year-old Garry Leslie Sullivan, a member of Australia’s 1970 Rugby League World Cup-winning squad and a former Newtown club player, made his first official appearance at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday. The appearance came one week after authorities extradited him from Southport on Queensland’s Gold Coast, closing a decades-long search for suspects in the 1994 heist.
Wearing a plain black long-sleeve T-shirt and with a full grey beard, Sullivan sat silently in the dock throughout the short hearing, flanked by court security personnel, and was not called on to enter a plea or address the bench.
The charges against Sullivan stem from the May 16, 1994, robbery of an Armaguard cash-in-transit truck at Chadstone Shopping Centre in Malvern East. Investigators allege two Armaguard staff had entered the cinema complex to collect weekend ticket revenue when they were confronted just after 11:40 a.m. as they exited the building. The suspect, described as wearing a fawn-colored balaclava and armed with a handgun, was carrying a cardboard box and ordered the guards to “Get down, drop the money,” court documents outline.
When one guard refused to comply, he was shot in the leg; the bullet ricocheted off his body and struck the shoe of the second guard, causing minor injury to the second employee. A 40-year-old bystander who followed the masked suspect as he fled the parking garage with two large bags of cash was also shot in the leg, investigators allege. The suspect dropped a cardboard box at the scene containing one bag of cash, a stolen service weapon belonging to one of the Armaguard guards, and other undisclosed evidence.
Victoria Police announced last month that the long-dormant cold case investigation had been reopened following the emergence of new intelligence, leading directly to Sullivan being charged on May 21, prosecutors told the court.
As the case moves forward, law enforcement officials confirmed they plan to rely on audio recordings from a covert listening device and court-authorized telephone intercepts as key evidence in their prosecution. Prosecutors have requested an extended three-month adjournment to allow time for all of these recordings to be professionally transcribed and reviewed, a request the court has considered alongside the defense’s concerns over the defendant’s health.
Sullivan’s defense attorney told the court that their client has multiple serious chronic health conditions that require urgent care while he remains in pre-trial custody. These include an active cancer diagnosis, coronary artery disease, osteoporosis, and coeliac disease, an autoimmune disorder that requires a strict lifelong gluten-free diet. The court heard that Sullivan has not eaten for several days, as correctional facilities have not yet been able to provide him with appropriate gluten-free meals to accommodate his condition.
Sullivan has been formally remanded in custody, and is scheduled to return to Melbourne Magistrates’ Court for his next procedural hearing on October 13.