A notorious bank robber who gained nationwide infamy after staging a series of armed heists over a 10-year spree is reportedly about to fulfil his dying wish to commit legal suicide.
The ‘Bicycle Bandit’, Kym Allen Parsons, 73, is in a health facility near the Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide, where he is expected to end his life with a South Australia Health-approved voluntary assisted dying (VAD) kit.
The development comes a day after Supreme Court Judge Justice Sandi McDonald sentenced Parsons to 35 years behind bars for his ‘morally reprehensible’ actions.
Parsons was originally due to be sentenced this Friday but the hearing was brought forward four days as Parsons is gravely ill with late stage terminal cancer and expected to die within days.
Parsons was reportedly transferred in a white corrections van from the Adelaide Remand Centre to the hospital, where he was surrounded by loved ones on Tuesday night, Nine News reported.
Authorities were tight-lipped on the operation, citing security reasons.
After years of denials, Parsons finally pleaded guilty this month to 10 counts of armed robbery, one count of attempted armed robbery and firearms charges for offences committed between 2004 and 2014.
He tearfully read out a statement admitting to being the masked the gun-wielding bandit and pledged to repay the $358,976.90 he had stolen, putting his actions down to ‘illogical and irrational’ thinking.
The ‘Bicycle Bandit’, Kym Allen Parsons (pictured), 73, is in a health facility near the Flinders Medical Centre where he is expected to end his life with a SA Health-approved voluntary assisted dying kit
The development comes just days after Parsons, a former police officer and firefighter, was handed a 35-year sentence for his robberies
But his defence lawyer’s pleas for mercy did not wash with some of his victims.
One of the traumatised victims of Parsons’ robbing spree called for him to remain behind bars for the rest of his life, saying not doing so would be ‘getting away with it’.
The former bank worker, who herself has stage four cancer and may have less than a year to live, said Parsons should spend the rest of his life, however short that was, behind bars.
‘People can say I’m inhumane, I don’t care … the law is the law, a sentence is a sentence, and he has to be held accountable,’ she told the Advertiser.
‘He did wrong and not just once … it was 10 bloody times, almost 11 … he is where he belongs, and he should not have access to his VAD kit while there.
‘Parsons pleaded guilty but he’s not going to serve his full term … if he has his kit, then he’s got a way to give himself an out and basically get away with it.’
Parsons would rob banks by parking a bicycle outside and walking in with his face concealed by a helmet or balaclava
If the teller did not pass over the cash Parsons would become more threatening on on occasions fired shots
Parsons was first caught on bank security cameras in the South Australian town of Mannum in 2004, and he struck 10 banks in the state over the next five years before disappearing from view.
In 2011, it is suspected that the same man reappeared suddenly robbing banks in Sydney.
He would cycle to the branch he intended to rob, park his bike at the front – even sometimes bringing it inside with him – and enter the bank wearing sunglasses, a bike helmet or hat to obscure his face.
Once at the counter he would point the gun, usually a semi-automatic rifle in the style of a Russian AK-47, at the bank clerk and presents the bag for them to fill.
If those demands were not met he would grow increasingly threatening and fired shots at least three times.
During a robbery at Balaklava in 2008 Parsons used the rifle to threaten a police officer who responded to the hold-up alarm.
Altogether, Parsons stole some $358,000 across his decade-long crime spree.
Justice McDonald said some of Mr Parsons’ victims had suffered trauma and PTSD from his acts.
‘In sentencing you, what is important is that there is a public denunciation of your conduct,’ she told Parsons on Monday.
She said she could see ‘no real explanation’ for his crimes, but accepted his guilty plea was driven by ‘remorse’.
‘You have made a choice, to attempt in some way, to atone for your behaviour in the plea of guilty.
‘You have attempted to give your victims some answers, some closure, in circumstances in which, in all likelihood, you would have passed away long before there was any real prospect of a trial taking place.’
South Australia passed its VAD laws in 2021 and eligible patients with terminal illnesses have been able to access the procedure since 2023. The procedure is available to prisoners.
