Grandparents of two children slain during 2016 Hillier triple murder ask court to lift secrecy orders ahead of report into Families SA

The grandparents of the Hillier triple murder victims have asked a court to lift the case’s last secrecy order before a report into Families SA’s role in the tragedy is released.

Janet Wells and Steven Egberts outside court.

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The grandparents of the Hillier triple murder victims have asked a court to lift the case’s last secrecy order before a report into Families SA’s role in the tragedy is released.

On Wednesday, Steven Egberts and Janet Wells urged the Supreme Court to allow full disclosure of the events leading up to the May 2016 tragedy.

Mr Egberts said Ombudsman Wayne Lines had investigated the child protection agency’s handling of his grandchildren, Amber Rose Rigney and Korey Lee Mitchell.

He said that report was “about to be released”, but warned it would not tell “the full story” unless the court lifted the final suppression order on the case.

“We’ve always been misrepresented in this situation — we never asked for a suppression order, and we have never agreed with the suppression order,” he said.

“Unfortunately, this matter has become bigger than our story and we feel it all needs to come out.

“The public needs to be aware of the implications for children in care and under investigation … we’ve already waited three years, and that’s three years too long.”

Korey Lee Mitchell, Adeline Yvette Wilson-Rigney and Amber Rose Rigney.

Amber, Korey and their mother Adeline Yvette Wilson-Rigney were murdered by Steve Graham Peet, 33, at Hillier — he is serving a minimum 36-year prison term.

During his prosecution, the court heard the children and their mother had been in contact with Families SA workers in the months before their deaths.

Two workers visited the house on the morning of the murders, but left after receiving no answer to their knock on the door — Peet was inside at the time.

On Wednesday, Mr Egberts said it was important that the ombudsman’s report “represented the whole story”, and that could not happen so long as the suppression remained in force.

“We just want to make sure everything about this story comes out,” he said.

“(The suppression) has a huge relevance in terms of what happened to the children, in terms of Families SA and the Education Department.

“We have a huge obligation to these children … we fight every day to make sure justice is done for them.”

Prosecutors told the court they sympathised with the family’s position but said it was “difficult to see the public interest” in lifting the order at this time.

They said the children’s maternal grandparents — including Ms Rigney-Wilson’s mother, Donna — felt the suppression “should remain in place”.

Peet, who was present via video link, said he had no position on whether or not the suppression should be lifted.

Justice Malcolm Blue said he would be assisted by expert reports on the issue, and adjourned the hearing until May in order to obtain that material.

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