Bowraville case: man to appear in court over deaths of Indigenous children
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Version 0 of 1. A man has been ordered to appear in court over the deaths of two Indigenous children in Bowraville, New South Wales. The man was issued with a court attendance notice on Thursday morning, and is expected to appear in the court of criminal appeal in February. Three Indigenous children – Clinton Speedy-Duroux, 16, Evelyn Greenup, 4, and Colleen Walker-Craig, 16 – went missing from Bowraville on the state’s mid-north coast in a five-month period in 1990 and 1991. The bodies of Clinton and Evelyn were found in bushland on the outskirts of the small town. Colleen’s body was never found, but her clothes were located in the Nambucca River, weighed down with rocks. The man has been issued a court attendance notice in relation to the deaths of Clinton and Evelyn. Fairfax has reported the process will see an ex-officio indictment issued over Colleen’s death. No one has ever been charged over her death. All three were last seen after parties in Bowraville, and all were staying on the same road when they disappeared. NSW police commissioner Andrew Scipione visited the town in August to apologise for police’s handling of the deaths. Police treated the reports as missing person investigations, devoted meagre resources to them, and delayed searches during crucial early periods. Families were told the victims may have gone “walkabout”. A man had previously been found not guilty of the murders of Clinton and Evelyn. Their families have since pushed for the cases to be heard again, and, with the help of Greens MP David Shoebridge, pressured the NSW government to act. NSW’s double jeopardy laws were changed in 2006 to allow a person to be re-tried if new and compelling evidence emerged. The NSW government has rejected three applications for a re-trial over the deaths, but earlier this year, attorney-general Gabrielle Upton asked the Court of Criminal Appeal to consider a retrial, following an application to her from NSW police. “After careful consideration, I have decided that there should be no further delay in bringing this matter to court,” Upton said at the time. “The best and most transparent way to deal with this tragic case is to make an application for retrial to the NSW court of criminal appeal.” Prosecutors will need to prove they have fresh and compelling evidence in order for any retrial to take place. |