Clinton SPEEDY-DUROUX


Photos above - thanks to the Clinton Speedy-Duroux Association
Thanks to The Real Underbelly website for above photo -
http://therealunderbelly.blogspot.com/1991/12/1991-unsolved-murders-deaths.html

Members of Clinton Speedy’s family gather around the
memorial sign at the smoking ceremony on Sunday, June 7:
From left to right - Dad Thomas Duroux, brother Charles
Speedy, Cousin Shane Hooper, Cousin Sam Speedy, Mother June
Speedy, long time family friend Councillor Martin
Ballangarry, brother David Duroux, Brother Troy Duroux,
nephews Elijah and Marbuck Duroux and Cousin Kara McGrady.
*Thanks to the Tenterfield Star
Reward of $250,000 to solve deaths of Evelyn
Greenup, Clinton Speedy-Duroux and Colleen Walker
NSW Police
A $250,000 reward is on offer for information
leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons
responsible for the deaths of children Evelyn Greenup, Clinton Speedy-Duroux
and Colleen Walker.
The deaths of three persons in their prime and the
fact the killer has not been brought to justice had caused considerable
distress to the Bowraville community where all three children lived.
The loss of three children within the space of
five months was particularly devastating for this tight-knit
community.
The lives of these three young people have been
cut tragically short and their loss has left a tragic mark on their
families and friends.
Sixteen-year-old Colleen Walker disappeared on 13
September, 1990 and her weighted down clothing was later found in the
Nambucca River.
Although her body has never been found, she is
presumed dead.
Four-year-old Evelyn Greenup is believed to have
been murdered on 4 October, 1990.
Her remains were found in bushland in April 1991.
And sixteen-year-old Clinton Speedy-Duroux was
murdered on 1 February, 1991.
His remains were located in bushland a few weeks
later.
The three deaths were investigated by Strike Force
ANCUD.
A $50,000 government reward was offered in
relation to the murder of Colleen Ann Walker in May 1995 and increased
to $100,000 in March 1997.
Rewards have not previously been offered in
relation to the other children.
Detectives investigating the children's
deaths have conducted extensive enquiries but have exhausted all leads.
It's hoped that this substantial reward, linking
all three cases for the first time, will hopefully now persuade somebody
who can help to contact police.
Police want to help the families of these three
children put the tragic past behind them and rebuild their lives.
Do you have information that can help police with this case?
Any information you have about this is worth giving to police,
no matter how small or insignificant it may seem.
You can provide information to police via any of the methods
below:
Any information provided will be treated in the strictest
confidence.
Your help may give police the clue they need to close this
case and provide some comfort for the families of victims.
How to claim your reward
- Contact Crime Stoppers or your local Police Station.
- Identify yourself and indicate you have information about
a crime and that you wish to claim a reward.
- You will then be put in contact with a police officer
involved in the investigation of that case.
The Ghosts Of Bowraville
Sunday 20 July 1997
Program Transcript - ABC Radio National
Chris Bullock: Seven years ago, two children from a small country town were
found bashed to death. One was a teenage boy, the other a four-year old girl.
Both had been stabbed in the head.
Another teenager who disappeared at the same time is still missing, but most
people expect her body too will be found in the bush, eventually.
This is a rural community with deeply enmeshed and complicated family ties, and
police who were unable to pick their way through the maze to find a killer. They
thought they had: a local man was tried, and found not guilty.
CAR MOVES OFF
Hello, I'm Chris Bullock and this is Background Briefing.
In the New South Wales country town of Bowraville, the police are turning up the
heat in a renewed effort to catch a killer, or killers.
Richard Morecroft: New South Wales Police have renewed their investigation into
the murders of three children on the State's north coast seven years ago. The
bodies of four-year-old Evelyn Greenup and 16-year-old Clinton Speedie were
found in bushland near the town of Bowraville.
Colleen Walker, also 16, is still missing, presumed dead.
Reporter: The investigation remains unsolved, the killer still at large. While
police won't say what's led them to reopen the investigation into the Bowraville
murders, today they issued a fresh appeal for information.
Policeman: With the passage of time, this investigation is very difficult, and
we need every assistance we can obtain from the community and that assistance
would help us greatly.
Chris Bullock: The new investigation at Bowraville is part of a big drive by the
new Police Commissioner, Peter Ryan, to clean up some of the State's many
unsolved murders. More than one murder in ten in New South Wales goes unsolved,
that's the worst rate in the country.
Peter Ryan being an experienced homicide detective from England, took one look
at the figures and decided to act. His Deputy Commissioner and Head of Special
Operations, is Jeff Jarratt.
Jeff Jarratt: There's a community - and rightful community - expectation that
police will from the very outset of any homicide, take the view that this is the
most serious form of offence in our society, and police will do their level best
to unearth the circumstances and to take a suspect before a court for the due
process of law to be applied. Commissioner Ryan, on arriving here, was
dissatisfied with the level of unsolved homicides or murders, and has set about
a series of re-investigations. Our overall homicide rate is extraordinarily low
in this country, relative to most westernised countries. It has not really moved
in New South Wales in 25 years, it has remained constant - not as a percentage
of the population, but in round about 100 murders a year. So it's relatively
low.
Chris Bullock: And the statistics suggest that the rate of unsolved murders has
increased threefold in the last 20 years in New South Wales.
Jeff Jarratt: Certainly it is at a much higher level than we are happy with, and
that's why we're revisiting many of these investigations, and so far,
successfully in quite a few cases.
CAR DOOR OPENS
Woman: Say hello to your family.
Chris Bullock: Bowraville could be any one of a hundred country towns in
Australia. Situated 20 kilometres upstream on the Nambucca River in northern New
South Wales, it's a timber town running out of timber.
There's a small factory producing animal hides, and a few tourists who come to
look at the memorabilia in the Settlers' Museum.
Bowraville's main asset is the surrounding countryside of rolling green hills
and thick forests.
Some of the locals expect that refugees from the city will soon 'discover'
Bowraville, as they did the nearby town of Bellingen.
At the western edge of Bowraville, on the road to the cemetery, is The Mission.
You're going to hear a lot about The Mission; this small Aboriginal housing
estate gets its name from the old days when it was a government-controlled
reserve.
As a girl, Clarice Greenup lived on The Mission, but she moved into the town
some years ago. She's one of several aunts of the murdered child Evelyn Greenup.
Clarice Greenup: I hate the thought of even going past The Mission. You couldn't
even let the kids go outside unless someone was out there actually watching them
and keeping an eye on them. We lived in fear, I mean I remember when I used to
drive to Macksville by myself in a car I'd be always looking in the rear-view
mirror thinking all of a sudden if you see this car coming out of nowhere,
you're thinking My God, where did this car come from? It's a horrible feeling,
it really is. Something out of the movies is what it felt like.
I've got a 14-year-old son and when he's not home, when it's dark, I start
panicking. I don't know about anybody else, but if I lived on The Mission I
think I'd be panicking too, but I mean you can go down the street late at night
and you still see our kids running around the streets. So to tell you the truth,
I don't think the parents have learned anything. They might be 14 and 15 and 16
year old kids, but they are still vulnerable.
Chris Bullock: Clinton was a big boy wasn't he?
Clarice Greenup: Yes, he was a big boy.
Chris Bullock: All the children were living or staying at The Mission when they
disappeared.
Today three remembrance plaques stand forlornly in a small park opposite the
houses along Cemetery Road.
A few hundred metres away, the Aboriginal section of the cemetery is well-kept.
It's expanding much more rapidly than it should - there's a high mortality rate
on The Mission, especially amongst young men.
Most of the adult residents of The Mission are unemployed, with little chance of
a job unless they decide to leave town, and some have since the children
disappeared.
The murders have traumatised this small community. Some people seem to wish it
would all go away, others refuse to stop searching. Clarice's sister, Barbara
Greenup-Davis, was living in Sydney at the time of the disappearances; she
returned to Bowraville very soon afterwards.
Barbara Greenup-Davis: People don't want to talk about it, people want to forget
that these murders ever took place. That seems to be the overall feeling that
you get out there in the wider community other than individual family members,
seem to want to know who's responsible for the atrocities that have been
inflicted on both Evelyn and Clinton, and at this point in time the
disappearance of Colleen. I don't expect you to understand but feeling the
presence of those who have gone before you in your home or around you at certain
times, is very much a real part of our lifestyle. And like I say, I've not only
felt but I believe I've witnessed Evelyn's presence in my home over the years
since their murder. And I don't believe I'm the only one. I believe most of my
sisters have had a similar occurrence. Now I like to believe that when she's
with me it's because she's in a safe place.
Chris Bullock: The three kids disappeared during, or perhaps shortly after,
parties held at The Mission. The parties were social get-togethers rather than
special celebrations, and they were commonplace.
