WHERE IS THE CASE OF THE BOWRAVILLE KIDS UP TO NOW? OUT the back of a cluster of Aboriginal homes collectively known as the mission in Bowraville, northern NSW, is the concrete gravestone of a four-year-old girl. The monument has a cross and a plaque with a little picture of herself and a rose, says Michelle Jarrett, whose niece, Evelyn Greenup, is buried beneath. Last Saturday, Evelyns family gathered at the graveside to mark the 24th anniversary of her disappearance, to pretty it up and that, and remember her, Jarrett says. After more than two decades marked by what one detective calls bigotry, overt racism, no one has been found responsible. Today, extraordinarily, senior police openly criticise the state government for failing to prosecute a serial killer they believe is on the loose. A NSW parliamentary inquiry into the murders is due to report in next few weeks. Go back 24 years. After Evelyns distraught mother Rebecca spends the day searching for her daughter, who has vanished from the room where they were sleeping, Jarrett reports her nieces disappearance at the nearby Macksville police station. There was one copper on duty, she says. He said to me Im just about to go home. On hearing a four-year-old is missing, Jarrett says he told her: What do you want me to do about it? and, while he does drive up to Bowraville to look around, he doesnt speak to Evelyns mother that night. The policeman is white. Evelyns family believe his reaction would have been different if they had been white too. When her skeletal remains are found, Evelyns skull is broken. The little girl is the second of three Aboriginal children from the mission to go missing over five months between 1990 and 1991. A month earlier, 16-year-old Colleen Walker disappears. Four months later, so does Clinton Speedy-Duroux, 16. The three children live in the same street. Two weeks later, Clintons body is found and, two months after that, Colleens clothes are fished out of a nearby river. Ten more days and Evelyns remains are found, with her tiny fractured skull. Clintons skull carries a similar wound. The police effort remains unconvincing. A detective sergeant with no experience of homicide is put in charge of what is now potentially the investigation of a serial killer. He initially wonders whether their own families played a role in the three childrens deaths. Bowraville in 1990 is a town where the cinema still has separate doors for white people and black people. The distrust is mutual. Jasmin Speedy, Clintons cousin, is five years old at the time. I remember being at my grand-mothers house and seeing every-one upset. From a young girl to now that still lives with me ... the hurt. Twenty-four years on, the families now nervously await the findings of the parliamentary inquiry. All we want is to have our day of justice. We still have to go to court and he has to be judged innocent or guilty ... that man needs to be judged, Jarrett says. That man used to live in Bowraville, but left town after the murders and has since changed his name. He used to bring grog and yarni - marijuana - to parties in the mission. He has been judged, twice, over the murders of Evelyn and Clinton and found not guilty. He is also white. Detective Inspector Gary Jubelin must be nervous before giving evidence to the NSW Parliaments Standing Committee on Law and Justice. Sitting alone on a single black chair against a white brick wall, he must know he is likely to upset people in high places. As a detective leading NSW polices re-investigation of the childrens deaths since 1996, he says: I have encountered ... bigotry, overt racism, and some of it very subtle. I am a homicide detective; I am not a do-gooder or a bleeding heart. However, race and to a lesser degree socio-economic factors have impacted on the manner in which these matters have been investigated. For their inquiry into the murders, the seven committee members have travelled up from Sydney to hear evidence inside Macksvilles council chambers on the afternoon of May 1 this year. They have been given very tight terms of reference - to report on the family response to the murders in Bowraville - leaving them technically unable to reinvestigate the murders, review the court decisions or examine the case for the prosecution. At least one member of the committee chafes publicly at this frustration. Jubelin, a white buzz-cut city detective, delivers an extraordinary opening speech. The families have been let down by the justice system, he says, and few of those involved escape his ire. The original police investigation was poorly led, given few resources and missed opportunities, he says. During the second police investigation, new evidence emerged: Evelyns grandmother describes seeing that man outside the room where Evelyn was sleeping. Later, from inside the room, she hears screaming, a thud, then silence. Other witnesses from around the time Clinton disappears describe seeing a white man standing over the prone body of a young Aboriginal male lying on the road. But a judge has ruled each murder trial be held in isolation, so evidence of the similarities between the cases cannot be heard. That man faces court and is found not guilty, twice. Later, NSW Police petition the state director of public prosecutions to take the cases back to court. Lawyers for the families petition two successive NSW attorneys-general to do the same. Each of the three declines. Jubelin chooses his words carefully describing the various lawyers involved. I think the lack of consultation that has been had with police in regard to the assessment of this material is somewhat disgraceful. I will always defer to an informed legal person. Unfortunately, to be an informed legal person you have to be informed, he says. The current NSW government also faces criticism over its evidence to the inquiry, which says the decision not to take the murders back to court was correct, although it acknowledges this devastated the families involved. It is factually