‘HE’LL ABUSE MORE KIDS’ Chantelle Hamilton speaks out against her attacker
Samantha Knight’s killer must remain in jail, his victim tells WHO
Chantelle Hamilton was just 6 years old when Michael Guider drugged and assaulted her. Now the 30-year-old mother of two tells WHO she has no doubt the convicted killer will be a threat to more children on his June 6 release. “I have been around Guider as a child – I don’t think he can help himself. He will abuse more children, he will wreck more lives,” she says.
Guider, who drugged, molested and then killed 9-year-old Samantha Knight in 1986, was found guilty of her manslaughter in 2002. At the time, he was already in prison serving 16 years after being found guilty on 60 child sexual abuse charges relating to 11 children.
Last month, NSW Attorney- General Mark Speakman launched a court action that could see Guider retained in prison. “I filed an application in the Supreme Court of NSW for a 12-month Continuing Detention Order in relation to this offender, plus an additional five-year extended supervision order with stringent conditions controlling where the offender lives, where he can go and who he can associate with. These conditions can include electronic monitoring,” Speakman said in a statement.
He added, “New South Wales has the toughest post-sentence detention and supervision laws in the country which make community safety the priority.”
These orders could effectively keep Guider imprisoned for a further five years, after which another continuing detention order could be sought and issued. The case returns to the Supreme Court in May.
In February, Samantha’s mother Tess Knight said she hadn’t been contacted by Speakman but appreciated all attempts to keep Guider locked up. “I want that man to be incarcerated forever, who wouldn’t – he’s one of NSW’S most dangerous criminals,” she said at the time.
Samantha vanished near her Bondi home on August 19, 1986. After returning home from Bronte Public School, she had changed out of her school uniform and went out to nearby shops where she was spotted at a newsagent and chemist. The last sighting of Samantha was around 6.45pm when she was seen walking towards home.
Despite a huge search by police, family, friends and volunteers – who Guider was among – she was never found. While Guider has always maintained that Samantha’s death was accidental, he’s never expressed public remorse. Nor has he divulged the location of her body, despite variously claiming she is buried at Cooper Park in Bellevue Hill and the grounds of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron at Kirribilli. Searches have been conducted at both locations but her remains have never been found.
It was later revealed Guider had known the young girl and her mother for years before her disappearance. He had first molested Samantha in 1984 and 1985, along with two of her friends while babysitting them. Guider later told police he accessed his other victims in the same way: after befriending their mothers he would offer them his babysitting services and then, when left alone with the children, would drug and abuse them.
In the late ’80s, while working as a gardener at the Royal North Shore hospital, he also targeted vulnerable drug-addicted women at the methadone clinic. Again, he would offer to babysit their children, who he would later sexually assault.
He also photographed his victims. In 1998, police discovered a vast library of abuse images kept in storage by Guider. Among them were explicit photos of the two girls he had abused alongside Samantha years before, along with images that police believed – but were unable to
“I want that man to be incarcerated forever” —Tess Knight
prove – were the missing child.
In 1999, while still in prison, Guider received another six years and six months for a further 11 charges against two children. After a long police investigation, he was charged with Samantha’s murder in 2001.
During the 2002 court case, Guider explained he’d drugged Samantha with the sedative Normison so he could photograph her. After she regained consciousness, he said he administered more of the drug which caused her to overdose and die.
One of his other victims told the court that Guider had stalked Samantha for weeks leading up to the abduction, parking near the Imperial Avenue apartment block where she lived and watching the building for up to 10 minutes at a time.
Hamilton tells WHO she was also abused by Guider while he was babysitting her and a friend in the ’90s. She told her mother who reported it to the police, eventually leading to Guider’s 1995 arrest and imprisonment the following year.
She says she felt “physically sick, angry and let down” after learning Guider would be released into the community later this year.
With the support of the Knight family, and Guider’s other victims, Hamilton is now petitioning NSW Governor David Hurley to pass a “no body, no parole” law similar to ones put in place by Queensland and the Northern Territory. This would prevent the release of prisoners convicted of manslaughter or murder who refuse to divulge the location of their victims’ bodies.
Since Guider has been eligible for parole since 2017, Hamilton has regularly written to the parole board to urge them to keep him locked up. Now, she explains, the only option open to victims is to see the law changed.
“Having this 12-month sentence added would be great but there’s no guarantee and I’m really sick of having to face the reality that he might get out,” she explains, adding, “I’ve got children myself – I can’t do nothing.”
At the time of going to press, Hamilton’s online petition at change.org to push to keep Guider imprisoned had garnered more than 42,000 signatures since February 25. If Hamilton and Speakman’s attempts are unsuccessful, she says she will keep fighting.
“He’s a child killer and a paedophile,” she says. “He should not get out.”