The teenagers Colleen and Clinton were at the parties to socialise. In Evelyn's
case, the party was held at the house in which she lived, with her mother,
grandmother and two brothers. Evelyn was sleeping in a bedroom.
PARTY MUSIC
Finding out what happened to them next is the hard part.
Sitting in an interview room at the Sydney Police Centre, the Commander of the
new investigation measures his words very carefully. Detective Inspector Rod
Lynch brought Ivan Milat to trial for the backpacker murders, and he's been
given the Bowraville brief with the hope of similar success, success that eluded
his predecessors.
Rod Lynch: It's clear that Colleen Walker, the first girl to go missing, went
missing from Bowraville on or about the 14th of September 1990. There is some
dispute as to the possible sightings which cover a matter of two days. That
information has varying levels of substance, and that's one of the tasks of this
task force to investigate those aspects and satisfy ourselves as to the actual
fact.
Chris Bullock: So you're still not sure of exactly when and from where, Colleen
Walker disappeared.
Rod Lynch: Not 100%.
Chris Bullock: To what percent are you sure that she disappeared from the
vicinity of that party that night?
Rod Lynch: Well that is a version supplied to us, but there are other versions
of sightings later, and that's where the problem lies at the moment, because
people are giving their recollections I presume, as truthfully as they can, and
that causes some troubles and problems as far as this investigation.
Chris Bullock: The credibility of the information is causing problems?
Rod Lynch: That is so. Because it is difficult at this stage to identify the
exact time of the last sighting.
Chris Bullock: At the time Colleen Walker disappeared, she was staying at the
house of Thomas Duroux and Marje Jarrett, opposite where the three plaques now
stand. Colleen had been looking forward to a trip to western New South Wales.
Marje Jarrett: She was staying here with us when that happened, and she was
going away that morning about three o'clock with my daughter to Goodooga, and I
was going to the bingo over the road, and Thomas and my brother was here
watching TV the last time we saw her, when she brought her clothes here to get
ready to go. But when she went to the party, we've never seen her since - that
was only next door.
Chris Bullock: So she disappeared after the party as far as you're concerned?
Marje Jarrett: Somewhere, sometime that night. Because my daughter came in to
get her, to go to the train, and she wasn't there. I said, 'Look, I don't know
where she is.' This was three o'clock --
Chris Bullock: On the Friday?
Marje Jarrett: -- to Sydney, yes. Well yes that was a Thursday; on Friday
morning, and she went to some places where she thought she might be, but she
wasn't there.
Chris Bullock: And there was also a football carnival here that weekend wasn't
there? So there were a lot of people from out of town around.
Marje Jarrett: Yes, same time. Then when I saw her mother and father next day,
then, I tried to tell them; they said, 'Oh we know she went to Goodooga, I said,
'I'm trying to tell you, she never went. We haven't seen her since last night.'
So they let it go till Monday, I think, before I think they contacted the
police.
Thomas Duroux: We had to wait 24 hours or something.
Marje Jarrett: We just kept asking everybody did they see her, well nobody saw
her. And somebody thought they saw her here next morning. I said, 'She wasn't
here because I was here all morning, and her clothes and that are still in
here.' I got her mother to come and check it out even - everything was still in
the bag in her room. She was staying in that room with my daughter.
Chris Bullock: The immediate reaction of the police was to assume Colleen Walker
had run away. Several weeks after her disappearance, and despite the
protestations of her family, police still believed Colleen may have run away to
Sydney.
Barbara Greenup-Davis.
Barbara Greenup-Davis: The kids will tend to roam from Bowraville to Macksville,
to Nambucca in a day, and then journey back to their home, pretty much by
night-time. Running away - look, I ran away when I was 13, but I tell you, I
didn't run away out there to the big world, I ran away to my stepfather in
Sydney. Colleen had no intentions of running away from home; she was leaving
their community to go to Sydney, to stop over at her aunty's place and travel on
from there to another Aboriginal community where I'm sure she would have been
safe and welcome. Unfortunately she didn't leave their own community.
Chris Bullock: Many people thought the police had not taken Colleen Walker's
disappearance seriously enough. Frustrated, they went to their Catholic priest,
Father Bernie Ryan at St Mary's Church in Bowraville.
Bernie Ryan: The leader of the Land Council at that time, Larry Kelly, and I
were approached by some of the people who said they were somewhat apprehensive
about talking to the police, and so we set up a little office down in the Land
Council, and people who wanted to, came along and we talked mainly about the
actual course of events on the night at the party, on the night that Colleen
disappeared.
Chris Bullock: Was a record taken of this?
Bernie Ryan: Yes.
Chris Bullock: In written form, or audio?
Bernie Ryan: Written.
Chris Bullock: And it was all handed to the police, was it?
Bernie Ryan: Yes.
Chris Bullock: So a full record of all those discussions, which may, given the
current investigations, be of some value, has all gone to the police?
Bernie Ryan: Yes, they have everything.
Chris Bullock: Three weeks after Colleen Walker disappeared, four-year-old
Evelyn Greenup went missing. Evelyn also disappeared during, or soon after, a
party, and the party was held at the house she lived in.
Clarice Greenup: Well when I first heard about it, I was sitting up, just up the
road, inside with a friend of mine. And I sort of saw Evelyn's mother come down
this way, but she never came to my house, she went to two doors up from where
I'm living now, and asking people there had they seen Evelyn, and I didn't know
till about - oh, it must have been about 8 o'clock, when my brother came down
asking me did I see Evelyn, and I said, 'No,' I said, 'why?' And he said, 'We
can't find Evelyn.' So he was sort of in a panic, and then I just sort of
started panicking too, because I mean, a little four-year-old girl, and no-one
seemed to have known where she was. We were sort of in a daze, and wondering
well what's going on in our community.
Chris Bullock: In Evelyn Greenup's case, Rod Lynch seems to have more to go on.
Rod Lynch: There are versions of sightings of her on the 4th in the town of
Bowraville, but there are also other versions indicating she may have gone
missing during the night of the 3rd.
Chris Bullock: Which was when the party was.
Rod Lynch: That is so.
Chris Bullock: And was the party in the house in which she was asleep?
Rod Lynch: That is so, yes.
Chris Bullock: And was she asleep alone in that room?
Rod Lynch: No, she wasn't.
Chris Bullock: Who else was there ?
Rod Lynch: Her two brothers and her mother were sleeping in that particular
bedroom.
Chris Bullock: And is it the case that one shoe was found with her and the other
shoe of that pair was found in the house, in that room?
Rod Lynch: That is so. When her remains were located there was a shoe at that
site, and a matching shoe was found sometime later in the dwelling where the
party was held.
Chris Bullock: And how significant would you believe that to be?
Rod Lynch: There are various scenarios to explain that situation. But it must
have a strong indication she was taken from the premises itself.
Chris Bullock: As the Head of this Task Force, can you go through those
scenarios with me at all?
Rod Lynch: No, I'd rather not at this stage, because it could impact
detrimentally on the investigation.
Chris Bullock: Evelyn Greenup did have one daily habit: early each morning she
would walk, together with her younger brother Aaron, from her mother's house to
where her father was staying, at the home of Marje Jarrett and Thomas Duroux.
Thomas Duroux: He used to get them ready for school, and the little boy came
round that day on his own - Aaron - and she never turned up. That's when they
reckon they saw her downtown at the swimming hole somewhere.
Chris Bullock: So every morning Evelyn and her brother would come down here to
see their dad before going to school.
Marje Jarrett: Yes well sometimes they'd come down before he went to work, and
if they were here, I'd keep them here and send them down to school, or they'd go
back home again.
Chris Bullock: But they always came together.
Marje Jarrett: Always came together, yes. But the little boy came on his own
because he followed somewhere else down; they were all drinking up there, see,
and that fellow got up and he came this way, and little Aaron came with him, and
the little girl never came with him.
Chris Bullock: Given that it was that time in the morning, and the little boy
had woken up probably because of the party, I mean maybe, you know it's possible
Evelyn was still asleep.
Marje Jarrett: I think not, I don't think so. Because I don't think she was down
this way that morning. I don't think anyone saw her in town, I don't think
anyone had seen her since that day before.
Chris Bullock: And you didn't see her ever again after that party?
Marje Jarrett: No, only the little fellow came down here the next day.
MUSIC
Chris Bullock: At the time Colleen and Evelyn disappeared in late 1990,
16-year-old Clinton Speedy was living in another part of New South Wales with
his mother. Clinton came to Bowraville just before Christmas, to stay with his
father, Thomas Duroux.
