Confronting a key suspect of an Italian tourist's unsolved beach murder | 60 Minutes Australia

it's one of this country's most baffling murder mysteries a tourist stabbed to death on a lonely Tasmanian Beach an attack so frenzied the young woman was almost scalped Victoria coffaso's killer has never been found but in this special investigation we've uncovered startling new evidence that points to one of the original suspects a doctor named Roman Hassell for years Dr Hassell has lived under a cloak of respectability but as I discovered he's a man with a disturbing past and now that past may be about to catch up with him could you tell us where you were on the day Victoria capasso was murdered Roman hassle is a doctor an obstetrician and a suspect in one of this country's most Savage murders you're not really very great I I think my station is here yep do you think the police station is here yep Dr Hassell has been in hiding let's go let's let's talk to the police about them that's me let's talk to the policeman you're getting angry it's not the first time he's been investigated for murder but finally his violent past may be about to catch up with him is there a knife in that in that bag the more you delve into the life of Roman hassle the darker it gets our search for answers has brought us here to the tiny fishing Village of Saint Helens in Tasmania scene of one of Australia's most notorious unsolved murders 13 years ago a young Italian woman was savagely stabbed to death on a local Beach and in the investigation that followed a series of Clues leading to Dr Hassell were either missed or somehow overlooked now for the first time you'll hear the evidence and see why Dr Hassell has some serious explaining to do Victoria cafaso was just 20 when she was cut to pieces in a frenzied attack I said did you kill this girl did you kill Victoria coffaso and his reply to me was maybe I did I don't recall I don't remember maybe I did yes Sally was married to Roman Hassell for more than 10 years every day every day I was with Raymond from that point on I asked myself am I living with a murderer foreign but Sally wasn't the first woman to have fallen for hassle's charm only to find herself in fear of her life he just pulled from behind him the life and he held it up like that he said I like you you know I can kill you Rose Harlan met Roman hassle just after he arrived from Slovakia in 1993. she was swept off her feet by the handsome Doctor Who said he'd been a hospital director of obstetrics and gynecology they were married later that year you look back at so many things that I hadn't picked up because I'd been so Charmed so totally Charmed but soon the Charming facade began to slip and hassle began to reveal a deep loathing of the women he was supposed to care for even like in the subway he would point out to me a woman was pregnant and he'd say there's a dog having another dog a short time later the couple moved to Singapore hassle unemployed began stealing money from Rose and his behavior became even more bizarre there were the nurses were being left on the bedside table and I said uh what is this and he and he said oh you know I always carry a rope and a knife with me one day when Rose arrived home Hassell was waiting for her in the shadows he just pulled from behind him the knife and the knife it was a very long carving knife and held it up like that and he said I like you you know I can kill you and cut you up into little pieces and nobody will ever find you and I'll sell your ovaries on the black market hassle was jailed for a month and Rose never saw him again upon his release instead of being sent back to Slovakia he was deported to Australia despite failing The Specialist entrance exam no less than four times the good doctor was accepted into a string of prize hospital jobs in obstetrics and gynecology the perfect place for him to indulge his hatred of women his swipe me with a cloth like that said spread your legs woman we need to clean this mess up and I've I just froze um anyway he just started stitching no local no gas no nothing Bonnie Scholl will never forget the birth of her first child in Lismore Hospital when he started stitching me with no pain relief my instant reaction was just to kick him and I met with his journey flew across the room you kicked him yeah almost like a involuntary it was a reflex of of pain and he stalked back to the end of the bed and as he did he roared at the staff stir up the [ __ ] and it was so loud I shook and the whole time he was slandering me saying you stupid Australian women don't know how to have babies you stupid [ __ ] you stupid [ __ ] you [ __ ] you foul [ __ ] you dirty [ __ ] um he called you a [ __ ] all sorts of names and if you think that's unbelievable Connie wasn't on her own as we've delved deeper more and more of hassel's patients have come forward to paint a picture of a man they describe as a sociopath with a vendetta against women he's an abusive man who likes to degrade women physically and emotionally it's like it reminds me of a rapist he's just a brutal violent aggressive man that I I also think gets pleasure out of harming women foreign there are dozens of others just like them a Caesarean performed by hassle with such violence the baby's leg was broken a woman who says she could feel the scalpel cutting through her flesh as Hassell ignored her screams have you ever called a female patient a [ __ ] or a [ __ ] why do you Stitch women up without anesthetic did you get some sort of perverse enjoyment out of it but if Roman hassle's professional Behavior was appalling his secret private life was downright Sinister being strangled kicked hair pulled punched Sally Hassell met her future husband in Tasmania soon after he was deported from Singapore and like rose Harlan before her she quickly discovered his obsessions he always had an obsession with knives he kept a a collection of um like flick knives Sally met Roman in Tasmania just days after the murder of Victoria caffasa the young Italian Backpacker had been viciously bludgeoned and stabbed to death on beaumoris beach not far from where Hassel was living a crime for which he would soon become a prime suspect this is a spot where Victoria coffaso was last seen I covered the murder of Victoria coffaso in 1995 and even today it's impossible to forget the images of her grief-stricken parents appealing for help in finding the killer I'd hate another