Bill GreenGRAHAM KENNEDY'S MYSTERIOUS KIDNAPPING
November 22nd 2008 02:43
The kidnapping of Graham Kennedy in the early sixties was never solved by police and he never spoke about it in any revealing way, although it was reported that his Rolex watch was broken. I've only been prompted to write this because he is in the headlines again and although I had always imagined including the story in my autobiography that is a few years off yet.
I covered the story for The Sun, Melbourne. I witnessed the event because I had been tipped off it was to happen.
I drove into the GTV 9 car park with a photographer a few minutes before the end of his In Melbourne Tonight show. I was a twenty year old cadet who was attempting to become a crime reporter.
Waiting in the car park the photographer expressed doubt at the ethics of such an event and our being witness to it. I told him, a much wiser individual than me, that this was what reporting was all about.
Graham Kennedy emerged from GTV 9 and entered his caravan at the back of the studios. I was anxious, there was no sign of the kidnappers.
Minutes later an old black Citroen, of the Maigret style, drove into the car park.
The boss kidnapper, a friend of mine, now a prominent Melbourne businessman, stepped from the car and approached the caravan. He knocked on the door. A few seconds later Graham Kennedy opened it wearing what looked like a shearer's singlet. My friend grabbed him in a headlock. "Come on Kennedy," he said. At that point I began to doubt my judgment. It was a struggle with him to the car with several others helping to pull him to the car.
The photographer began shooting the scene, lighting the area with flash bulbs. Graham Kennedy was slippery with oil used to remove make-up. He escaped, and surrounded by the kidnappers he jumped onto the roof of the car which was now moving slowly towards the gate. The guards on the gate imagined it was a publicity stunt because of the flash bulbs and the car exited with Graham atop.
Ringing my contacts later to discover where he was released I was told he had been taken to the Women's College.
My story for The Sun was quashed because the Chief-of-Staff and Editor thought I was too close to it and therefore left the paper vulnerable to legal action. However it was reported the next day in The Herald (now defunct).
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