Fugitive armed robbery suspect – Ross David O CONNELL continues to evade capture after a series of violent armed robberies at five major Australian financial institutions, over six and a half years ago.
Disguised in wigs, fake moustaches, goatee beards, and dark sunglasses in a bid to fool staff and law enforcement officials, the 2004 crime rampage, which included an interstate diversion, lasted 29 days from the 27th of September through to the 25th of October.
With Western Australian detectives hot on his trail following the first bank robbery on September the 27th at Bank West in Wembley where he terrified staff and customers at gunpoint, and then again, eight days later at the Commonwealth Bank in Kalamunda on the 5th of October, O CONNELL, in a plan aimed at misleading investigators, travelled to South Australia on October 12th. There he hired a vehicle and disguised himself before robbing the National Australia bank at gunpoint, his efforts backfiring when a red dye bomb hidden amongst the cash exploded as he escaped, tainting the proceeds.
A return trip to Perth the same day left O CONNELL eager to dispose of the tainted stolen money, successfully exchanging the contaminated notes for clean ones at a Perth Casino. O CONNELL didn’t stop there, continuing the violence at Bank West in Westminster on the 22nd and the National Australia bank in Mt Lawley on the 25th of October, netting thousands of dollars in cash.
Four days after the fifth bank robbery in under a month, O CONNELL was arrested at the Perth Domestic Terminal after a flight from Sydney, he was charged and released to bail.
O CONNELL failed to turn up to a later court appearance and has not been seen since.
Last listed as a missing person in 2005, and with 2005 bench warrants issued for his arrest, O CONNELL is likely to have changed his appearance and assumed a new identity to avoid detection. Due to celebrate his 57th birthday in July, investigating officers remain vigilant in their pursuit to hand deliver Ross David O CONNELL a long awaited birthday present.
Ross David O CONNELL is described as:
If you know the whereabouts of Ross David OCONNELL, or if you have any information about his movements, make a report online or call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, where all calls are strictly confidential, and rewards are offered. Please quote Reference Numbers 5596.