The Boys From Bulawayo

A captivating legal drama accounting for one of the most high-profile child abuse investigations and trials in Australian legal history, from South African journalist Barry John Cohen.

Former Rhodesian residents Patrick O’Dea and Dr Russell Pridgeon emigrated to Australia in search of a better life, but at the request of Australian authority, help a mother and her twins escape their sexually abusive father by hiding them for years. Years later in 2018, Russel and Patrick face seven criminal charges carrying a fifty-year kidnapping sentence.

For the next six years, Pridgeon and O'Dea fought these charges whilst the AFP hid the children's evidence with the assistance of a complicit magistrate. Helped by a former convict turned legal advisor, Pridgeon and O'Dea take on the legal system and triumph against all odds.

The Boys From Bulawayo explores the moral complications of the legal justice system and family court laws, where Patrick and Russel are forced to confront righteousness in the face of adversity. In this gripping true-crime biography, noble intentions collide with legal repercussions and leave readers wondering whether the weight of their actions will catch up to them in the courtroom.