At the end of January, Clinton went to a party at The Mission. In the early
hours of the morning after the party, he left with his girlfriend, Kelly
Jarrett, and another friend, Jay Hart. They went to Jay Hart's caravan, which
was a short walk, and they continued drinking. The following morning, nobody
could find Clinton Speedy.
Thomas Duroux: He was only here for a short while, about a month. And after we
all just walked the town just trying to find out questions ourselves, but we
couldn't just - it didn't do any good, and we all just tried to rally around and
see what we could do, but couldn't do anything, couldn't find him. So we had to
bring in the police then after that, we just couldn't do anything on our own.
Rod Lynch: Clinton spent the night of the 31st of January 1991 in a caravan with
a young lady he was keeping company with, and another person, and he went
missing from that caravan as far as we can ascertain.
Chris Bullock: Two weeks later, Clinton's body was found, just off one of the
backroads into Bowraville, Congarinni Road. A heavy blow had crushed his skull
and he'd been stabbed in the face with a sharp instrument.
CAR
Congarinni Road begins just east of Bowraville, and winds through several
kilometres of thick bush with some cleared farming areas, until it reaches
Congarinni Bridge, and the road to Macksville.
CAR CROSSING WOODEN BRIDGE
Neville Buchanan, a local elder and a noted bushman, took me to the places where
Clinton and Evelyn were found.
FOOTSTEPS IN BUSH
Colleen Walker was Neville's niece, and Evelyn was his grand-niece. He and
others spent many days over several weeks searching through the bush along
Congarinni Road. Clinton's body was found first, near an old quarry halfway
along the road.
Neville Buchanan: This is the location where we found Clinton's body - wattle
trees and the gum, and the bloodwood tree. A lot bullrushes here too. I was up
there with the father, and I wouldn't let the father come down because I didn't
want him to see the sight. But my brother, and Larry Kelly and Louis Kelly came
down here and they saw it. They came back and said it was not a terrible good
sight to see. White as a sheet, just like they'd seen a ghost.
Chris Bullock: Is this bush along this road bush that the kids, all of those
kids, would have known?
Neville Buchanan: Well they know this part of the road and part of the bush
because they used to walk along this road. It's not far to Macksville. We were
all in groups; there were some groups here and some groups back there, some
groups this way, but most of the people still stood back at Bowraville,
drinking. That's why I wondered why they never said much. People like them still
drinking back there and never came in and helped.
Chris Bullock: Maybe they don't care.
Neville Buchanan: I think they should care because it was their nieces, there
were uncles back there drinking, uncles and aunties, grandmother. They should
have been down here with us. They never ever came and helped. And that's my
doubts about 'em.
Chris Bullock: Do you talk to them about it?
Neville Buchanan: I never talk to them. But one day I probably will. One day
when I get close enough to them and talk to them, because they don't talk to me.
WALKING IN BUSH - CAR ON DIRT ROAD
Chris Bullock: Evelyn Greenup was found two months later, when a search party
discovered her remains 3 kilometres closer to Bowraville from where Clinton
Speedy was found. Evelyn had been dumped 50 metres from the road. Neville
Buchanan knows the spot well.
WALKING IN BUSH
Chris Bullock: This is it?
Neville Buchanan: Right there, she was, just where the tree was, just missed
her, missed her little body. I was walking along there, me and my nephew, and
all of a sudden this little spirit grabbed us, grabbed me by the arm; one leg
was missing, one shoe was missing, she had one shoe on, and no clothes, the
clothes were gone.
Chris Bullock: Are you assuming that an animal took that leg?
Neville Buchanan: I assumed it was an animal that took that leg. And she was
just laying face down that way. It was very lucky that when the fella felledthis
tree, if he'd have felled the tree a bit further over that way, he would have
covered the body - we wouldn't have found the body. When they die, the spirit
lives on, like she was lost, she was down there, she was lost; although her
remains might have been here, but her spirit was wandering around lost. But why?
Why do it to a little four-year-old girl? You know. We believed she was dead at
The Mission, but why bring her body here? Someone must have had something to do
with the murders. We still want answers. People still live with those things in
Bowraville. People are not letting out; people are not talking. Nobody's
talking. You'd think the blackfellas forgot what was going on.
Chris Bullock: Do many people come out to these sites where the bodies were
found, these days?
Neville Buchanan: No, not many come out here now. I don't know, I wish we could
get answers.
WALKING IN BUSH - MUSIC
Chris Bullock: Several searches failed to find the other girl, Colleen Walker,
although a bag containing some of her clothes was fished from the river at the
end of Congarinni Road.
By this stage, Bowraville was awash with rumour and innuendo. Community
accusations were increasingly being levelled at one person, a young white man.
Jay Hart was well-known on The Mission. He worked the local hide factory and had
many Aboriginal friends and drinking companions - and he'd attended all the
parties that preceded the disappearances.
When Clinton Speedy went missing after spending the night in Jay Hart's caravan,
the police had to take community suspicions seriously. The caravan was parked
outside the home of his mother, Marlene Hart, a short walk from The Mission.
Clinton had gone there in the early hours of the morning after the party, with
his girlfriend Kelly Jarrett and Jay Hart. They drank some more alcohol and
watched music videos before going to sleep.
The next morning, Kelly Jarrett woke to find Clinton had gone. He wasn't seen
again until the discovery of his body along Congarinni Road.
The suspicions and anger of Aboriginal residents were reflected in a Weekend
Australian magazine article. It detailed allegations and suspicions about a man
called "Fred", which was clearly a pseudonym. The article said "Fred" had formed
relationships with several black women in Bowraville.
Reader: One woman is supposed to have woken and found "Fred" watching her from
the foot of the bed. Another claims to have surprised him lurking in a corridor
of her home early one morning. Others said he'd been chasing teenagers, and
tried to pick up Colleen Walker on the night she went missing.
Chris Bullock: The article appeared on Saturday, April 6th, 1991, and Jay Hart
was arrested for the murder of Clinton Speedy two days later.
Within months, Jay Hart was also charged with the murder of the four-year-old,
Evelyn Greenup, and he was committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court on both
charges.
The Director of Public Prosecutions wanted Jay Hart to be tried for both murders
at a single trial. The DPP gave Justice Badgery-Parker a set of similar facts
evidence, which was as follows:
Clinton Speedy and Evelyn Greenup both disappeared after parties, both of which
were attended by Jay Hart. The remains of both victims were found along
Congarinni Road. There was no attempt to bury either body, and both victims had
penetrating injuries to the skull.
When the judge said, 'No, all of that isn't enough to show that one person
committed both murders,' it was a major setback for the DPP and the police.
Jay Hart was only tried for the murder of Clinton Speedy.
The DPP believed it had a strong case against Hart, despite a lack of any
forensic evidence to connect him to the crime. Their case relied on
circumstantial evidence, in particular, the testimony of a neighbour who told
the court she'd seen Jay Hart leave home in his mother's car about 5am on the
morning in question and not return until over an hour later.
The Crown Prosecutor told the court that while Clinton's girlfriend slept, Jay
Hart had time to kill Clinton Speedy, drive 8 kilometres to Congarinni Road,
dump the body and drive back.
However, two other witnesses told the court they'd seen Clinton Speedy, or at
least someone who looked like him, hitch-hiking out of Bowraville early that
morning. One said he saw Speedy at ten to five in the morning, the other said
she'd seen a boy who looked like Speedy hitch-hiking at the same spot at twenty
past six.
Hart's barrister, Kim Roser, believes this was the crucial piece of evidence.
Kim Roser: Well viewed objectively, it appeared that there was some fundamental
problems with the Crown case. Those problems were probably best summarised in
the directions of law that the trial judge gave to the jury at the conclusion of
the murder trial. And one of the directions that the judge gave the jury was
that they had to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the young Aboriginal
person who'd been seen standing at the side of the road at a time when the Crown
case suggested Clinton Speedy had already been murdered by Mr Hart, was not in
fact Mr Speedy. And it seemed that it would be very difficult for a jury to ever
be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the two persons who saw the young
Aboriginal person, were mistaken. It was never suggested that they were lying,
and so that seemed to be one of the fundamental problems that the Crown case
contained.
Chris Bullock: The jury, to the disbelief of the family and friends of Clinton
Speedy, found Hart not guilty. The not guilty verdict, by an unfortunate
coincidence, was handed down on the third anniversary of the discovery of
Clinton Speedy's body.
There were angry scenes in Bowraville, outside the home of Jay Hart's mother,
Marlene Hart. Several times over the previous three years her house had been
attacked, windows broken, and 'Killer' spray-painted on the buildings.
After Jay Hart was found not guilty, a group of Aboriginal people converged on
Marlene Hart's house. Standing between the angry group and the house was Fred
Walker, an Aboriginal Police Liaison Officer.
