A SELECT group of politicians has given their clearest indication to date that they won’t rest until justice is delivered to families affected by the Bowraville serial-killings after they congregated in Tenterfield.
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Members of the NSW Parliamentary Law and Justice Committee David Shoebridge, David Clarke and Scot MacDonald met with bereaved family members last week.
No one has ever been convicted for the murders of Tenterfield’s Clinton Speedy-Duroux and Colleen Walker-Craig and Evelyn Greenup, in the early 1990s, despite police and legal experts alleging they know who is accountable.
Mr MacDonald said the committee were acutely aware of the travel constraints for some of the family and felt it important to make it to Tenterfield to update families on the case.
“We’re very conscious that some family couldn’t make it to Sydney or Bowraville for prior meetings and we know you want to know where we go from here,” he said.
Mr Clarke, chair of the committee, said when he took on the role he was sceptical of attaining a proper outcome but has since tweaked that sentiment.
“I’m glad we pushed this – we feel like part of the family, all of us and we want to keep this going.
“You have to know that we’ll continue to pursue this as if Clinton was one of our own sons,” Mr Clarke said.
From the meeting it was agreed that police would be contacted to significantly increase the reward for information that may lead to an arrest.
Mr Clarke said from his understanding the reward hadn’t changed in the 24 years since the three children were killed.
The committee handed down report findings in November last year which made 15 recommendations.
They included proposals to change the Crime Act, support for a retrial undertaken by an independent assessor and a recommendation that police review how they deal with Aboriginal people.
“We need to fix police training and understanding – we need culture change,” Mr Shoebridge said.
The Greens MLC said a recent case hit close to home and highlighted how far society is from removing racial prejudice.
“A little girl from my daughter’s school went missing at Bondi Junction – within 36 hours 3000 people were out looking for her,” he said.
In the initial Bowraville investigation parents of the missing children were rebuffed and told they’d likely just “gone walkabout”.
“We want the guilty to be brought to justice so we aren’t passing this to the next generation,” Clinton’s aunt, Dolly Jerome said.
“We have a strong belief in karma and we need a guarantee from the Australian Government that someone will go to jail.
“This has been a miscarriage of justice – we are never ever going to give up,” Dolly said.
Mr Shoebridge said the government are required to respond to the committee’s findings within six months.
“If it’s not happening in May I’ll be asking why it isn’t happening in May,” he said.
A memorial to commemorate Clinton will be constructed in Millbrook Park after council signed off on the project.
