Coroner makes treacherous trek to scene of missing man Shane Tapp’s apparent drowning

One of the officers who investigated the disappearance of a Katherine dad told the coronial inquest how she was ‘terrified’ when she went to where it is believed he fell into the river and drowned.

The Territory Coroner has traversed the treacherous path down to the banks of the Katherine River to the site where police say Shane Tapp fell into the water and drowned.

Elisabeth Armitage is probing Mr Tapp’s mysterious disappearance during the Easter long weekend in April 2021 before his body was found floating in the river eight days later.

On Wednesday, NT Police Constable Kylie Dutton showed Ms Armitage the overgrown path down to the edge of the river where officers found Mr Tapp’s belongings, including a machete and more than $25,000 in cash.

In her evidence, Constable Dutton said the overgrowth was even thicker on the day she first attended the scene, close to the end of that year’s wet season.

“We didn’t take a machete, (but) we had to pull (the foliage) apart to make our way through at some places,” she said.

She said Mr Tapp’s partner Staceyanne Coull had called police to the scene after noticing a discarded pill bottle outside the home they shared next to the river.

“She directed us through that greenery to the top of the hill where we started down today and down towards the bottom there was an orange pill bottle,” she said.

“She was too scared to go down because it was quite steep.

“Then a couple of metres away from that we located an unopened hypodermic needle pack with two needles in the pack.”

Constable Dutton said it was after she called in a forensic team to assist with the search that officers found a machete and head torch Mr Tapp had purchased the day before he disappeared as well as bag full of cash.

As she was peering into the water near a slide mark where police believe Mr Tapp entered the water, Constable Dutton said she too nearly plunged into the river.

Territory Coroner Elisabeth Armitage inspects the path down to the Katherine River where police believe Shane Tapp entered the water and drowned. Picture: Jason Walls

“I was standing on the side of the bank and lent over the water and just the extra weight on my front leg, I slipped,” she said.

“I was standing next to a tree and was able to grab onto one of the roots.”

Constable Dutton said she was “terrified that I would actually fall in because I didn’t know how I was going to get out” as her feet dangled in the water.

“Someone went to help me and they also slid and landed on top of me and the only way we could be brought back up was with someone else with a very long tree branch had to pull us up one at a time,” she said.

Reflecting on the morning’s 130m trek, Ms Armitage said it was “not an easy walk” that would have been harder on the day due to the additional greenery.

“And of course, it would have been substantially more challenging to try and traverse that track at night time,” she said.

“So it doesn’t suggest that someone’s just gone for a wander, it seems like it’s a very deliberate action, for whatever reason, to go from the house down to the riverbank.”

The inquest continues.

Landlord links man’s mysterious death to ‘Katherine underworld’: Court

The former landlord of a man who died in mysterious circumstances in 2021 has told a court she was concerned he was mixed up in the Katherine “underworld” after observing him dealing drugs from the property.

In giving evidence at an inquest into the death of Shane Tapp on Tuesday, Natina Demetriou said she had agreed to lease out a donga on her Gorge Rd property shortly before his body was found floating in the Katherine River.

Ms Demetriou said she knew Mr Tapp had “been in trouble with the police” and “had difficulties with drugs” at the time but she and her husband “decided to give him a chance to stabilise his life”.

But she said Mr Tapp became “very angry” after the couple allowed his partner Staceyanne Coull to sign the lease without him.

“We thought we were renting it to both of them but he hadn’t turned up so we allowed Stacey to sign the lease,” she said.

Ms Demetriou said the tenant/landlord relationship continued to deteriorate after she observed “a lot of people coming and going” from the donga, who she believed “were people dealing drugs”.

“It was quite a few cars coming and going and they’re not sitting around having drinks, that’s the point, they’re not people coming and sitting and having a barbecue,” she said.

Counsel assisting the Coroner Michael McCarthy speaks with family members of Shane Tapp outside the Katherine Local Court on Tuesday. Picture: Jason Walls

Counsel assisting Michael McCarthy said the inquest had received evidence that some of Mr Tapp’s friends had visited the property at about 10.30pm the night after he was last seen alive and were “banging on the windows” of the donga, but Ms Demetriou said she heard nothing.

“I have dogs, there’s no way, those dogs would have woken us, so I would find it very hard to believe there were people there, we would have known,” she said.

When Mr McCarthy asked Ms Demetriou for her thoughts on the police’s theory that Mr Tapp simply fell into the river and drowned, she said “it wouldn’t make any sense why he would go down to the river at the end of the wet season when it’s all overgrown”.

“The reason for going down there would be very confusing, unless he had agreed to meet somebody down there,” she said.

“Always it was my concern around the drugs, what was happening with the drugs, and I had always felt that it was related somehow with the more underworld sort of stuff of Katherine.”

Coroner probes man’s possible drug theft related murder

The Territory Coroner will investigate whether a man whose body was found floating in the Katherine River was murdered after telling a friend he was in “strife” and that “something was going to happen in the next couple of days”.

Shane Tapp, 43, was found dead by a fisherman on April 12, 2021, eight days after his partner Staceyanne Coull reported him missing.

On Tuesday, counsel assisting the Coroner, Michael McCarthy, said police had concluded that while “foul play cannot conclusively be ruled out”, there was “no evidence to support the involvement of another party”.

“Based on my review of the file, I do not think the position is so clear,” he said.

Shane Tapp's sister Danielle Black outside the Katherine Local Court on Tuesday. Picture: Jason Walls

Mr McCarthy said on the morning Mr Tapp went missing, he had purchased a machete, a camouflage balaclava and shirt and a head torch, which were later found next to the river near his house.

“One interpretation might be that Mr Tapp may have been planning for a confrontation or an act of violence,” he said.

Mr McCarthy said later that night, Mr Tapp had been crying when he told a close friend he was “in big trouble” and asked him to come and pick him up on Gorge Road.

“The evidence before the Coroner is that Mr Tapp was a formidable man who would not call for assistance lightly,” he said.

Shane Tapp's mother, Shing Tapp and stepfather Terry Black arrive on day one of the inquest. Picture: Jason Walls

Mr McCarthy said Mr Tapp had been addicted to methamphetamine for much of his life and had admitted to having earned “a significant income” from the trade but was a “strong swimmer”, making drowning an unlikely cause of death.

“No significant quantity of drugs were located on Mr Tapp’s person or at his residence,” he said.

“It is possible that Mr Tapp’s stash of drugs was stolen by an assailant.”

Mr McCarthy said Mr Tapp’s family believed he “did not die as a result of misadventure, but was murdered” and the inquest would examine the issues they had raised.

“Since Mr Tapp’s death, a number of persons have opened up in relation to things that they have seen and heard that may shed a light on the cause of Mr Tapp’s death,” he said.

“In previous inquests, it has been found that at times, the NT Police have been too quick to arrive at a case theory and as a result, have failed to conduct an adequate investigation.

“This inquest will examine whether the NT Police brought an open mind to the investigation and took adequate steps to investigate Mr Tapp’s death.”

The inquiry continues.

Originally published as Coroner makes treacherous trek to scene of missing man Shane Tapp’s apparent drowning