A NEO-NAZI axe murderer who boasted of waging a bloody race war on Melbourne streets will be free within weeks. Dane Sweetman, who bashed Asians and gays, and firebombed synagogues, was granted parole after a hearing in June. It was his first bid for parole and will save him from another five years in jail. Sweetman, 36, will be released from Fulham Prison, Gippsland, on October 3.
He has been behind bars since 1990 when he killed Adelaide man David Noble with an axe at a party to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday.
| Is David still dead? Just curious. |
| But other than that he's fit to be released |
Adult Parole Board secretary David Provan said releases were not made public unless it was in the public interest, such as the recent freeing of notorious pedophile Brian Keith Jones.
| "I mean, what interest could the public have in us setting a Nazi axe-murderer free?" |
The source said Sweetman was a feared individual who, he hoped, would walk from prison a changed man, but had a reputation of contempt for authority. "He has shown contempt for the system. I would not like to be his parole officer," the source said. "I have heard Sweetman is still very feared within the prison system, and still holds true to neo-Nazi views."
| Once a Nazi, always a Nazi |
Internet references suggest that he may have supporters in the community. On one website where people can post their views about sex, religion and politics, a person has written under the name Dane Sweetman: "I've noticed that letters in the paper in support of the war are usually from Jews in Jewish enclaves. I'd like to see another holocaust. Any takers?" It is highly unlikely Sweetman personally posted the message because prisoners do not have access to the internet.
Sweetman's hate-filled jail diaries said he wanted to kill drug users, doctors, teachers, police, priests, pornographers and homosexuals. He boasted that the day after his 1989 release, he firebombed a synagogue. The next day he attacked a man at a Thornbury halfway house, believing he was gay. He bragged of launching a brutal attack on a woman in Fitzroy because she had an Asian boyfriend.
Sweetman's freedom ended when he and Martin Darren Bayston attacked the English-born Mr Noble at the Hitler birthday celebrations at a Pascoe Vale South house. Things got out of hand when Mr Noble said that they didn't make women like Sweetman's girlfriend in England, and asked if he could borrow her for the night. Sweetman, on bail over the Thornbury assault, responded by embedding an axe in Mr Noble's head. Mr Noble apparently pulled the weapon out and said: "I've got a hammer in my head." Bayston then got a boning knife from the kitchen and stabbed Mr Noble 18 times. His body was left in the backyard until morning when his legs were severed and the remains stuffed in a car boot and dumped near the Yarra River at Kew.
Some devotees of Melbourne's punk scene have long memories of Sweetman.
On the Melbourne Punx Forum website, contributors recently spoke of Sweetman and others trashing a gig at a Melbourne venue and assaulting staff and patrons.
| Nice guy. Makes me glad I live in Texas where we know how to deal with people like Sweetman. |