Gary Phillips, father of seven-year-old Shaun who was murdered by Riley brothers, dies and is finally at peace

Thirty-three years ago, his seven-year-old son was murdered in one of SA’s most shocking crimes. Gary Phillips never gave up his quest to keep the killers in jail. But finally, he’s at peace.

For the past 33 years, Gary Phillips lived with a broken heart.

The doting father never recovered from losing his seven-year-old son Shaun, who was murdered in one of South Australia’s most shocking crimes.

Each and every day he grieved for his son. He never accepted the brutal and callous circumstances in which Shaun was taken from him. It deeply troubled him until the day he died.

“Gary could never accept what happened to Shaun,’’ his older sister Marea said.

“He never accepted that something like that could happen to any child, let alone his own son.

“He just never got over losing Shaun, it broke his heart and his spirit. I think he just wanted to go in the end.’’

Gary Phillips, the father of murder victim Shaun, in 1996.

Shaun Phillips was killed in 1988 by the Riley brothers.

Mr Phillips, 69, suffered a fatal heart attack late last month. He was found at his Cowandilla home by his former wife Sue when he failed to call her – as he has done every Sunday without fail since they separated just before Shaun was abducted and murdered by brothers Jim and Kevin Riley.

Shaun Phillips was abducted as he rode his tricycle adjacent his Cowandilla home in March 1988. A police search found his body in the driveway of a nearby home hours later.

The Supreme Court heard Kevin Riley, aged 27 at the time, had then watched as Jim Riley, 28, tried to rape Shaun, held his head under water, dropped him on the ground three times, hit him on the head with a tomahawk and strangled him with a bicycle tube.

Kevin Riley had then raped Shaun. The court heard both men suffered intellectual disabilities but had still been “cunning enough’’ to clean up Kevin Riley’s flat before dumping Shaun’s body in a neighbour’s driveway.

Gary Phillips with his son Shaun, forever seven. Mr Phillips has died 33 years after his son was murdered.

Marea Phillips, 71, said she had witnessed the heavy toll losing Shaun had taken on her brother over the past three decades.

“He just lost the will to live. I think he only kept going because of us,’’ she said.

“The only thing that got him through was the fact we were here and his absolute love of music.

“His home is filled with records, CDs, DVDs and songs he has written. He loved the blues and rock ‘n’ roll.’’

Ms Phillips said Gary’s emotional distress became more evident when Kevin Riley first applied for parole in 2003 and again last August when he made a second attempt, which was also refused.

Shaun Phillips was murdered in 1988.

“It is the law so he, and we, just had to deal with it,’’ Ms Phillips said.

“He never accepted what happened to Shaun and he didn’t want either of them ever released from prison. We talked about it a lot. It started with anger and would end in tears.’’

Ms Phillips said her family would never give up fighting to keep the Riley brothers in prison and she hoped the public would assist them whenever any future parole applications were made.

“I have been fighting since the first application and I will never stop fighting,’’ she said.

“My sons Shane, Scott and Daniel, who are absolutely broken, will also keep fighting because Shaun was like their brother.

“This has to be kept in people’s minds because I am so scared that if it gets forgotten by the public that makes it easier for the Parole Board to let him out.

“Gary didn’t want any fuss over himself. He wanted people to keep thinking about what happened to Shaun.’’

Kevin Riley, right, with a fellow prisoner dressed as drag queen for a fundraising event at Port Lincoln Prison in 2006.

Murderer and sex offender Kevin Riley in handcuffs in 1989.

Ms Phillips said in recent years Gary had become withdrawn and only left his home to buy groceries and to visit Sue at her Willaston home.

In August last year, Mr Phillips told The Advertiser he rarely ventured out in his local area because he found it distressing when he bumped into “Shaun’s old mates’’.

“I couldn’t handle seeing children that Shaun grew up with as adults. I would freak out,’’ he said.

“Shaun would be 40 now and would probably have his own children. I always think of that, always.’’

In that interview, when Kevin Riley applied for parole a second time, Mr Phillips said he believed the Riley brothers “hid’’ behind their lack of mental intelligence as a defence to their heinous actions.

“They knew what they were doing,’’ he said. “Jim Riley took Shaun back to Kevin’s flat. Kevin could have said ‘no’. Kevin said he had nothing to do with what Jim did.

“He didn’t try to stop him, though. When asked by the police if he had sex with Shaun, Kevin said ‘yes’, but he was already dead.

“This is the person we want walking free around Adelaide? No. Let him rot in prison.’’

Gary Phillips with a memorial plaque and swimming trophy in memory of his son at Cowandilla Primary School in 1988.

From the outset, Mr Phillips was steadfast in his belief the Riley brothers should never be released from prison.

When the pair were sentenced to life and given non-parole periods of 28 and 24 years, he was angered.

Fighting back tears in front of the Supreme Court, he said “it was now obvious’’ to him a life sentence meant nothing.

“A life sentence should be for life. People who commit these crimes should never be released,’’ he said. “I feel like I have been let down.’’

In 1995, the Riley brothers faced internal prison sanctions after pictures of pre-pubescent children bathing and exercising ripped from magazines in Yatala Labour Prison’s education unit were found in their cells.

In 2006, Kevin Riley was involved in the “jailhouse rock” fiasco at Port Lincoln Prison, where inmates were allowed to dress up in drag for a party – with photos of the activity distressing victims of crime.