Fred Walker was in a very difficult position: Colleen Walker was his niece and
he sympathised with the crowd. But Fred Walker also knew he had the best chance
of defusing the situation.
Fred Walker: Oh you know, I just went there because I didn't want the police to
go there, I just thought it would have got out of hand if the police went there;
I thought I might have been able to convince them to leave.
Chris Bullock: What were they doing?
Fred Walker: Going off their heads there, you know. When I went there I could
see - I felt the same way, I wanted to lash out too. But I couldn't, I knew I
couldn't, I had to get there and try to get them away from there, you know. And
I could see the hate in their faces too you know. One bloke said to me that I
had no feelings, and I shouldn't be there, I should be over there with them, and
they had a go at me. Well that's when people are hurting you know, they say
these things. I know I'd do the same thing if I were there too. But that comes
with the job you know, and I've got to accept it.
Then I get to the stage when I think I'm not good enough for the position, you
know, I shouldn't be in the position; I should let someone else come in who
could take it all you know. And I just look at the negative side all the time,
like I said, you know, I should look at the positive side; and people keep
reminding me, you know; a lot of people out there think a lot of you, and are
glad you're there, and you know, you're helping them. And I know that.
Chris Bullock: Has the community recovered to some extent, given that it's now
more than six years since Clinton was murdered?
Fred Walker: I don't think they have. There's a lot of grief out there, a lot of
people don't know how to handle grief too you know. Maybe they should seek
counselling. I carried a lot of grief with myself because of what had happened
to Evelyn, I looked after Evelyn when his mother went up to Armidale for months;
and Colleen is my niece, you know. And it gets to me a lot, you know.
Chris Bullock: The family of Jay Hart, many of whom live in and around
Bowraville, also suffered greatly from their ordeal. Several family members
politely declined interviews, but they told me the financial and emotional
strain had been enormous.
Kim Roser says Jay Hart's life has been shattered.
Kim Roser: Jay Hart lived in Bowraville, he had family with whom he worked. He
had a place to live, he had a social life, and one assumes some desire to remain
there. As a result of this episode, he was precluded from living in Bowraville,
he was incarcerated for eight months whilst the judicial wheels turned, and that
involved losing his home, losing his employment, and losing the ability to go
and do whatever he wanted. So one I suppose could say, that he paid a
substantial price.
Chris Bullock: Jay Hart now lives far away, about six hours' drive from
Bowraville. He agreed to see me at his new home, but he was unwilling to be
interviewed without being paid. The trial process, he told me, had left him
owing several thousand dollars to family and friends, and given that his story
was the only thing he could sell, that was his price.
After the failure of the Speedy trial, the DPP decided not to go ahead with the
Evelyn Greenup murder charge against Jay Hart. The police were back at square
one, with two unsolved murders and one unsolved disappearance.
The head of the original investigation, Detective Alan Williams, went to
Bowraville to meet with family and friends of the three children, and he dropped
what was to some people, a bombshell.
Father Bernie Ryan was at that meeting.
Bernie Ryan: Alan came down I think almost the week after the trial, and
expressed his regrets that they didn't get a conclusion to the case at that
stage. And at the end of the meeting he made a remark that possibly somebody
within the Aboriginal community might have been involved. To me, that came as
quite a shock I must say.
Chris Bullock: Many people in Bowraville, including Clinton's father, Thomas
Duroux, assumed the police had the right man. The acquittal of Jay Hart came as
a shock to him, and life hasn't become any easier in the three years since then.
Thomas Duroux: You can't go on living like this all the time, you've got to get
some results, someone's got to know something and if they do I wish they'd come
forward and let us know.
Marje Jarrett: I'd say there's a lot of cases you read about that it has
happened, never found anything out. Somebody must have a guilty conscience.
Thomas Duroux: I couldn't walk around with something like that hidden all the
time anyway.
Chris Bullock: And how big a problem would it be if the police did find somebody
who was involved and that person or those people were Kooris?
Marje Jarrett: I don't know, oh dear, just hope it's not that way.
Thomas Duroux: Well it's not as if we've been expecting something like that;
y'know we've got this one idea set and that's sort of it.
Chris Bullock: Have you been re-interviewed yet?
Thomas Duroux: No, no, not yet.
Chris Bullock: Have you, Marje?
Marje Jarrett: No.
Chris Bullock: You both took part in the court case previously, didn't you?
Marje Jarrett: Yes, yes, yes.
Chris Bullock: But for Evelyn Greenup's aunts, Clarice and Barbara, the idea
that secrets were being kept in the Aboriginal community came as no surprise.
Barbara Greenup: The mere fact that they seem to have focused so much of their
early inquiries on one individual, from my point of view, was very naive for
police you know. I mean I'm not a lawyer, and I'm certainly not a policeman, but
I would think if you even suspect the family or family members maybe involved,
then you're going to keep more aware and more focused on their activities. And
even the questioning, where they were, and what they were doing at the time the
murders took place, people may look at the two teenagers and say, 'Well there
are so many possibilities' but what possibilities have you got with a
four-year-old? Four-year-olds don't drink, they don't do drugs, they don't do
sex, they don't do parties. Teenagers do these things, and yet there seems to
have been nobody in the community that knows of anything, yet there were so many
around at the time.
Clarice Greenup: You go to any Aboriginal mission in Australia, everybody'll
know what everybody else is doing. What time you went to sleep, what time you
went to town - the people on The Mission know what's going on and who's doing
what and who's been here and who's been there. And then all of a sudden, our
mission seems to know - nobody knows anything, they've sort of clammed up. So
there is still a lot of suspicion and we're still angry, but we don't want
revenge, all we want is justice.
RAIN FALLING
Chris Bullock: It was pouring with rain when I went to talk to Father Bernie
Ryan at St Mary's Church in Bowraville. The church is on a hill, and you can see
The Mission from there.
At the heart of the Bowraville mystery is the widely-held belief that someone
who was at The Mission when the children disappeared, knows what happened.
Father Bernie Ryan.
Bernie Ryan: Well it's just hard to judge, isn't it, but you've got to look at
the Leigh Leigh case, don't you, and the movie, which I haven't seen myself, but
I understand that the main theme is do you dob your mates in, and I think you've
got a situation like that, plus a much deeper Aboriginal cultural trait I think,
which is that they select what information they feel that you are entitled to.
And given the very strong family ties, it's even deeper than the dobbing
question. It's your business, you know, your business. It's a strange
conglomerate that in one sense, in a community like this, certain of my
business, most of my business, is everybody's business. But there's certain
business that's yours and if I know it, I have to respect that it's yours.
That's a deeper level than dobbing I think.
Chris Bullock: You're describing also a terribly difficult barrier for the
police to overcome, aren't you?
Bernie Ryan: Sure, yes. Yes I think they've got quite a contract on their hands.
Chris Bullock: A study by the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and
Research, analysing murders over 25 years, has some striking findings about the
relationship between victims and suspects.
It found 75% of murdered teenagers were killed by someone they knew. The other
25% are called 'stranger homicides', but for child victims under the age of ten,
95% were killed by someone they knew, and for 80% the murderer was a family
member.
So how much notice should investigators take of figures like these, especially
in a place where half-a-dozen extended families make up nearly the entire
community? Rod Lynch.
Rod Lynch: One must keep them in the back of one's mind, and balance them with
the facts of the individual cases. But in my view an investigation should never
be conducted in accordance with statistics.
Chris Bullock: There is one special requirement for the detectives in the new
Bowraville Task Force. They must have no connection with the last one.
Rod Lynch says this is a firm rule.
Rod Lynch: Naturally we confer if required with former investigators of the
original investigation, but I wanted a new approach with completely new people
so that attitude could be encouraged.
Chris Bullock: How much harder is it to run an investigation seven years after
the facts?
Rod Lynch: Well it's much more difficult than conducting the original
investigation. There's memory loss, on the part of witnesses; people draw
conclusions and it's difficult sometimes to interpret fact from what is actually
general discussions or someone's belief or thoughts in regard to a matter.
Chris Bullock: So over seven years, people may have built up their own mental
scenario of what happened and then that becomes fact when you talk to them about
it.
Rod Lynch: It becomes fact to them. We have disproved a number of versions given
during the original investigation, and we are continually disproving versions
given to us through our present investigation. Having said that there is a large
amount of information we've got that is factual and quite clearly factual.
Chris Bullock: To what extent in an investigation like this, is there a danger
in focusing too much on one person, or on one lead?
Rod Lynch: Well the way I've structured this Task Force, that will not happen.
There's no possibility of group think coming into this investigation.
Chris Bullock: And how much new information have you got since you started this
re-investigation?
Rod Lynch: We've received at this stage, 19 calls in the last couple of weeks;
we've received 19 calls that's supplied fresh information; that information's
been of varying levels of value at this point, on initial analysis.