wrong in some of the content of the submission, Jubelin says. I think it highlights what the families have been saying to me that people do not care. You could be forgiven for thinking the detective is a loose cannon. Except, in a show of support, his boss, Homicide Squad commander Mick Willing, personally accompanies Jubelin to give evidence. Jubelins written submission to the inquiry is signed by Andrew Scipione, Commissioner of the NSW Police. Once, serving a brief before the trial for Evelyns killing, Jubelin came eye to eye with his chief suspect. I represent the NSW Police Force. We believe we know who is responsible for the serial killing of three children but that person has not been brought to justice, he tells the inquiry. We already have the evidence available to convict this person in court. Since their children died in Bowraville, the families have fought a long campaign for justice, by which they mean a single trial of that man for the murders of all three kids. One of the figureheads is Leonie Duroux, whose late partner was Clintons brother. Duroux never met Clinton herself but still helps drive the campaign forward, demonstrating how the deaths have consumed the community ever since. A high point comes in 2006, when the campaign helps convince the NSW parliament to rewrite the double jeopardy laws that prevent a person being tried for the same crime twice. A low point comes during an April 2013 meeting Duroux attends with the then state attorney-general, Greg Smith SC, in the soaring Governor Macquarie Tower in Sydney. According to two of Clintons relatives in attendance, the meeting starts badly when Smith mistakes Clintons father Thomas for someone else. For a prosecution to be launched under the new double jeopardy laws, Smith explains, there has to be evidence that is both fresh and compelling. The NSW director of public prosecutions, the inquiry hears, previously found the new evidence gathered by the police re-investigation to be fresh but not compelling; Smith now says this evidence is compelling, but not fresh. During the April 2013 meeting, the attorney-general declines to take the cases back to court. According to two of those present, he suggests the families walk away. Smith today says he cant remember the specific words and it was (said) out of sympathy because I could see no other likely change to the events. The campaign regathers. In May, the day after Jubelin gives evidence, the parliamentary inquiry holds closed sessions to hear from relatives of the three children. Before going in, I said to everyone Make them cry, we need to make them feel something, Duroux says. It works. One of the last to give evidence, Duroux is herself in tears. Looking at the committee members, she can see they are visibly upset too. For those now waiting on the inquirys report, the hope is that it might offer some apology or recognition that these murders have not been handled well. There is hope it may recommend support for the traumatised community in Bowraville. Some hope it may recommend legislative change to affect any future review of whether the murders go back to court. Even if it does all these things, it could still be years before the families receive what they see as justice. Any recommendation made by the inquiry has to be first endorsed by parliament. The court system itself is slow. There was another anniversary of a childs death last month in Bowraville, and a funeral held the same day. Colleens aunt was buried on September 13, the date her niece disappeared 24 years before. Tradition dictates that those who knew her do not use her name, but describe her as someone who lived to see justice for the three children. Other family members have also died. As Aboriginal people, they know they have, on average, shorter lives. All this is unfair on the children who live in and around Bowraville today, Duroux says. They have to carry this legacy. They will have to carry on this fight if we dont get justice now. Timeline of a terrible legacy October 4, 1990 Evelyn Greenup, 4, disappears from the bedroom she is sleeping in with her mother February 1, 1991 Clinton Speedy-Duroux, 16, disappears from a caravan on the edge of town February 18, 1991 Clintons body found in bushland outside town April 17, 1991 Colleens clothes found, weighed down by rocks, in the Nambucca River outside Bowraville April 27, 1991 Evelyns remains found in bushland outside town April 8, 1991 A 28-year-old man charged with Clintons murder October 16, 1991 The man is charged with Evelyns murder. A judge rules the trials must be held separately February 18, 1994 The man is found not guilty of Clintons murder. Prosecutors decide not to pursue the case relating to Evelyns killing December 1996 NSW Police establish a new strike force to reinvestigate the three murders May 25, 1999 state prosecutor declines a request from NSW Police to take the man back to court over Evelyns murder September 10, 2004 After an inquest, NSW coroner finds Colleen was murdered and there is a reasonable prospect a known person could be convicted of Evelyns murder February 7, 2006 The man is found not guilty of Evelyns murder after a trial December 2006 The double jeopardy laws, preventing a person being tried twice for the same offence, are overturned following a campaign by the Bowraville families June 4, 2007 State prosecutor finds there is not fresh and compelling evidence to support a NSW Police request for retrial October 22, 2010 NSW attorney-general John Hatzistergos declines to apply for retrial February 8, 2013 NSW attorney-general Greg Smith declines to apply for a retrial November 26, 2013 NSW parliamentary inquiry into the murders is announced fkj ray jackson president indigenous social justice association prix des droits de lhomme de la republique fraincaise 2013 (french human rights medal 2013) 1303/200 pitt street, waterloo. 2017 [email protected] 61 2 9318 0947 0450 651 063
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 07:10:10 +0000