An obstetrician disgraced in New Zealand because of a number of botched operations has been named as a “person of interest” in the savage murder of a young backpacker in Tasmania.
Dr Roman Hasil, who moved to Tasmania after being jailed in Singapore on domestic violence charge, worked at hospitals in Hobart, New South Wales, and Victoria before taking a job at Wanganui Hospital in August 2005.
Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph reported today Hasil was a “person of interest” in the stabbing of 20-year-old Victoria Cafasso.
Cafsso was killed in a frenzied attack while sunbathing at Beaumaris Beach, on Tasmania’s northeast coast in 1995.
It remains Tasmania’s most infamous unsolved murder.
Hasil, who was living a few kilometres away in the town of St Helens at the time, was interviewed by police in connection with the case. He claimed to have been at home ill at the time of the murder but his whereabouts could not be corroborated.
The doctor had moved to Tasmania after being jailed in Singapore for a month for threatening his second wife, Rose Doyle, with a 30cm carving knife.
His third wife, Sally Hasil, also alleged he had physically assaulted her and broken her ribs.
Detective Inspector Michael Otley, of Launceston Police, confirmed Hasil was still a “person of interest” in the Cafasso murder.
“We are still investigating it and we are still reviewing any new information that comes to hand,” he said.
“As a result of recent activity with Dr Hasil, it is being reviewed all the time.”
Police were alerted to Hasil’s allegedly erratic behaviour at the time of the murder when called to a domestic incident two years later, which prompted further inquiries.
He claimed to have been at home when the murder occurred between 10am and 1.30pm but had no alibi.
“It was a horrific murder – even today it has a rippling effect on residents through the town,” Mr Otley said.
Tasmania police have not ruled out re-interviewing Hasil about the case.
Cafasso was found dead on the beach with 20 stab wounds to her body on October 11, 1995.
Australia’s Health Care Complaints Commission is investigating Dr Hasil in relation to at least 10 complaints of medical negligence and sexual assault at Lismore Base Hospital in New South Wales from 2001 to 2005.
He was suspended from working as a doctor in NSW in February, shortly after his stint with Mid-Central Health in New Zealand.
In New Zealand health authorities found that he had botched a quarter of female sterilisations he carried out at Wanganui Hospital in 2005 and 2006.
NZPA
