On 18 June 2007 three people were shot by an armed biker who was beating up his girlfriend in a Melbourne city street.
Melbournian lawyer Brendan Keilar and Dutch backpacker Paul de Waard were simply passing by at the time and decided to intervene.
Kielar, a father of three, did not survive. The backpacker and the girlfriend sustained life threatening injuries and the witness from across the road still suffers from post traumatic stress disorder.
Paul de Waard is grateful
"I am happy with my decision to try and intervene, I couldn’t have done anything else," Paul de Waard tells SBS Dutch.
De Waard is a quiet, earnest man who came to the aid of a woman when he was just 25-years-old and on holiday on the other side of the world.
He says it has shaped his personality and surprisingly, says this with a sense of gratitude. He talks about the incident as if it was meant to happen - to him at least.
De Waard's memories of the period he stayed in the Royal Melbourne Hospital are also filled with gratitude.
“When I look back at those days now ten years ago, most of my memories are about the great people at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, of the wonderful genuine support I received," he says.
Paul de Waard looks at an x-ray showing a bullet lodged in his body as he recovers at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, 16 July 2007 Source: AFP
"The Dutch consulate was also heavily involved with me and it felt like they were my family members."
And he also credits his family for pulling him through: "I didn’t want a psychologist. Whenever things got tough, I had my brothers to talk to."
On Sunday night, Paul and the other survivors appeared together in an episode of Channel 9's 60 Minutes, who orchestrated a reunion to commemorate the ten year anniversary. De Waard said he had been asked before to come back to Australia for a television item but this time he said yes because he really wanted to catch up with the other survivors.
Shooting victim, Dutch backpacker Paul de Waard is hugged by his brothers Eric and Bart at a press conference as he recovers in Hospital in July 2007 Source: AFP
“Tara Brown just left us to talk together in the hotel room where the program was recorded while they were filming, and we just sat, and talked," he says.
There is a plaque on the spot on King Street where it happened, to commemorate the events of that day, his name is on this plaque but his memories of the incident are actually quite hazy and both Nathalie and Kaera filled in a few missing details for him.
The Aftermath
De Waard himself still has lingering physical effects of his injuries and finds it hard to walk great distances but he decided to live his life to the fullest. And he certainly did in the past ten years, which he has spent living and working abroad in different countries with many trips overseas and setting himself impossible mountain climbing tasks.
"In my mind I did the only thing that I could do and I am at peace with that. I am a fortunate man."
He met his Irish girlfriend Barbara during one of these trips at a swimming pool somewhere. The scars on his body were of course a clear indication of a past major injury and in due time Paul filled her in on the details.
But it is only now that Barbara has accompanied Paul on this latest trip Down Under that she has an idea of how big a deal her boyfriend’s actions were, and are.
"You can tell your story to people in the greatest detail, but they can never experience what it was truly like," says Paul.
"We went to visit some distant relatives of Barbara in Queensland and even they actually heard about it. It is only now that Barbara realizes what a big story this was, back then."
Hero Dutch backpacker Paul de Waard returned to Australia ten years after the tragic shooting incident for a reunion with other victims arranged by 60 Minutes Source: 60 Minutes
According to Paul the incident taught him he was lucky, lucky for the opportunity to do the right thing and very lucky to be alive.
He has no regrets, saying "In my mind I did the only thing that I could do and I am at peace with that. I am a fortunate man."
And he is planning his next trip to Australia to enter the Lorne Pier to Pub swim. Because he likes swimming, beer, and, of course, a challenge.
