Batty caught as siege ends
PERTH: An escapee from a psychiatric hospital who subjected a hostage to a terrifying 12-hour siege in Western Australia had held his father hostage three years ago.
David Charles Batty, 53, was subdued with bean bag rounds and arrested yesterday morning after releasing a randomly selected hostage in Bunbury in the state’s southwest.
The Tactical Response Group and armoured vehicles swarmed to a park near Koombana Bay in Bunbury on Thursday evening after police were told a man was possibly armed with explosives or a gas canister.
After negotiating with him via mobile phone, then over a megaphone, the uninjured hostage was allowed to walk free, reportedly stripping down to his underwear before approaching police with his hands in the air.
Minutes later, as daylight broke, police moved in on Batty, shooting him twice with beanbag rounds.
Batty was uninjured by the beanbag rounds and was laughing and talking to police who wrapped him in blankets to keep him warm.
The same non-lethal ammunition was used on Batty when he held his 79-year-old father hostage in a car and threatened police with a gas bottle and lighter for more than four hours in Perth in July, 2012.
After being interviewed at Bunbury Police Station yesterday, Batty fronted court regarding an unrelated arrest warrant.
The matter was adjourned to July 23, when he will appear in the District Court of WA.
Batty had been on the run since June last year.
He had been at Graylands Hospital since being arrested over the Perth incident, with a court hearing last year that he was unfit to stand trial.