A 15-year-old Catholic schoolgirl found bludgeoned to death in her own bed.

Man whose name linked to Annette Mason murder says he’s a victim | The Courier-Mail

No one has been charged over the violent and senseless 1989 murder of Annette Mason in her Toowoomba home, but now, for the first time in almost 30 years, her heartbroken family say they are daring to hope their decades-long wait for justice may soon be over, thanks to a dramatic inquest in the Queensland Coroners Court which began this month.

Linda Mason has never given up the pursuit of justice for her “sweet and shy” little sister and said she was “quietly confident” the inquest would lead to charges being laid over her death.

“It’s been such a long time since we’ve had any hope and we were at the point where we’d really lost faith in humanity and felt nothing was ever going to happen,” Ms Mason said.

“It’s been like living in purgatory for 30 years, not knowing why or who or how.

“It’s like this big whodunit, but the inquest is helping us find out the ‘who’ and then hopefully, we’ll get the answers to why. Mum and dad aren’t doing very well with their health and it would just be so cruel for them to go without knowing what happened.”

Annette’s family sat through every day of the dramatic three-week inquest that included a convicted killer offering to take a lie-detector test, a witness charged with contempt for refusing to speak, allegations of murder confessions and death threats, and scores of people who, after remaining silent for 30 years fearing for their lives, finally breaking their silence on one of the state’s biggest murder mysteries.

Annette was last seen at 3.30am on November 19, 1989 when she was dropped home in a taxi after a night out with friends.

More than 60 witnesses have been called as lawyers painstakingly have tried to piece together what happened to Annette in the 10 hours and 30 minutes between 3.30am when she arrived home safely and 2pm the next day when she was found beaten to death in her bed.

Witnesses have identified a number of potential suspects, including notorious jailhouse killer Allan McQueen, an armed robber dubbed “The General” of the infamous Angry Gang, and who was sentenced to life in prison 24 years ago for savagely bludgeoning an inmate to death with gym weights.

Both police and civilian witnesses claim they heard McQueen confess to Annette’s killing, once at a party while playing cards and drinking with friends, and again while locked up in the Toowoomba watch-house.

While McQueen exercised his right under the old Coronial Act not to answer questions, he explosively broke protocol by directly addressing Annette’s family in court, telling them he was willing to take a lie-detector test to clear his name.

Other witnesses have pointed the finger at Michael Laine who, in a heated courtroom exchange, was accused by the Mason family’s barrister of lying about Annette’s death to avoid being jailed as a “child killer”.

Laine launched a scathing attack on witnesses who connected him to Annette, saying they were a “bunch of imbeciles” trying to get a cash reward and that he had been “tormented” for decades over the allegations.

“Mr Laine, you say for the last 30 years that you’ve been putting up with bulls—t , (but) can I suggest to you, that for the last 30 years, Annette’s family has been putting up with your bulls — t, your lies. Have you got anything to say about that?” barrister Clem van der Weegen asked him.

Annette, a bright student at Toowoomba’s St Ursula’s College, had just taken her first steps into adulthood after finishing school the month before her death. She intended to take a short break from school and had moved into a share house with friends and started working at a local supermarket.

Shine Lawyers’ National Special Counsel of Social Justice, Leanne McDonald, represents the Mason family and said as a girl growing up in Toowoomba, she remembered Annette’s murder as though it was yesterday.

“It was a time that Toowoomba lost its innocence. Back then, it was really just a country town,” she said.

“As kids, you had the freedom to go out and play and come back for dinner time, and I felt that changed when Annette died.

“There was that loss of innocence, and parents would hang on to their kids a bit tighter and the rules started to come in because everyone was so shocked that this could happen to a little girl in our community.”

The inquest will resume in late January for more witnesses to give evidence and Ms McDonald pleaded with anyone who had information about Annette’s death to come forward.

“It’s not too late for people to get in touch, and we’ve already had quite a few witnesses come forward which has been a very big and brave step for them,” she said.

“This family, they’re just incredible, sitting in that inquest and hearing things that you should never have to hear about a daughter or a sister, and yet they went every day to try and find answers. They deserve every answer that we can get for them.”

If you have information about Annette’s death, call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.