Chris Bullock: And is all of that information that's come from people who live
in the area, or who were in the area at the time?
Rod Lynch: Basically from people with knowledge of Bowraville. All those people
have been interviewed personally, or will be interviewed personally.
Chris Bullock: Are you aware of the sense, particularly amongst the families of
the victims, that there has been a problem of trust between themselves and
police investigators in the past? Have they talked to you about that?
Rod Lynch: It has been raised with me. One must gain the trust of the local
community from whom we're attempting to obtain information, and I've personally
kept in close contact with certain nominated representatives of each family.
Chris Bullock: There is one person who can't be charged with murdering Clinton
Speedy - Jay Hart. To do so would put Hart in what American lawyers call a
position of 'double jeopardy'.
Kim Roser.
Kim Roser: If Jay Hart were to be charged with the murder of Clinton Speedy, he
would be entitled to argue successfully that those proceedings could not
proceed. It's called a plea in bar; there is a principle that you cannot be
tried for an offence in respect of which there has been a previous trial, and
the previous trial has reached a decision one way or the other.
Chris Bullock: Rod Lynch is not prepared to say if Jay Hart remains a suspect.
But Jeff Jarrett, the Deputy Commissioner, says an acquittal should not hinder
further investigations.
Jeff Jarratt: I think the fact that someone is discharged, or the person is
found not guilty, that means that there's been insufficient evidence to prove
beyond a reasonable doubt that the person is guilty, does not automatically mean
that the person is innocent.
Chris Bullock: But that's what the law considers it to mean if they're found not
guilty.
Jeff Jarratt: Certainly the person cannot be re-charged with that offence, that
is the end of the matter. And so for all intents and purposes, the person is
innocent in the eyes of the law, but I think it's still an important point to
say that at that point it doesn't prevent proper and further investigation where
that's warranted.
BOWRAVILLE STREET
Chris Bullock: In the Aboriginal community of Bowraville, there's a deep and
enduring grief. The non-Aboriginal people of Bowraville too, are more than just
interested bystanders in a macabre murder mystery.
ENTERING SHOP - DOOR SLAMS
Lyn an Alan Summerville are long-term residents; Alan was raised there. Now they
run the takeaway food shop in the middle of town, opposite the Post Office, and
next to the Bowraville Land Council. They have a broad, mixed-race clientele,
and like everybody else, a view on the matter.
Lyn Summerville: Yes, there's definitely been a lack of justice on both sides.
Chris Bullock: And how do people express that lack of justice?
Alan Summerville: Most of the people that you talk to just generally don't
believe the police did a thorough investigation of it.
Chris Bullock: Why?
Alan Summerville: Well I believe that they thought they had their man, and that
was it.
Chris Bullock: Do people talk about it much still?
Lyn Summerville: No, they don't talk about it much any more. Only when something
happens to bring it back to the limelight.
Chris Bullock: And something has happened, there's a re-investigation and
they're re-interviewing people.
Lyn Summerville: It should have happened a long time ago. Everybody basically I
think is pleased that things will finally, hopefully, be brought to a head and
thoroughly and properly investigated.
Chris Bullock: And if there is a thorough and proper investigation which comes
up with nothing ?
Lyn Summerville: I don't know if I really like to look at it from that angle;
I'd like to be a little bit more positive and think that there has to be an
answer somewhere. There has to be an end to it, because if there's no end to it,
there's always going to be this cloud hanging over Bowra.
Chris Bullock: Has that cloud been hanging over it for seven years?
Lyn Summerville: Most definitely, most definitely.
Truth be Told - Transcript - Australian Story
PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT: Monday, 4 September , 2006
CAROLINE JONES, PRESENTER: Hello, I'm Caroline Jones.
Tonight, a triple murder that's remained unresolved for 15 years. In the small
town of Bowraville on the north coast of New South Wales, three children went
missing within a few months of each other. Despite a coroner's inquest and two
trials, nobody has ever been found guilty of their murders. Local people have
never given up on their campaign for justice, and more recently they've been
joined by a Sydney doctor who moved to Bowraville for a sea change and found
herself drawn into the effort to solve this painful mystery.
DR VIVIENNE TEDESCHI: Before I came to Bowraville, I
had never heard of Bowraville. At least, I thought I had never heard of
Bowraville but, in fact, in my subconscious I had, and that was because of the
three murders 16 years ago. But I'd forgotten the name Bowraville, so I had no
subconscious ideas about what it would be like until I drove through the town
and I saw all those veranda posts, and I thought, "Oh, this place is so quaint."
But I could never imagine, at that stage, living here for the rest of my life. I
first came to Bowraville in 2001 to have an experience of rural medicine. I had
a work opportunity here. At the end of the year we were planning to go back, and
a week before I went back I met someone who's now my husband, fell in love and
came back and stayed. People had told me that it's really difficult in a remote
or a rural area to make friends and become a local, but because of my
profession, I think it's a little bit easier. You get close to people very
quickly, and within months I loved it. Gradually, I came to know each of the
affected families, and it brought to mind everything that I'd read previously
many years earlier about the murders.
‘7.30 REPORT’ – FEBRUARY 1991: When two farmers
stumbled upon the badly decomposed body of Clinton Speedy earlier this week, it
confirmed the worst fears of the Aboriginal community. The 16-year-old
disappeared just over three weeks ago, and he was the third.
ABC NEWS - FEBRUARY 1991: 4-year-old Evelyn Greenup
disappeared in September, her 16-year-old cousin Colleen Walker a month later.
DR VIVIENNE TEDESCHI: I've always been really
distressed by these murders. There's been no-one found guilty of these crimes,
and I think that that's a horrific tragedy for these Aboriginal children and
their families. Initially, I felt, as their doctor and friend, I could just
offer moral support and caring, talk about it, cry with them, just be there. I
initially didn't foresee any actual involvement. As time went on, I felt it more
and more and more intensely. I became a little bit obsessed. And over these four
years, even though I wasn't there at the time, I think I've come to know a huge
amount about the circumstances of the children's death, and I'm convinced that
justice still has to be done and can be done, from what I've learnt. The first
child to disappear was Colleen Walker.
DET. INSP. GARY JUBELIN, NSW POLICE: Colleen Walker
was last seen alive following a party out in the Aboriginal community on the
outskirts of Bowraville township. That was on 13th September, 1990. There was a
large gathering of people there, and the last positive sighting of Colleen was
walking away from a group of people at that party on that night.
PAULA CRAIG, COLLEEN WALKER'S SISTER: Colleen never
went anywhere without letting Mum know wherever she was, and I remember Mum
coming down and asking did anybody see Colleen. Like, it was just mainly family
going looking and asking questions about where Colleen is or where she was. When
people said they didn't see Colleen, I know Mum started to panic. I'm Colleen's
younger sister. I was 15 at the time when she went missing. I don't know if it
sunk in to myself, like, until a while after that that she was never going to
come home or never going to see her again.
DET. INSP. GARY JUBELIN, NSW POLICE: There was two
schools of thought - she was a 16-year-old girl, and whether a 16-year-old girl
has inadvertently decided to go to another location without telling people or
acting irresponsibly, I would suggest. There was that school of thought, but
there was also the concern that something had happened to her.
PAULA CRAIG, COLLEEN WALKER'S SISTER: I remember the
police not taking it too serious when Colleen went missing. Like, there was
never any search parties. No-one searched for her but family. They told Mum
awful things like, "Oh, she probably just went walkabout," you know.
DR VIVIENNE TEDESCHI: Nothing was taken seriously and,
as anyone who knows the law and criminal investigation, it's your first 48 hours
that count, and those initial 48 hours were lost. A lot of the people who are
black live on what used to be a mission, but it's still retaining the name "the
Mish". A few weeks later at a party at the Mish, Evelyn Greenup was asleep in a
room with two of her little siblings.
REBECCA STADHAMS, EVELYN GREENUP'S MOTHER: We had a
party out at my mother's house and I was drinking, put her to bed. When I got up
the next day, she wasn't there. Still have good dreams about her. Still see her
in my mind and every day. I would wash up and then I would just...my tears would
just start rolling out of my eyes. Even if I'm just walking along the road,
tears will start coming out of my eyes.
MICHELLE STRAEDE, EVELYN GREENUP'S AUNTY: We knew
something was wrong. Someone...we started thinking there's somebody killing our
kids, because Colleen had gone, then Evelyn, and because Evelyn was always with
the family. She never went with anyone she didn't know.
DET. INSP. GARY JUBELIN, NSW POLICE: A 4-year-old girl
obviously doesn't wander off on her own. It's hard to get a sense whether they
had linked those two crimes together at that particular point in time. We had a
16-year-old girl disappear, two and a half weeks later we had a 4-year-old girl
disappear. Granted, from a very small community, but at that stage I don't think
people came to terms with the full ramifications of what was occurring in that
area.
