Dave Everett
| David Francis Everett | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1962 Campbell Town, Tasmania |
| Died | 13 May 2013 |
| Cause of death | Cancer |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Education |
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| Years active | 1978–86 |
| Known for |
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| Home town | Rural Tasmania |
| Criminal charge |
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| Criminal penalty | 10 years |
| Spouse(s) |
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| Children |
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David Francis Everett (1962–2013) was an Australian criminal, writer and former member of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment and Karen National Liberation Army. During his manhunt he was regarded as the most wanted man in the history of Australian criminals.
David Everett was born in rural Tasmania in 1962 to a middle-class family and joined the Australian Army as an apprentice when he was aged 15.
Everett began his career as a mechanic fixing supply trucks and joined the Special Air Service Regiment at 18 where he spent 3 and 1/2 years.
He claimed the selection course was the hardest thing he'd ever done in his life (including his prison sentence).
However, because the Australian Army was not at war, he left for Burma and took great interest in the Karen People.
After leaving the Army in 1986, Everett joined the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in Myanmar (Burma) as a mercenary, arms dealer and gun for hire using the alias "Steve". He used his skills to teach the soldiers how to survive in combat most notably instructing them in marksmanship and the planting of claymore anti-personnel mines. He told a correspondent "If I get sick of it I'll go and do a nine to five job".
During his time in Burma in 1986 he went as far as meeting with General Bo Mya. In an interview with the Australian TV series A Current Affair words failed him when he tried to describe the atrocities committed against the Karen minority, but these atrocities inspired his cause.
"A two-year-old kid was... Just left him for dead, you know? It's terrible stuff... That's when I said this can't go on; people shouldn't do this to each other." – Everett.
In 1987 he returned to Australia and married.
Within the four years leading up to his crimes, Everett worked as a security guard, private investigator and owner-driver in a trucking business. In 1990 his wife, Amanda, gave birth to his first son Nicholas who was named after a Karen soldier he had fought with.
By most accounts Everett was a devoted father and a hard-working husband. But during those years he also spoke fervently of his wish to move to the US and work for the FBI or the CIA.
Realizing the funding of the Karen rebellion was too meagre, Everett took up pilot lessons so he could smuggle weapons back to Burma. To do this he needed money and turned to armed robbery involving former SASR comrade James Reynolds and another unknown accomplice who too was suspected by police to be ex-SASR.
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Wikipedia