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

  1. Contact Crime Stoppers or your local Police Station.
  2. Identify yourself and indicate you have information about a crime and that you wish to claim a reward.
  3. 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.”