DR VIVIENNE TEDESCHI: A couple of months later, 31st
January 1991, there was a party near the mish, up that end of town, and Clinton
Speedy attended that party, and after the party, went to a certain other house
to sleep and was never seen again.
THOMAS DUROUX, CLINTON SPEEDY'S FATHER: We started
looking around town. Couldn't find him anywhere. I rang the police then and
reported him missing. They were pretty concerned about the third one going
missing because he was a boy that, you know, could handle himself. He was a
pretty big, solid boy, he wasn't a little kid and if there had to be something
go wrong, well, it had to be something really wrong.
PROTESTER, '7:30 REPORT' - FEBRUARY 1991: Why do you
stand there and say you want information from us when the black people gave you
the information...
MICHELLE STRAEDE, EVELYN GREENUP'S AUNTY: Oh, it was
boiling point then. It was outrage. We wanted somebody to give us answers. I
hate to say it, but if it was white kids, I feel that there would've been a lot
more done. I don't know why. But black Aboriginal kids don't seem to rank high
on the priority of police.
POLICEMAN, '7:30 REPORT' - FEBRUARY 1991: To do this
investigation properly, we've got to have you people onside and working with us.
PAULA CRAIG, COLLEEN WALKER'S SISTER: My feelings is
if they did the proper investigation and a search when Colleen went missing,
then it mightn't have happened to the other two kids.
DET. INSP. GARY JUBELIN, NSW POLICE: I think that
there was a distrust and it was probably just a, perhaps, a perception of
distrust between the Aboriginal community and police.
MICHELLE STRAEDE, EVELYN GREENUP'S AUNTY: There was a
lot of mistrust there so some people didn't come forward, and they wasn't quite
sure if what they had to say was correct, or was useful or anything. So a lot of
them didn't talk, also.
ABC NEWS – FEBRUARY 1991: Homicide squad detectives
were called in when locals stumbled across the body yesterday afternoon.
DET. INSP. GARY JUBELIN, NSW POLICE: The first
positive confirmation that they'd met foul play was the finding of Clinton's
remains. The fact that the three children disappeared from a small community,
and the circumstances in which they disappeared, police certainly entertained
the possibility that we were searching for a serial killer.
ABC NEWS – APRIL 1991: Then, the grim discovery
yesterday of a child's skull and today more skeletal remains.
DET. INSP. GARY JUBELIN, NSW POLICE: Evelyn's remains
were found a month or two after Clinton's. Colleen Walker's clothes were found
weighted down in the Nambucca River. And the circumstances in which those
clothes were found, was that a man was fishing and happened to snag the
clothing. Her remains have never been found to this day.
DR VIVIENNE TEDESCHI: The murders of these children
have had an enormous effect on the town of Bowraville in many ways. There'd be
very few people there who could say they have no connection to a deceased child.
When I lived in Sydney, I didn't know anyone who was touched by tragedy. And
here, these people became really close to me. I grew to really care about them.
And I started to see their pain. The pain was tangible. It was around me every
day so my awareness of it grew by the minute. One can't help thinking, "There
but for the grace of God go I." And I don't know that I would survive something
like that if it was my children.
ABC NEWS APRIL 1991: A 25-year-old man has appeared in
a north coast court charged over the murder of Bowraville teenager Clinton
Speedy.
PAULA CRAIG, COLLEEN WALKER'S SISTER: The initial
reaction was, like, they've got somebody and we're going to get some answers and
going to get a bit of closure and we might even find where Colleen is. It was a
happy moment to hear that they've actually got somebody.
THOMAS DUROUX, CLINTON SPEEDY'S FATHER: It looked like
everything was going alright ‘cause I sat in there and listened. And it seemed
everything was going fine at the time. Then it just came out with a 'not guilty'
verdict. Everyone looked at everyone else and...just couldn't believe it.
THOMAS DUROUX, CLINTON SPEEDY'S FATHER, IN BUSH: Er,
this is the place where they found the body. Some blokes who were getting wood
came across the body. And they rang the police.
DR VIVIENNE TEDESCHI: Those that know the details of
the case, including many people in the legal fraternity, have suggested that it
was a big surprise that Clinton's case led to acquittal. Clinton's case was a
very, very strong circumstantial case, and I think a conviction was expected by
many.
THOMAS DUROUX, CLINTON SPEEDY'S FATHER, IN BUSH: It's
tough. It's very tough to come back out here like this. I really didn't feel
like coming down here first up, but now it's... I feel a bit better for coming
down and having a look now.
THOMAS DUROUX, CLINTON SPEEDY'S FATHER: Yeah, well,
once he got off, there was sort of not a great deal of things we could do. We
were just looking for more answers from the police and trying to get an
understanding of what went on. There was no... we couldn't understand anything.
DET. INSP. GARY JUBELIN, NSW POLICE: I wasn't involved
in the investigation at that stage, nor was I involved in the court proceedings.
The matter was reviewed by police after it was brought to the attention by the
community. Following that review, a decision was made to reopen the
investigation. Each matter had to be investigated individually, but certainly
the circumstances, you would have to draw the natural conclusion that there is a
link between the matters. It certainly was an eye-opener, and they've taught me
a lot of things and coming from being a homicide detective working in the city
where most of my work was, what I found about this was the emotion that was
attached to the investigation. There was so much pain, so much sorrow, shared
not just by one family but a whole community. We would be speaking to witnesses
that would be relaying events, some eight or nine years previous, and they'd
break down in tears and that was the type of emotion that they were holding.
DR VIVIENNE TEDESCHI: Relationships between the
Aboriginal community and the police certainly got a lot better when Gary and his
partner, Jason Evers, took on the cases in 1997. Gary Jubelin stands alone as
the most wonderful policeman I have ever met. One always has this feeling that a
policeman, or a police person, just has to get on with the job, but he has such
compassion.
DET. INSP. GARY JUBELIN, NSW POLICE: We had about a
dozen detectives working on it initially. After about 18 months working
full-time on the investigation, it was downscaled. We, at that point in time,
were struggling. We didn't have sufficient evidence for any person to be
charged. That's when I heard from a lady called Leonie Wilmshurst. Leonie was
Clinton Speedy's sister-in-law. She was married to Clinton's brother, Marbuck.
LEONIE WILMSHURST, CLINTON SPEEDY'S SISTER-IN-LAW: The
families are never going to heal until they get some closure. so I decided to
start writing letters and demanding some answers and causing a bit of
aggravation just to let people know that we hadn't forgotten about it, and that
it was never going to be forgotten about until we had some answers. I think it
was the beginning of a big thing for me. It just, it's totally consumed my life.
DET. INSP. GARY JUBELIN, NSW POLICE: Leonie's letter
just came at the right time where I was starting to question, "Am I just banging
my head against a brick wall?" We had doubts that, "Is it just getting too
hard?" And it touched the chord with me. I could see, "Well, there are people
still out there that care." So we’ve made an undertaking to continue on with our
investigation, and that sort of... it motivate’s probably not the right word,
but it helped us, it gave us energy to continue on with our task.
ABC NEWS - AUGUST 2004: A man considered the prime
suspect in the murders of three Aboriginal children has faced an inquest 14
years later. Police believe ***** was responsible for killing the children who
lived at a settlement at Bowraville on the state's mid-north coast.
DR VIVIENNE TEDESCHI: This inquest was to look into
the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Colleen Walker and Evelyn Greenup.
And as a result of that inquest, a man was charged with Evelyn Greenup's murder,
who, in fact, was the same man who was charged and acquitted of Clinton Speedy's
murder in 1994.
MICHELLE STRAEDE, EVELYN GREENUP'S AUNTY: When he was
charged with it, we thought, "Oh, finally. Oh this is good. This is, we're
getting somewhere." We could see light at the end of the tunnel. That something
was going to happen.
ABC NEWS – FEBRUARY 6: On the first day of the trial
the prosecutor revealed two alleged confessions by the accused, the first made
while drinking with members of the Aboriginal community.
DET. INSP. GARY JUBELIN, NSW POLICE: I certainly was
hopeful. I was hopeful that the evidence we had would have been sufficient for a
conviction. But it was one of the most emotion-charged murder trials I have been
involved in. There was a large amount of people sitting in court every day
hanging on ever word that was said.
ABC NEWS – MARCH 3: A man has been acquitted of
killing an Aboriginal girl on the state's mid-north coast 15 years ago.
MICHELLE STRAEDE, EVELYN GREENUP'S AUNTY: And my heart
just fell...to my toes. I was just, I was so devastated. I felt like jumping up
and screaming and swearing and cursing him.
