Copping It In The Crotch
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday April 30, 1997
FOR a while, the Hakenmobile became the country's best- known car, after its specially fitted "crotch cam" focused on the wheeling and dealing of Trevor Haken and his former boss, the one-time head of Kings Cross detectives, Graham "Chook" Fowler.
The car, a sporty red 1989 Toyota Celica, belonged to Haken's then wife, Jayne. He had decided that to have it fitted out for his surveillance work would be easier, but did not tell his wife.
"I was driving along one day and looked down at the (digital) clock on the dashboard, and there was nothing there. It was just blank," she says.
But behind the darkened screen on the console was a small video camera fitted with an utlra-wide-angle, fish-eye lens.
"I asked Trevor what happened to the clock and he just mumbled something about getting it fixed," she recalls.
The camera proved far more effective than sound recordings. It revealed wads of money changing hands between Haken and Fowler, and between the colourful Kings Cross identity "Skinny" Steve Stavrou and Haken.
Unfortunately for Fowler, the camera also revealed the difficulties encountered by a larger-sized male wearing shorts in a confined space.
"I couldn't believe it when I saw that film months later," Jayne Haken recalls. "I used to drive a girlfriend around who often wore mini-skirts. Apparently, she was horrified, and wanted to know whether the royal commission staff were running tapes when we were in the car."
© 1997 Sydney Morning Herald