Last words of a haunted man

25jun05
A VALUABLE missing coin collection and Steve Williams' desire to help victims of childhood abuse are at the centre of the latest theory into the disappearance of the former bikie boss.

Eleven days have passed since the former president of the state chapter of the Gypsy Jokers motorcycle club went missing.

Theories behind his disappearance and suspected death include retribution from other bikie gangs, or that it was at the hands of Jokers members.

A desire to silence Williams from voicing "bombshell" claims in relation to pedophilia in Adelaide also has been put forward by concerned friends as a motive for his possible murder.

Williams' friend and the man writing his biography, Arthur Veno, believes the bikie is dead.


"I have no doubt but why now? Who and why? It's just speculation," Dr Veno said yesterday. "It could just as easily be retribution, now he no longer had the support of the club."

Several sources, however, have told The Advertiser Williams had been organising a meeting with police to set up a deal for the recovery of valuable property alleged to have been stolen from former magistrate and convicted pedophile Peter Liddy.

Sources say their last conversations centred around property including a coin set.

One dismissed the conversation but was struck by how passionately Williams was in wanting to discuss the matter further. They say he was offered several items including ornamental swords, paintings and coins allegedly by those who stole them and "bragged about where they got them".

Other sources claim Williams told them he wanted to help Liddy's victims.

"He'd had a rocky childhood, he carried a lot of blame and hated pedophiles," a source said.

"He wouldn't go straight to the police because he didn't trust them. He thought they were involved in taking other stuff from the property that went missing – photographs and videotapes, and that there were too many big players involved."

One source claims to have been leaked a list of assets from Liddy's house that was used to crosscheck with the stolen property to confirm its legitimacy.

"(The police officer) was going to organise a buy with Steve," the source said.

It has been alleged that when Williams handed over the goods he would drop a bombshell exposing what he describes in his last written communication as "a group of bent and powerful men, abusing, terrorising and f..king our children".

Relatives, friends and associates of Williams, 39, say while he has been known to lie low before, his complete lack of contact is out of character.

On Tuesday, June 14, Williams was dropped off at his car at the Gepps Cross Hotel by a work associate. He is believed to have driven to visit a relative who described him as being "distracted" during the hour-long visit. It was the last known contact he had with anyone.

His partner, Alena Skipper, reported him missing on Thursday, June 16, after he failed to contact her and missed a scheduled visit with his daughter Blayze, 13.

His car was found that day abandoned at the same northern suburbs hotel. It was impounded and forensically tested before police announced his disappearance as a major crime.

Detectives are working with Avatar, the anti-biker taskforce, and Holden Hill CIB.

The outspoken bikie handed in his club colours last year after being voted out as leader of the outlaw motorcycle club. He had been voted in to fix the club after the notorious Beachport brawl with police during the Jokers' 2001 Christmas club run.

Suggestions he has gone to ground are met with scepticism by those who know Williams well. They say he would never go for so many days without contacting anyone – particularly Blayze.

A poem penned in March for a planned biography – another source of threats against Williams – describes his recent attitude and illustrates how driven he was to have his day in court. He was due in court in August being sued by Star Group officers over the Beachport brawl and friends say he had become focused on the appearance – curbing his drinking and gathering his thoughts, performing community service and working odd jobs.

While many thought the focus was the Beachport brawls, others say Williams was intent on exposing a corrupt system.

"The legacy gives meaning for my struggle and an example for others resisting the system and its abuses," he wrote in the poem, Rider in the Storm. "My trial for whipping the copper turds might help bring down these state terrorist bastards known as The Family spreading fear and hopelessness to the vulnerable in the community, with immunity from laws, rules and morality."

Close friend Stormy Summers said: "Right now his kid wants to feel like she's doing something. She wants her dad and if he's dead, we will accept that, but she needs to be able to lay him to rest."

Blayze's mother, Kim Asling, said Williams leaving the Jokers was him fulfilling a promise he made to his daughter.

"He always said when she was a teenager, he would be out of the club, that he would be just another citizen. He was fulfilling that promise," Ms Asling said.

Williams' departure from the club followed what Premier Mike Rann called a "bizarre publicity stunt". But it was a calculated move in Williams' bigger picture.

At a time when bikies were being blamed for "rape after rape, murder after murder" by the politicians, Williams gave those who usually had no recourse, stuck behind a strict code of silence, a voice.

During his time in the Jokers, Williams changed, with his focus ultimately leading to the vote of no confidence. In his poem, Williams says "the fellas had no choice but to let me go".

Whatever lay behind his disappearance, Williams saw his upcoming court appearance as his last stand. "Being free at last, that's my dream I'll do the trial even if it kills me fast," he wrote in the poem.

"Before this freedom comes to relieve me. I gotta be strong for my last stand on August three. Man I hope this dream turns to reality."

Outside of bikie and underworld connections, Williams was a loving and protective father.

He said he did not understand love until he watched his daughter grow.

Blayze said her father would "do his hair like mine" brushing it back so there "were no bubbles, like I showed him".

"He would blow glass shapes and bend them into things for me, then he'd blow too hard and mess it up and he'd just start all over again," Blayze said.

She remembered the father who showed up in a suit to her primary school graduation when other parents dressed casually because, he said at the time, "it's my daughter's graduation".