THE man at the centre of the Rye siege last December has been jailed for three years.
Colin Wade Gower, 69, of Rye, held his estranged wife, and a co-worker, hostage for seven hours in a Point Nepean Rd cafe, causing mayhem for weekend shoppers.
He was armed with two low-calibre hand guns.
Angry traders later said they missed out on thousands of dollars in trade after specialist tactical police shut their shops and cordoned off the area.
Gower pleaded guilty in the County Court to five charges. The court was told he repeatedly threatened to kill his wife – who he believed had a boyfriend – while reading from notebooks he called “ramblings of an angry man”.
The siege ended peacefully when Gower handed himself in. He had no relevant prior convictions and reportedly suffered PTSD due to a traumatic childhood.
He will be eligible for parole in 18 months.
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 21 June 2016