Michael Guider

Michael Guider in the Lane Cove National Park, Sydney

Michael Anthony Guider is an Australian pedophile who was imprisoned on sixty charges of child sexual abuse in 1996. He received an additional sentence in 2002 for the manslaughter of Sydney girl Samantha Knight.

Early life

Michael Guider was born on 20 October 1950 in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He and his mother moved to Sydney in 1952. His mother had an unstable relationship with an army cook who was an alcoholic. A brother, Tim, was born in 1953.^[1] The two boys spent time in institutions because their mother was unstable and unable to look after them.^[1] Guider later told prison psychologists that he was sexually abused by his mother and at a boys' home.^[2]

In the 1970s Guider was charged with various offences after setting fire to a shop owned by a woman he had had a relationship with.^[1] Guider had worked as a gardener^[3] at the Royal North Shore Hospital, and over the years had developed a keen interest in Aboriginal culture and sites around Sydney. He had earned some respect as an amateur expert on the subject^[3][4] and his material had been used and acknowledged in at least one published book.^[5]

Imprisonment

Guider was arrested in May 1995 for child sex offences.^[1] In September 1996 he was sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 10 years on 60 charges against 11 children.^[6] His usual modus operandi had been to babysit the children of women he knew and sedate them with the sleeping drug Normison. He would then molest and photograph them while they were asleep.^[1] He received a fixed term of six years and six months' imprisonment in 1999 for 11 further charges against two other children, with the judge ordering that six months of the sentence be served cumulatively.

Samantha Knight

Samantha Terese Knight was born 25 March 1977. She lived at Manly with her parents, Tess Knight and Peter O'Meagher, but they separated at an early stage. Samantha then lived with her mother in Bronte. By 1986 they were living in a block of flats in Imperial Avenue, Bondi. Samantha went missing on 19 August 1986. Despite an intensive campaign, in which posters of her were displayed all over New South Wales, she was never found.

Michael Guider eventually attracted the attention of police who were investigating the disappearance of Samantha,^[7] partly because of pressure from Denise Hofman (author of Forever Nine), who had worked with Guider on Aboriginal sites around Sydney. Hofman believed there was a connection between Guider and Samantha Knight, and repeatedly drew the attention of police to Guider. Guider initially told police that he had only met Samantha a couple of times over the years, but it eventually turned out that he had molested her and two other girls at a house in Raglan Street, Manly, a number of times during 1984 and 1985.^[8] After a lengthy investigation, Guider was arrested and charged with Samantha's murder on 22 February 2001.^[9] On 7 June 2001, he pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Samantha. He claimed that he had drugged her the way he had always drugged his victims, but had accidentally given her a fatal overdose.

On 28 August 2002, Guider was sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 12 years for manslaughter, to be served cumulatively with the sentence for the child sex offences. Samantha's body has never been found; Guider showed no remorse, and said he could not remember what he did with the body.^[10][11]

Guider was placed in conditions of strict protection in Goulburn prison.^[12] In spite of this, he was bashed savagely on at least one occasion. He was admitted to the prison hospital with fractures to his right leg and hand, plus numerous abrasions. One of his ears was almost torn off.^[13] Taking time served in pre-sentence custody into account, Guider will be eligible for parole in June 2014, when he will be 63 years old.

Guider's statements about Samantha over the years have been contradictory. Initially he said he could remember nothing about what he did with her body. Later he said he had buried her in Cooper Park, in the Sydney suburb of Bellevue Hill, but had dug her up later and put her in a dumpster at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, Kirribilli, where he had worked as a gardener. In March 2003 he told police he had buried Samantha in the grounds of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. On May 15, a dig took place but nothing was found, in spite of a police sniffer dog reacting to soil from the site.^[14] The dog's reaction implied that human remains had been present at the site at some stage, but they were no longer there. Police believe Samantha's remains may have been removed accidentally during the construction of a car park eighteen months after Guider buried Samantha at the site, or that Guider himself may have removed them when he knew the site was going to be dug up.

While in prison, Guider continued to pursue his interest in Aboriginal culture and history, writing a number of short books on the subject. These books were sent to various councils in Sydney and then held in various local libraries, as well as the State Library of New South Wales. He produced something like sixteen books varying in length from six pages to twenty-eight.^[15] He also commenced studies of archeology at the university level.

Gallery

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  Samantha Knight

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  Flats in Imperial Avenue, Bondi, where Samantha Knight lived at the time of her death

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  House in Raglan Street, Manly, where Guider abused Samantha Knight and other girls

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  Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, Kirribilli, where Guider worked at the time of Samantha Knight's death, and where he later said he had buried her

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  House in Upper Pitt Street, Kirribilli, where Guider lived in 1986

See also

• Timeline of major crimes in Australia

Bibliography

• Forever Nine, Hofman and Kidman (Five Mile Press) 2013
• Aboriginal Sites of the Parramatta River Catchment Area, Michael Guider, 1996
• Aboriginal History of Concord Municipality, Michael Guider, 1997
• Aboriginal History of Burwood Municipality, Michael Guider, 1997
• Aboriginal History of Auburn Municipality, Michael Guider, 1998
• Aboriginal History of Drummoyne, Michael Guider, 1998
• Aboriginal History of Leichhardt Municipality, Michael Guider, 1998
• Aboriginal History of Ashfield Municipality, Michael Guider, 1998
• Aboriginal History of Marrickville Municipality, Michael Guider, 1998
• Aboriginal History of Randwick Municipality, Michael Guider, 1998
• Aboriginal History of Rockdale, Michael Guider, 1998
• Aboriginal History of Strathfield Municipality, Michael Guider, 1998
• Aboriginal History of Waverley Municipality, Michael Guider, 1998
• Aboriginal History of Parramatta, Michael Guider, 2003
• Aboriginal History of Ryde, Michael Guider, 2003
• Aboriginal History of Baulkham Hills Shire, Michael Guider, 2004
• Aboriginal History of the City of Canada Bay, Michael Guider, 2004
• The Glebe, 13 July 1994
• Daily Telegraph, 29 September 1996
• Daily Telegraph, 1 October 1996
• Sydney Morning Herald, 4 August 1999
• Daily Telegraph, 22 February 2001
• Daily Telegraph, 23rd FEbruary 2001
• Sydney Morning Herald, 23 February 2001
• Daily Telegraph, 25 February 2001
• Daily Telegraph, 9 April 2002
• Daily Telegraph, 10 April 2002
• Daily Telegraph, 19 April 2002
• Daily Telegraph, 27 April 2002
• Sydney Morning Herald, 8 June 2002
• Daily Telegraph, 29 August 2002
• Sydney Morning Herald, 29 August 2002
• The Sun-Herald, 26 November 2006

References

External links

• Michael Guider Information and Photos

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michael Guider and Samantha Knight.