Left: Noble Park Vietnam veteran Shane Watt shared a naval dormitory with Victoria’s longest-serving prisoner, Derek Percy. By Shaun Inguanzo
A NOBLE Park man who shared a naval dormitory with suspected child killer Derek Percy has lifted the veil on his story.
Vietnam veteran and former chief petty officer Shane Watt, 56, has told the Star the young Derek Ernest Percy, who he spent 11 weeks with in a naval dormitory at HMAS Cerberus, appeared an intelligent man yet was a social recluse.
“He was very quiet, he never went out, and didn’t seem to want to go out with us guys from the dormitory,” Mr Watt said.
“From what I can recall he used to read a fair bit.”
Mr Watt joined the navy in 1967 and said he and Mr Percy shared a dormitory with two other trainee naval personnel.
He left in March 1968 and returned to Cerberus in May of 1969.
“Percy was (training in) electrical and I was doing gunnery,” Mr Watt said.
But police arrested Mr Percy on 20 June 1969 in relation to the murder of 12-year-old Yvonne Tuohy in Warneet.
Yvonne’s companion that day, 11-year-old Shane Spiller, noticed the navy logo on the car Mr Percy was driving and reported it to police.
Mr Percy was arrested at HMAS Cerberus while washing blood from his clothes.
He pleaded insanity in court and was never convicted of the crime.
But due to his mental state he is considered too dangerous to release and has since been a prisoner in Victoria.
Mr Watt said his impression of the quiet man had changed forever after that day.
“We couldn’t believe it. He was very quiet and wasn’t violent, and he didn’t get into fights,” Mr Watt said.
“I just thought ‘oh, Jesus’, because you see in that time between 1967 and 1969 he went to sea as an ordinary seaman.
“I don’t know what ship he was on but he went away and did a bit of onboard training, like the rest of us, and then would come back and do his category course.
“He could have been on any ship anywhere in Australia doing anything.”
Mr Watt said he was even more alarmed to hear that senior navy officials were considering making Mr Percy an officer because of his level of intelligence.
“It seems amazing to me that the (navy) psychological tests didn’t pick up his problems. They were strict back in those days,” he said.
“But then again it was the time of the Vietnam War and the government probably wanted bodies to send there.”
Mr Watt’s encounter with Mr Percy is not a water cooler topic. In fact, Mr Watt said he hadn’t thought about Mr Percy until last week when police questioned him in relation to a series of child murders dating back to 1965.
“Had I known he was a bit off-side I would have been a bit wary,” Mr Watt said.
