The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 9

NEWS 9 30-THEAGE FRIDAY 23 APRIL 1999 Man to pay for search costs after fake drowning Rural ills blamed on machismo By MANIKA NAIDOO A former Melbourne schoolteacher who faked his own drowning in a fit of depression, has been ordered to pay police almost $17,000 for the cost of the extensive sea and air rescue operation sparked by his disappearance. In the Geelong Magistrates Court yesterday, Scott Beynon, 34, of Randwick, New South Wales, was convicted of making a false report, placed on a two-year good-behavior bond and ordered to pay $16,834.26. The court was told that Beynon, a former federal policeman and maths teacher at Melbourne's Scotch College, had Intended to kill himself when he walked into Torquay's surf on 24 April last year. But he was unable to go through with it and decided to escape overseas. The court was told that an extensive sea and rescue search by the police air wing, SES, and local surf rescue groups failed to find a body.

The police, Beynon's family and friends, including his wife, Ms Sharon Perera, all believed he had drowned at sea. Police declared him missing, until he was arrested and charged with robbery in Wollongong on 22 May. Flashback to 1 998: Beynon's wife, Sharon Perera, at Torquay. Country people had to share the blame for their poor general health because they did not complain when they started feeling sick, a leading rural doctor said yesterday. Dr Sam Lees, the vice-president of the Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association and council member of the Rural Doctors Association, said while the shortage of doctors in the bush was a leading factor behind the poor health of many country people, their unwillingness to speak out was also a significant problem.

"It seems unfair to blame the victim, but I think there is some blame to be sheeted home to country people," Dr Lees told the Rural Press Club. "In country Victoria we tend not to complain. So women, for example, in isolated communities who are subject to domestic and maybe sexual violence tend to withdraw into their farmhouse and not say anything." Dr Lees said country people seemed reluctant to see a doctor until they became seriously ill. "We've got too much of an Aussie macho image. It's often difficult, particularly for men, to accept the need to get health care and particularly health education." BEN MITCHELL The police prosecutor, Senior Constable Peter Murrihy, told the court that Beynon realised his disappearance would prompt an extensive Investigation "and was sorry for the inconvenience Beynon told police that after his aborted suicide attempt, he intended to leave Australia and not return.

Senior Constable Murrihy said that on the day of Beynon's aborted suicide, he left his parked car and belongings on the beach, caught a bus to Geelong and a train to Melbourne, where he collected some clothes from his Hawthorn flat, before catching a flight to Tasmania. He stayed In Tasmania for three weeks then returned to Melbourne and caught a bus to Canberra. At the Wollongong District Court In February, Beynon said he he deeply regretted "his stupid and hateful" act, after pleading guilty to a charge of armed robbery. Scott Beynon, arrested for armed robbery after faking his drowning in the surf at Torquay. Reforms of Fol come under fire PCs Ideal For small business applications mm i -s I HP SureStore 8100i CD-Writer (Internal C4392A) Read 24x, Write 4x, Re-writer 2x HP Brio 7134 PC (D6779A) Intel Celeron processor 333MHz 43 GB HDD32MBWIN98 32x CD-ROM and sound 15" Monitor10lOOLAN HP Brio 8531 PC (D6789A) Intel Pentium II processor 350MHz 43 GB HDD32MBWIN98 32x CD-ROM and sound 15" Monitor10100LAN tiny of government, because it would stop us calling public servants at Fol hearings, and would stop appropriate scrutiny of government activities," he said.

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