DET. INSP. GARY JUBELIN, NSW POLICE: They obviously
acquitted him because they didn't think there was sufficient evidence to convict
the person. From a personal point of view I found it disappointing, but my
disappointment was only a small portion of what the community felt.
REBECCA STADHAMS, EVELYN GREENUP'S MOTHER: I was
really wild and really angry, you know. I had a water container in my hand and I
just felt like throwing it out the window at him. But...just walked out of the
courtroom just nice and calm, you know, didn't want to make a big scene and
that, there.
DET. INSP. GARY JUBELIN, NSW POLICE: One of the
questions that came out and came out very strongly was where do we go to now?
Are we gonna walk away from this and is it gonna remain unsolved forever? A
person had been charged, two occasions and two acquittals - where do we go now?
DR VIVIENNE TEDESCHI: The way the law is in New South
Wales, that was the end of it, the person's acquitted. There was no point of law
to appeal on and we're left sitting there feeling helpless. We slowly formed a
little group called Ngindajumi, which means 'truth be told'.
PAULA CRAIG, COLLEEN WALKER'S SISTER: The hardest
thing, I think, was that in Evelyn's trial no-one could mention Colleen or
Clinton and let people know that there is a bigger picture to all this, that
there was actually three kids murdered. There was no mention to the jury... I
don't think anybody was allowed to even mention the other two kids.
DR VIVIENNE TEDESCHI IN SYDNEY: Today more than 20
people from Bowraville and surrounding areas on the mid-North Coast have come to
Sydney to have a meeting with Dr Col Gellatly, the head of the Premier's
Department. And we're going to be speaking about current new legislation that
may effect the arrival of justice in our case.
DR VIVIENNE TEDESCHI: What we'd really like to see now
is a change to the so-called double jeopardy principle. Now, this principle up
to now has meant that if a person is acquitted of a major crime they can never
be brought to trial again. A change to this principle would actually mean if
there was fresh, new and compelling evidence that wasn't produced at the
original trial then this person could be brought back to trial.
DET. INSP. GARY JUBELIN, NSW POLICE: If there are any
legislative changes that would impact on the way matters can be investigated I
will certainly explore that. We're currently working on some fresh information
that's only recently come to my attention. From my point of view as the officer
in charge of these investigations, the investigations into the murder of three
children, do I think I know who's committed these murders? Yes, I do.
LEONIE WILMSHURST, CLINTON SPEEDY'S SISTER-IN-LAW: For
me, resolving this issue has become more urgent because my partner, Marbuck, was
diagnosed with a terminal illness in 2004. He was diagnosed with motor neurone
disease. It's very difficult to see someone that you love go downhill like that.
Having a sick husband is what motivates me to campaign more. Realistically, he
may not be alive to see a retrial, if that is what's going to happen. But at
least for him to see that some progress is being made and that we're one step
closer would be really good. Marbuck just felt it's not right, it's not fair and
he always wanted to see justice, you know, for his brother's murder, and it just
felt like it was never going to happen.
REBECCA STADHAMS, EVELYN GREENUP'S MOTHER: Wonder what
she would have looked like today. The only photos we have of her are when she
was four years old. She had brothers and sisters that she'd never even met yet.
The only there's to look at it is her photos. They say, "That's my sister
Evelyn." And I say "Yeah, that's your sister Evelyn. She would have been 20 this
year." Yeah, it did, messed up my life...a lot. I've got other kids with me you
know, they keep me going.
PAULA CRAIG, COLLEEN WALKER'S SISTER: I always thought
that me and Colleen would grow older together. And it's just like there's a
piece of my life's been taken away because we've never had that chance to do
things what sisters do together. I know our lives will never be the same. This
person just took her life and took all of our lives when she went missing, so, I
mean, a bit of us went with her.
DR VIVIENNE TEDESCHI: I've often wondered myself what
me, a white woman, is doing in all of this. And, in fact, it's not about me,
it's never been about me. It's about these black people and their children and
their tragedy. And I'm really peripheral to the whole thing. I'm quite
unimportant. And yet being here, I just want to help. And then when I'm not
needed to help I can step back and just care and be their friend.
LEONIE WILMSHURST, CLINTON SPEEDY'S SISTER-IN-LAW: It
would look funny to some people, saying, "What's these two white ones doing?"
All I can say is that I've lived with Marbuck for nearly 13 years. We've got two
boys. I'm doing it probably for exactly the same reasons is that Vivienne wants
to help, is that we want to see justice and colour shouldn't matter.
LEONIE WILMSHURST, CLINTON SPEEDY'S SISTER-IN-LAW, IN
SYDNEY: We met with Dr Col Gellatly, who is the head of the Premier's
Department, today. I'm really pleased with the outcome of the meeting. Yes, the
double jeopardy law is set to be introduced at the next session of Parliament.
Yeah, I'm very excited about it - if it goes through. I mean, I've been told
that a million times that it's coming, but I think to have someone so high up
actually say it might mean that it's actually going to happen.
DET. INSP. GARY JUBELIN, NSW POLICE: Certainly at this
stage, at this point in time, with the murder of these three children no-one has
been called into account. So I'd have to say, no, justice hasn't been done. But
what I can say and I think this is, if any comfort the community can take and
the relatives can take, they know that people are in there really trying for
them and trying to bring justice to the matter. No, we won't give up. You can't
give up. It's not an option - three kids have been murdered. We've given an
undertaking to the community. We can't give up on this. I sit here very
comfortably sending a message out to the person that's murdered these people
that we will do everything in our power, and I'm talking the whole of the New
South Wales Police, to bring to justice the person that murdered three children.
The pain's still very raw in that community. I think it would be extremely
positive if it was resolved. I think it would bring closure and the community
could move on.
Bowraville's Unfinished Business
Sunday, 17 October, 2010
- SBS
It's been 20 years since three Aboriginal children disappeared from the
NSW town of Bowraville; their unsolved deaths a source of continued anguish
for their extended families.
Watch Online: Bowraville's Unfinished Business
Two of these children, four-year-old Evelyn Greenup and 16-year-old Clinton
Speedy-Duroux, were murdered. Colleen Walker, 16, is still missing, presumed
dead.
Over the years, the grieving families of these three victims have continued
their efforts to have the same man retried for the deaths. They believe the
circumstances surrounding all three deaths should be put before the Court at
the same time.
Now, changes to double jeapardy laws mean the families' hopes may be realise.
They hold hopes the Attorney-General will use his power under new retrial
laws to have the cases reopened.
Video journalist Kodie Bedford spoke with relatives of these lost children
in Bowraville about the pain they still suffer.
UPDATE
The families of the three Bowraville children whose deaths remain
unsolved have called for a parliamentary inquiry after New South Wales
Attorney-General John Hatzistergos rejected their application to pursue a
further trial.
Leonie Duroux, the sister-in-law of murder victim Clinton Speedy-Duroux,
said the families were very upset by the Attorney-General’s decision.
“We’ve got no justice. We kept our silence since the submission [was made].
We have been dignified, done all of the right things hoping the system would
give us a chance. All we wanted was a day in court,” Ms Duroux said.
The families argue the Attorney-General did not fully investigate the
matter.
“During the time the Attorney-General had the submission he didn’t make any
contact with the detective who has been investigating the case [and] no
contact with the witnesses,” she said.
“He didn’t come to Bowraville. For such an important decision he should’ve
visited the place”.
It’s been 20 years since three Aboriginal children disappeared over the
course of 5 months from the northern New South Wales town.
Sixteen year old Clinton Speedy-Duroux and four-year-old Evelyn Greenup were
murdered, their bodies found four kilometres apart in bushland just outside
the community.
Colleen Walker, 16, is still missing and presumed dead after her weighted
down clothes were discovered in the Nambucca River seven months after she
vanished in September 1990.
A Bowraville man was charged over the murders of Clinton and Evelyn but he
was separately tried and acquitted in both cases. No charge has been laid
for Colleen’s death.
The families have continued their efforts to have this same man retried,
believing the circumstances surrounding all three deaths should be put
before the courts at the same time.
In 2006 the State Government modified the double jeopardy law, allowing the
NSW courts to over ride this principle, which says an acquitted man cannot
be tried twice.
High profile law firm Allens Arthur Robinson made a submission to the
Attorney-General on behalf of the families to have the case reopened under
these new laws.
It took eight months for the Attorney-General to reach his decision.
In a statement to Living Black, lawyers acting for the families expressed
their disappointment.
“This was an opportunity for the Attorney to test this important new
legislation and allow a court to assess the significance of the evidence. It
is an opportunity that this Attorney has passed up”, lawyers Oscar Shub and
Brendan Ferguson said via a spokesperson.
The lead detective in the case Detective Inspector Gary Jubelin said he
would be meeting with the families in the near future.
