In 1982 David was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for the
attempted murder of three people, during a robbery-gone-wrong at a pizza restaurant in
Rye, Victoria. The robbery appeared to be an attempt to draw police into a shootout. The pizza shop owner and one of the responding police officers were severely wounded in the incident, while David was wounded in the legs by police. A news crew spotted David fleeing the scene and he was arrested. Whilst imprisoned, David wrote many manuscripts, one titled
Blueprint for Urban Warfare, which spoke of committing
massacres upon his release from
prison. The "Blueprint" listed 49 "combat situations", ranging from horror movie clichés (cigarette machines dispensing severed fingers, drink machines dispensing blood) to far more disturbing scenarios, such as the bombing of bridges and public buildings, the assassination of prominent politicians, the poisoning of water supplies and indiscriminate shooting in public places. David later claimed that he had been instructed to write his more graphic fantasies down as a form of therapy. He also manifested a great deal of hostility to the police force and prison system, resorting to violence and self-mutilation whenever his requests or demands were not met. In January 1990, David was declared
mentally ill by government health department officials. The
Mental Health Act 1986 entitled David the right to appeal, which he did in February and March 1990. In May 1990 the board found David was not mentally ill and recommended he be discharged as an
involuntary patient. This was a consequence of the Board's assertion that a personality disorder is not a mental illness as per the
Mental Health Act.
Community Protection Act The Victorian Government faced the dilemma of respecting David's right to freedom and the protection of the community upon his release from prison. The government sought to keep David imprisoned indefinitely by introducing the
Community Protection Act 1990. That legislation gave
Victorian Supreme Court judges the power to hold David in "preventative detention" for twelve months if the judge was convinced by evidence before them that David was still a risk to the community and likely to commit further offences if released from prison. David was an intelligent man, with significant literary, analytical and computer skills. But as he had a long history of responding to the most minor frustrations with violence, damage to property and self-harm, and refused on principle to co-operate with attempts to reduce such behaviours prior to his re-entry to society, the Supreme Court repeatedly applied the legislation to continue his confinement. ==Suicide==