Children of SA murder victim Yasmin Sinodinos break silence, ask public to help solve cold case
EXCLUSIVE: They thought a trial would end the mystery that haunts their lives — instead, the children of murder victim Yasmin Sinodinos have been left with more questions.
THEY had hoped a trial would end the mystery that haunts their lives — instead, the children of murder victim Yasmin Sinodinos are left with only more questions.
In their first-ever in-depth interview, Phillip Stephens and Stacey Sinodinos yesterday appealed for the public’s help in solving the 22-year-old murder of their mother.
Mr Stephens, 31, and Ms Sinodinos, 29, spoke to The Advertiser as they struggled to come to terms with the acquittal of the man who police had charged with their mother’s murder.
Last month, a Supreme Court jury found Timo Hekki Pasanen not guilty of the crime — yesterday, the siblings said that verdict had been shattering.
“We’d wanted answers, and for this (mystery) to go away,” Ms Sinodinos said.
“I was seven when mum died and it’s been hard, really hard ... I’ve had to grow up by myself, really.”
In December 1991, passers-by found the brutally beaten body of Yasmin — a mother of three who was battling drug addiction — dumped in an area of scrub at Tea Tree Gully.
After her mother’s death, Ms Sinodinos lived in a series of foster homes and care arrangements.
“Mum was really kind ... I would come home from school and she would have always made something for me out of nothing,” she said.
“She once painted my bedroom floor blue so it could be a swimming pool, because I’d wanted one and we couldn’t afford it. She was really artistic and just fantastic at drawing.”
She her brother for the first time when she was 16. He had been adopted as a baby, and only came to know of his birth parentage when he turned 18.
“(The Department of) Human Services rang me up and said ‘your family member is trying to find you’ and I asked if it was my Mum,” he said.
“They said she was deceased and the next thing they told me about was the murder.”
With the support of his sister and adoptive parents, Mr Stephens came to know his mother through the mementos she left behind.
“When I went to see Human Services, they gave me a box of poetry and drawings she had made,” he said.
“She was really good at poetry ... I keep all of her work at my house.”
At trial, prosecutors said Yasmin was last seen alive by friends and police officers before she was so severely beaten that her body contained just 20ml of blood at the post-mortem examination.
Her friends rejected suggestions she had been murdered over a drug debt, while forensic experts said she had potentially lethal levels of drugs in her system.
Prosecutors said three male DNA profiles were found on her body — one of which matched Mr Pasanen.
Mr Pasanen took the stand in his own defence and admitted having “hooked up” with Yasmin, but denied any wrongdoing.
After 4½ hours deliberation, a jury of eight men and four women found Mr Pasanen not guilty.
Yesterday, Ms Sinodinos said she had started to fear an acquittal while listening to the closing addresses in the case.
“I kind of knew what the verdict was going to be, but I was still shattered,” she said.
She said she felt the justice system was heavily weighted in favour of alleged offenders.
“I feel like people charged with crimes have more protection, under the law, than victims of crime do,” she said.
Mr Stephens said too much emphasis was placed on his mother’s personal problems during the trial.
“The mentions of her addiction were a bit exaggerated ... it was really only the last six months to a year of her life that she started taking drugs and her problems snowballed,” he said.
He said the trial had left “so many things” unresolved.
“We got a bit of info about mum, but we still don’t know all the details of her final 24 to 48 hours,” he said.
“We wanted closure and we just didn’t get any ... there can’t be an appeal and we can’t (go further) unless new evidence comes up — that’s the only way.
“We are just hoping that someone will come forward and fill in those last bits and pieces.”
Mr Stephens said he and his sister felt emotionally raw following the trial.
“Before the trial it wasn’t too bad but when the police charged him (Mr Pasanen), life became about ringing each other and other people all week, putting scenarios together,” he said.
“That was the worst bit — not knowing anything (about how she died) and putting scenarios together before we heard things in court.”
Ms Sinodinos said the trial had “dragged everything up again”, and she could not make peace with the mystery.
“I’m still holding out hope that, one day, it will be solved,” she said.
“It took 20 years to bring it to trial, so there has to be some kind of hope.”
Anyone with information about Yasmin Sinodinos’ murder is asked to call CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.