Courtney Anderson’s family reveal documents they provided Attorney-General
Courtney Anderson’s father has revealed the documents the family hand-delivered the Attorney-General before her call for an inquest into his daughter’s tragic death.
Police & Courts
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Courtney Anderson’s own diary entries are among the documents her grieving family used to support their successful bid for an inquest into her tragic death.
Courtney suffered “catastrophic injuries” when the 28-year-old exited the moving Toyota Hilux her partner Ashley John Campbell was driving about 5.15pm on April 1, 2024 on the Bruce Highway at Bajool near Rockhampton.
On October 11 the Central Coroner concluded she took her own life.
It’s a finding her Gladstone family never accepted.
Her father Don Anderson said they had located considerable material to back their campaign and late last week Attorney-General Deb Frecklington directed the Coroners Court of Queensland to hold an inquest.
“It means everything,” Don said of the decision.
“I get excited that it’s happening, but then I get down that we still lost our daughter.”
He said their ‘Justice for Courtney’ campaign had snowballed this year and gained exposure through social media platforms, podcasts and media outlets.
“We’ve got lots more information, we’ve had so much come in,” he said.
“We’ve used Courtney’s own diaries and stuff that we’ve made available to us and that we’ve found in a room and we’ve rung people and people have rung us and we’ve got stories and then we have found so much more evidence.
“That’s why we’re now at an inquest. We’ve dug and dug and dug.
“That’s why we were petitioning Deb Frecklington... (People) did a lot of digging for us, gave us a lot of exposure to get the message out and then people were ringing and giving us their stories.”
He said Courtney had lived in Logan, the Sunshine Coast and Gladstone over a 10 year period and most of the information from people had come from these areas.
“It was just a matter of gathering all the information,” he said.
“You know, we were talking about this the other day. We were fighting to get everybody to listen to us and with what’s happened with the inquest, I said to Kristy (Courtney’s stepmother Kristy Ibbotson) the other day, ‘I don’t have to fight for the fight (anymore), that’s been done for us’.
“Now we’re in the fight. The fight to get justice for Courtney, we were fighting to get to that fight for 10 months.
“We have constantly been sending out letters to ministers and police commissioners and the coroner and for a long time got nothing back or what looked like generic letters.
“So we were fighting to get people to listen to us and with the amount of information that we’ve got and then with a bit of exposure with the media.
“But at the end of the day we’ve got enough people, enough petitions, enough evidence and enough of the right people to listen to us, to what happened, for an inquest to be ordered.”
Don never doubted they would be successful in being granted an inquest.
Don said he did not believe his daughter was suicidal.
He looks back on his last moments with her two days before her death.
“Courtney came and saw me on the Friday and we talked about her car, she showed me her car, we sat in her car, she showed me over the vehicle,” Don said.
“She was so excited about her new job and the possibilities that it had for her to move forward on her own.”
He said they had received a letter from the coroner on Monday confirming the inquest and that the coroner’s office would now be spending a few months to gather evidence for the inquest.
Don said new information was still coming in to the family this week.
“Another person has come forward and given us information. I know we can’t go into specifics but it just keeps coming,“ he said.
The Attorney-General said in a statement on June 9 that she made the decision following a meeting with family members last month and being provided with new information.
“After considering the concerns raised by Courtney’s family, I believe it is in the public interest to hold an inquest into her death,” she said.
“Courtney was very much loved and I hope by providing this direction, I can save her family from further heartbreak and help them to get the answers they need.”
The timing of the inquest will be determined by the court.
A Queensland Police Service spokesman in January said no criminal charges had been laid and the investigation had been finalised.
No charges arose when the matter was referred to the coroner.
Courtney’s partner, Ashley John Campbell, who was in the car with her was accused of being under the influence the same day as her death, police have alleged.
His plea is not confirmed.
The 36-year-old attended court with “a camping knife” when he appearing on the UIL matter in March, according to court staff.
He was charged with one count of possessing a knife in a public place but his plea is not known.
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