Blood Brothers: The Anita Cobby Killers (2010)

Les, Michael and Gary Murphy, brothers from a family of nine children, are among those convicted of the savage rape and murder of Sydney nurse and beauty queen, Anita Cobby, which sparks calls for the reintroduction of the death p...

Blood Brothers: The Anita Cobby Killers

Beauty and the Beasts

One commentator pointed to a collision of two different worlds. And it&apos;s that collision that makes the story.

An attractive young nurse, busy performing wholesome work in her clean, fresh uniform, looks forward to a pleasant evening out in civilised company. And five young men with too little to do, decide on a whim to find a woman to rob for drug-money, before opting (quite casually, with a little chuckle) to rape and torture her to death.

You can call it porn - certainly titillating to those who just want to dredge the slimy floor of the human mind, for you can&apos;t get much lower than this. But it also provides insights into the depressing culture of criminal families, with their withering contempt for us humble law-abiders.

Those of us who continually lament single-mum upbringing may conclude that some of these families might have been happier with a single mum, rather than the brutal and perverted dads we meet. John Travers&apos; voyeuristic father deliberately gets him sexualised young, procuring girls for him, on condition that he can watch. And sex is seldom absent from any part of this story.

We are reminded that long-term prisoners treat gay rape as the norm - as long as they&apos;re on top. Because rape is not about sex, it&apos;s about violent domination. Eldest of the Murphy brothers (Michael) was repeatedly raped at the boys&apos; home he was sent to. Yet much of the gay sex seems to be surprisingly voluntary. The youngest Murphy (Les) is happy to loiter at a particular stone wall in Sydney, where well-heeled gay men pay handsomely for their pleasure. And the two non-Murphys - John and Mick - are found in bed together when they&apos;re arrested.

We also see the more general consequences of gang rule, with mothers unable to control their brood, and just despairingly having to fall back on &quot;Try not to get caught.&quot; And Anita&apos;s fate was partly due to vandalised phone-boxes at the local rail-station, forcing her to walk home alone in the dark. Thus the climate of crime.

Australians, with their sneaking regard for the Ned Kellys of this world, are not often shocked enough to climb on to the roof of the courthouse and lower a symbolic noose into the crowd (even giving the clans a fright, apparently). But thanks to the courage of a girl spy taping a confession, five life terms - actually meaning life, just for once - will have left the honest folk of Sydney&apos;s western suburbs sleeping a little sounder in their beds.

One commentator pointed to a collision of two different worlds. And it's that collision that makes the story.

An attractive young nurse, busy performing wholesome work in her clean, fresh uniform, looks forward to a pleasant evening out in civilised company. And five young men with too little to do, decide on a whim to find a woman to rob for drug-money, before opting (quite casually, with a little chuckle) to rape and torture her to death.

You can call it porn - certainly titillating to those who just want to dredge the slimy floor of the human mind, for you can't get much lower than this. But it also provides insights into the depressing culture of criminal families, with their withering contempt for us humble law-abiders.

Those of us who continually lament single-mum upbringing may conclude that some of these families might have been happier with a single mum, rather than the brutal and perverted dads we meet. John Travers' voyeuristic father deliberately gets him sexualised young, procuring girls for him, on condition that he can watch. And sex is seldom absent from any part of this story.

We are reminded that long-term prisoners treat gay rape as the norm - as long as they're on top. Because rape is not about sex, it's about violent domination. Eldest of the Murphy brothers (Michael) was repeatedly raped at the boys' home he was sent to. Yet much of the gay sex seems to be surprisingly voluntary. The youngest Murphy (Les) is happy to loiter at a particular stone wall in Sydney, where well-heeled gay men pay handsomely for their pleasure. And the two non-Murphys - John and Mick - are found in bed together when they're arrested.

We also see the more general consequences of gang rule, with mothers unable to control their brood, and just despairingly having to fall back on "Try not to get caught." And Anita's fate was partly due to vandalised phone-boxes at the local rail-station, forcing her to walk home alone in the dark. Thus the climate of crime.

Australians, with their sneaking regard for the Ned Kellys of this world, are not often shocked enough to climb on to the roof of the courthouse and lower a symbolic noose into the crowd (even giving the clans a fright, apparently). But thanks to the courage of a girl spy taping a confession, five life terms - actually meaning life, just for once - will have left the honest folk of Sydney's western suburbs sleeping a little sounder in their beds.

Les, Michael and Gary Murphy, brothers from a family of nine children, are among those convicted of the savage rape and murder of Sydney nurse and beauty queen, Anita Cobby, which sparks calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty.

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Blood Brothers: The Anita Cobby Killers

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