William "The Mutilator" Macdonald

Making a Wish Come True

Our interview and chat had lasted almost two hours and space doesn't allow to write every word of it here. But during the interview I told Bill in front of my son and Bob Stapleton that I felt an enormous compassion for him and that I admired his forthrightness and honesty.

I decided then that I would be his friend until he died and I told him so. In his curious and matter-of-fact manner he nodded his head and said that he would like that and that it would be something new as he had never had a friend before.

I have been to visit Bill as a friend since the interview and I have seen to it that he has a TV in his cell and gets the papers every day. He enjoys our visits and warms up more every time we see each other. I like Bill a lot and although I cannot ever condone his crimes, I can't help but feel that life hasn't dealt him a fair hand.

William MacDonald on Bondi Beach

On Wednesday, 4 October, 2000, I picked up Bill in company with the Cessnock Prison chaplain, Rod Moore, and drove him to Sydney for his first look in almost 40 years. We drove around the Opera House and through the city that had changed so much since he wreaked havoc in its inner suburbs all those years ago, but the highlight of his trip was to sit in the car and eat fish and chips as we overlooked beautiful Bondi Beach.

"You know Paul," he said as he watched the topless beauties in wonderment, "I often wonder if I had the choice to live my life over again exactly as it has been or have been dead, I wouldn't have changed a thing.

"I know what I did is horrible and I have spent almost four decades behind bars paying for it, but you are a long time dead and every second on earth, no matter how bad it may seem, is far better than being dead."