BOMB AT THE HILTON

HORROR ATTACK HAUNTS ONE SYDNEY POLICEMAN WHO LOST HIS BEST MATE

- John Burfitt

Forty-five years have passed since the bombing outside Sydney’s Hilton Hotel, but one survivor is still waiting for answers to find out who was really responsible.

In the early hours of February 13, 1978, Rod Wither, then a 25-yearold constable with the NSW Police, was on duty outside the hotel where an international Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting was being held.

At 12.40am, a bomb placed inside a garbage bin outside the hotel on George Street exploded, killing garbage workers Alec Carter and William Favell and policeman Paul Birmistriw. Eleven others were left seriously injured, including Rod.

Religious sect members Timothy Anderson and Evan Pederick were initially charged over the bombing. It was alleged they were targeting Indian prime minister MorarjiDesai.

Anderson was later acquitted and Pederick, who confessed to planting the bomb, was released from prison after eight years. Questions have remained

ever since about the full extent of what other factors were at play behind the explosion. Rod, now 70, especially longs to know the full details about what really happened that day.