Annette Mason murder: Family still hope for answers 27 years later

NEARLY three decades after Annette Mason was found brutally murdered, those close to the Queensland schoolgirl believe they have a real chance at seeing her killer brought to justice.

• Last chance to see justice done

THE funeral was a blur; hazy images of crying schoolgirls, the soaring ceilings of a massive cathedral.

People crowded inside and out, spilling onto the lawn. They’d given her something to help her sleep but shock and loss had left Linda Mason exhausted.

That’s all she remembers of the day they buried her little sister. Almost nothing. Just the size of the church, the size of the crowd.

For years she couldn’t even grieve. If someone mentioned Annette, she would leave the room. She watched her parents struggle to cope. She remembers the day they found out, the day her 15-year-old sister was found dead in her bed, beaten with a plank of wood.

Linda had broken the news to their mother. A phone call that she’d made in tears. Judith hadn’t believed her.

That was in 1989. Police had suspects almost immediately. A witness had seen a girl matching Annette’s description being chased by a man outside the share house where she’d been living. The Mason family knew the police had things in hand.

But it’s only now — 27 years later with the announcement a second inquest will be held into Annette Mason’s death — that those close to the murdered schoolgirl believe they have a real chance at seeing her killer brought to justice.

JUDY Mason was worried sick when she moved from Toowoomba to take up a new job on the Gold Coast.

She had left behind her daughter Annette — a 15-year-old girl who had recently left school and was working on the check-outs at the local supermarket.

The decision to allow her daughter to stay behind was not an easy one. In an interview in 1990, Mrs Mason said she “was pacing the floor with worry”.

“It was something she really wanted to do,” she said.

Annette Mason. “I wanted her to come with me but I could see it would be hard for her.”

“She was a shy girl and she had just managed to make some new friends and didn’t want to leave them.

“I wanted her to come with me but I could see it would be hard for her.”

Mrs Mason helped her daughter move into a share house with friends before she took off for the Gold Coast.

Arrangements were made for Annette to move to the Coast at Christmas time and she was to call her mother every night.

But one night that call was never made.

It was on the Sunday afternoon of November 19, 1989 that Annette’s 16-year-old flatmate made a chilling discovery.

Lying face down on the teen’s bed was the concealed body of a badly beaten Annette.

The discovery rocked the Toowoomba community and sparked a massive manhunt as police tried to catch her killer.

DESPITE hoping for a quick and easy arrest, the police probe into Annette Mason’s death proved to be riddled with challenges.

Detectives started their investigation by retracing Annette’s movements on the night of her death.

The teen had started her night at an engagement party at the Laurel Bank Park Hall before she moved to two other parties.

It’s believed she then caught a cab and returned to her Anzac Avenue home about 3.30am.

Detectives also tracked the movements of a man who they thought could assist with their investigation.

It’s understood he had called into a nearby home on Gatfield Street about 3.30am before he was allegedly seen again on Anzac Avenue a short time later.

At the time, police alleged that same man was seen with a woman who matched Annette’s description at the intersection of Anzac Avenue and James Street about 4.15am.

She was later seen running from the man on James Street before witnesses saw the pair outside a shop on the corner of Anzac Avenue and Glenvale Rd.

A map of these movements was released to the public in an effort to jog the memories of potential witnesses.

“All information will be treated in the strictest confidence,” Detective Senior Constable Kieran Murphy said in an appeal for assistance in May, 1990.

Annette Mason.

Sgt Brian Tighe investigating murder of Annette Mason in 1989.

“Despite an intensive door knock of the area and other investigations, we still feel there are people who we have not heard from, especially people who live in the area or were passing through in the early hours of the fatal morning who may have seen Annette with a male, or the male by himself.”

Brisbane homicide detectives also joined the investigation and helped interview at least 600 witnesses.

An autopsy report would later reveal Annette had suffered massive head injuries after she was bashed across the face with a blunt object — possibly a piece of wood.

Detectives also confirmed at the time that it appeared no one had forced their way into the home.

Despite the extensive efforts of the police probe, detectives repeatedly fell flat and a report was prepared for the Coroner.

By November 1991, police had eliminated 13 suspects. The Coronial Inquiry also proved fruitless with an open finding.

LINDA Mason broke down in tears of relief when she was told there would be a second inquest into her sister’s death.

In an unexpected meeting with Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath in November last year, Linda was given the unbelievable news she had fought tirelessly for.

“I just started crying, I just couldn’t believe it,” she said.

“I told her [thank you] … and I hugged her.

“I think she did the right thing and I know deep in her heart she knows she did the right thing.

“Everyone’s just super wrapped that we finally got the inquest.”

Ms D’Ath would later tell the media it was it was “in interests of justice that the inquest be reopened”.

“I met with the Mason family in relation to this case earlier this year, and since that time my Department has been in regular contact with them,” she said.

“I would again urge anyone with information in relation to Annette’s death to contact police, whose investigation is ongoing.”

It has been a long and difficult journey for the Masons and Linda admits she has been the target of threats while fighting for her sister.

“I have had threats,” she said.

“I don’t want to go into too many details because I try not to let it bother me.

“I’ve been put in some precarious situations along the way but we do what we do to get justice.”

Over the years new witnesses have come forward. Improvements in forensic technology have also led to the discovery of new evidence.

Linda says she is 99 per cent confident that something will come out of this looming coronial inquiry.

“Even if they can just name someone — even if they are never convicted — for us it would still be some sort of closure after 27 years of nothing,” she said.

Anyone with information who can help solve this crime can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.