parent to be in my situation again tomorrow something just didn't say something Victoria cafaso had only been here for five days when she decided to pack her towel and bathers head down across the road and onto this beach to soak up some sun but there was someone else on the beach that day too someone armed with a knife and a deep hatred of women we know from the way the sand was Disturbed and her possession scattered that she fought for a life but this was a frenzied attack quite frankly she didn't stand a chance Victoria was stabbed more than 20 times the poor woman was she was almost um scalped [Music] for detective Bob code now retired it was always going to be a tough case the cruel aspect was that being on the beach and with the the water and the wind that um just forensically and scientifically um no evidence was obtained and no one heard a scream no one heard a scream at all [Music] what exactly are you looking for at the moment I'm trying to find missing teeth at the moment just to get just to get as many of the parts back that we can the only real lead a white hire car seen near the beach and without the physical evidence the police investigation went nowhere for two years the trail went cold then a local service station owner named Rod blunt reminded police of a man he'd seen walking in the days before the murder a man who pulled into his garage in a white hire car the day after the murder a chain two mornings and they're okay in the third Mariana and what had happened in between the second morning and the third morning well that girl got killed how big was the scratch on his lip like that was two or three fingers wide was it yeah should we have a look at that before me rod see if that face Rings any bells yeah all right I thought I saw that's him yeah I definitely saw scratches on his face I saw what what appeared to me to be um three finger mile fingernail marks down at his left side of his face and that was when you first met him that was when I first met him and they were marks that were healing they weren't fresh but they were definitely healing that was two weeks after ten days two weeks after the murder but the police didn't question hassle until two years after the murder what did you make of Roman hassle I've got to say that um that I believed he was hiding something Roman hassle has always denied any involvement in Victoria's death he told police he'd never been to Beau Morris Beach never even heard of it but as his ex-wife Rose Harlan now reveals that wasn't true the beach used to be used to stop at was a beach on the on the way from Saint Helens to Launceston at um Beau Morris that was his favorite Beach yes that was the beach where Victoria Cafe was killed it was definitely he loved that beach because it was so he said it was so so so Bleak and so where was Roman hassle on the day Victoria cafaso was killed he says he was here eight kilometers away at home alone an alibi that's now being challenged Karen Busby was driving her dad home that day as she slowed to turn into their driveway immediately opposite the beach from the murder scene she saw something that has haunted her for 13 years we slowed down here at the driveway and as we slowed down a man stepped out of the bushes and he panicked it was like he didn't know whether to go back into the bushes or to keep walking you saw a bit of indecision on his face did you yeah it was Panic on his face can I show you some photographs see if it jogs any memories okay okay that looks like the face it turns it turned I saw him this one on this one looks like the face you saw that day yes well they're both the same man that's Roman hassle of course 13 years is a long time and memory can play tricks but only months ago Roman Hassell gave his version of the story to his most recent partner girlfriend Sally Hawk and it contained a bombshell he um said that he'd been interviewed for a murder and and he told me it was because he was on the beach that morning so he admitted to you that he was on the beach the morning she was stabbed to death yes Sally Hawk's relationship with hassle ended sooner than most after she became frightened by his bizarre Obsession what he did to separate the knives out and he wrapped them up and hit them in a toolbox downstairs which I noticed and thought it was very strange Roman hassle is clearly an unlucky man bad things just keep happening when he's around like the murder of ludmiller servanova a young medical student in Slovakia in 1976. he was at a party with a group of other medical students and a girl at that party had been murdered he just thought it was really funny about how he had been investigated for that murder as well as well as the Victoria cafaso murder he thought it was funny he did he thought it was funny but he didn't seem to think it was funny at the time just days after the murder of Victoria coffaso he left this small Tasmanian town in a big hurry leaving everything everything that that there was Personal Plus things that he'd never traveled without were all just left there strewn around yes which I looked as though he just dropped everything around if he just walked out the door and run yes we've now learned that not only did Hassel hire a white car for the 24 hours surrounding the cofferso murder but a previously undisclosed report from a higher company details an unusual amount of beach sand found on the driver's seat and in the footwell ah on the day of that murder the police would welcome any new leads in their murder investigation but for the moment Roman hassle isn't talking not about the patience he's butchered not about the women he's terrified and humiliated and definitely not about the unsolved murder of Victoria coffaso hello I'm Tara Brown thanks for watching 60 Minutes Australia subscribe to our Channel now for brand new stories and exclusive Clips every week and don't miss out on our extra minute segments and full episodes of 60 Minutes on 9now.com and the nine Now app

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 254,187

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Tara Brown, Tom Steinfort, 60Mins, #60Mins, Amelia Adams, LIAM BARTLETT, VICTORIA CAFASSO, UNSOLVED MURDER, MURDER MYSTERY, ROMAN HAMIL, SUSPECT, MURDER, INVESTIGATION, COLD CASE, TASMANIA, BEAUMARIS BEACH, MURDER AT THE BEACH, AUSTRALIAN MURDER

Id: g2ufFEH5XUk

Length: 16min 12sec (972 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 19 2023