“It is my intention to properly assess the information supplied by the
Attorney-General, then seek advice and see if there is anything further that
can be done to find justice of the families of the three murdered children.”
The Attorney-General released a statement last Friday saying he was
concerned nobody has been brought to justice over these deaths.
“Decisions of this type however must be made objectively and on the basis of
all the available evidence,” Mr Hatzistergos said.
“The Crown Advocate, The Director of Public Prosecutions and Solicitor
General have all considered this matter, and are of the view that there is
no reasonable prospect of success.”
The families of the three victims have said they will not give up but
conceded they are running out of options.
“If there was a change of parliament we could resubmit the submission [to a
new Attorney-General]”, Ms Duroux said.
“We’re not giving up just yet. We’re going to keep on fighting.”
TRANSCRIPT
MICHELLE STADHAMS, EVELYN’S AUNTY: Rebecca had come in and said,
"Evelyn's missing", and I said to her, you know, "What do you mean missing?"
I just started spinning because I just couldn't believe what I was hearing.
KODIE BEDFORD: Michelle Stadhams is reliving the night her niece
Evelyn Greenup disappeared. It's now been 20 years since Evelyn's death, but
the memories are still fresh.
MICHELLE STADHAMS: I had to go around and tell everybody else, you
know, get up looking for her, we can't find her.
KODIE BEDFORD: Evelyn was one of three Aboriginal children to
disappear from the Bowraville mission in northern NSW. All three disappeared
over the course of five months. 16-year-old Colleen Walker was the first to
go missing in September 1990. Her body was never found, but her weighted
down clothes were discovered here in the Nambucca River seven months later.
Four-year-old Evelyn was murdered in October 1990, and in February 1991,
16-year-old Clinton Speedy-Duroux had also been murdered. Both Clinton and
Evelyn's remains were found four kilometres apart in the same tract of
bushland just outside the town. For the families, the pain of losing their
loved ones has been intensified by the fact no one has been convicted over
their deaths.
DIANNE DUROUX, CLINTON’S AUNTY: The pain is still there. You know, I
don't think it will ever go away. You know, to find out, you know, something
like that had happened to him and where they found him and, you know, how he
was found.
MICHELLE STADHAMS: We want justice. We want someone behind bars. We
want to be able to say, "You did this to our girl, you took her away." We
want someone to be accountable for taking her life.
KODIE BEDFORD: For the past 14 years, Detective Inspector Gary Jubelin
has led the police investigation into the deaths. During that time he's
become close to the grieving families.
DETECTIVE INSPECTOR GARY JUBELIN, NSW POLICE: They've taken comfort
from the fact that people do care, and that people are trying to help them
find out what happened to their children and then bring justice.
KODIE BEDFORD: A local Bowraville man was charged over the murders of
Clinton and Evelyn, but he was separately tried and acquitted in both cases.
No charge has yet been laid for Colleen's death. Over the years the families
of the three victims have continued their efforts to have the same man
retried for the deaths, believing that the circumstances surrounding all
three deaths should be put before the court at the same time. And with the
2006 legislation now allowing the NSW courts to override changes to the
double jeopardy principle, which says an acquitted person cannot be tried
twice, they hold hopes that the NSW Attorney-General will use the new
retrial laws to have the cases reopened. Sydney barrister Chris Barry
believes it will be rare that a case is able to meet the strict criteria
necessary for this to happen.
CHRIS BARRY, BARRISTER: For them to do that that they need to satisfy
the court of criminal appeal that there is fresh and compelling evidence
against the particular person and the court of criminal appeal needs to be
satisfied that it's in the interests of justice that the person be retried.
High profile law firm Allens Arthur Robinson has taken up the case on the
families' behalf. In a statement to 'Living Black' they said: "This is a
case that deserves wider attention and our team working on the matter is
very committed to assisting the families in whatever way it can." The matter
was submitted to the NSW Attorney-General eight months ago, and the families
are still waiting on a decision. In the meantime, they are sustained by the
memories of the children they lost.
DIANNE DUROUX: Dancing all the time. He was always doing some Michael
Jackson move. Yeah, dressing the kids up when he used to stay with me.
MICHELLE STADHAMS: The first thing you'd see were her curls and her
blue eyes and her smile. You know, we couldn't protect her in life but we're
going to fight for her and make sure she gets the justice that she deserves.
That's the least we could do for her, you know.
KODIE BEDFORD: It is not known how long it will be until the cases'
future is determined.
Still searching for answers to
suspicious death
25 Jun, 2009 02:39 PM - Tenterfield
Star
Nearly 90 friends and family of former Tenterfield
teenager Clinton Speedy-Duroux gathered in Bowraville
earlier this month for a traditional smoking ceremony
and to pay tribute to his memory 18 years after his
suspicious death.Ronella (Dolly) Jerome said
that the June 7 smoking ceremony marked a time for new
beginnings, reconciliation and healing among the Speedy
and Duroux families as well as in the wider community in
Tenterfield and the Nambucca Valley. She also said that
the family had not given up trying to find answers for
Clinton’s death.
Authorities have been unsuccessful in identifying
Clinton’s killer and his family have been left without
answers since his body was found in bushland outside of
Bowraville in February 1991.
Ms Jerome said the family was still struggling
with coping with the death and would not give up in the
search for justice even if it took another 18 years.
“We still have no one accountable for Clinton’s
death,” Mrs Jerome said.
“The family still feels the pain and they still
feel angry. A lot of us don’t have faith in the legal
system any more. I know I don’t,” she said.
“It hasn’t just affected the Aboriginals. There
are a lot of white people in the community who were
affected by Clinton’s death. This is not just a black
thing, this is an injustice to all Australians.”
Ms Jerome said the smoking ceremony was a way for
the family to let Clinton’s spirit go and try to allow
themselves to heal after 18 years of carrying the grief
of his death.
“Yilaalu,” she said. “We will see you later, by
and by.”
Leonie Duroux, Secretary of the Clinton Speedy-Duroux
Association, said that there was one small glimmer of
hope for the family in reformed double-jeopardy laws.
She said a barrister was currently looking at
Clinton’s case along with the deaths of two Aboriginal
youth in the area in the effort to convict the person
they feel is responsible for the deaths.
“We’re looking at it,” Mrs Duroux said, unwilling
to give any more information that may put the case at
risk.
“Basically, we’ve just got to wait and see what
happens. And unfortunately the family is pretty good at
that.”
The family erected a permanent memorial sign at
the site where his body was found. Mrs Duroux said the
memorial, which depicts Clinton’s face, should serve as
a stark reminder to the perpetrator of this crime and
those who have protected him, that Clinton will never be
forgotten and his family will never give up the fight
for justice.
Justice
sought in Bowraville murders
Belinda Scott | 6th
October 2010 - Coffs Coast Advocate
A FORMER Bowraville resident may become the first person to be
re-charged under changes to double jeopardy law which came into force in
2006.
The matter is currently before the NSW Attorney General John
Hatzistergos.
The man has been acquitted twice on murder charges following the
deaths of three Bowraville children 20 years ago.
“The matter is currently being reviewed and is not yet resolved; as
such, the Attorney General cannot provide any further comment on it,” a
spokesman for Mr Hatzistergos said yesterday.
Colleen Walker, 16, Evelyn Greenup, 4, and Clinton Speedy, 16, were
murdered in late 1990 and early 1991 at Bowraville.
The remains of Clinton Speedy and Evelyn Greenup were later found near
the town.
The clothes last worn by Colleen Walker, weighted down by rocks, were
found in the Nambucca River by a fisherman. Her remains have never been
found.
Despite the efforts of NSW Police homicide detectives from Strike
Force ANCUD, no-one has been convicted of the murders.
The same man was tried for the murder of Clinton Speedy in 1994 and
for the murder of Evelyn Greenup in 2006.
He was acquitted on both occasions but the families of the three
victims have continued their efforts to have him tried again.
In 2006 they campaigned successfully to have the NSW Government to
change the double jeopardy legislation, which prevented anyone from being
tried twice for the same crime.
The changes made four years ago mean that the same person could be
tried again, if fresh and compelling evidence was found against the person
and if in all the circumstances, a re-trial was in the interest of justice.
“We want justice for our kids,” said Evelyn Greenup’s aunt, Michelle
Stradhams.
“Evelyn’s life was taken so early.
“Justice would provide healing for the family and community.”
The new legal push by the three Bowraville families is being assisted
by The Public Interest Law Clearing House, a senior counsel and
international law firm Allens Arthur Robinson, working on a pro bono basis.
“This is a case that deserves wider attention,” said spokesman for
Allens Arthur Robinson, Chris Fogerty.
“Our team working on this matter is very committed to assisting the
families in whatever way it can.”
