Police fighting to keep Whiskey Au Go Go evidence secret

For 48 years the state has waited for the truth on the Whiskey Au Go Go mass killing. Now Queensland Police want to keep shock evidence from one of its top investigators secret.

Police are fighting to keep secret explosive allegations levelled by a top cold case investigator during her testimony at the inquest into the deadly Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub inferno that claimed 15 lives.

The stunning evidence delivered by Detective Sergeant Virginia Gray about the modern-day probe into the 1973 tragedy has sent shockwaves through the upper echelons of the Queensland Police Service.

But Queenslanders are being kept in the dark about the details of her testimony after the coroner granted a request by the police commissioner’s barrister to suppress Det Sgt Gray’s evidence.

The Courier-Mail and The Australian newspapers on Friday launched court action to have the non-publication order lifted, arguing it went against the principles of open justice and had been made with “insufficient grounds”.

The families of the 15 victims of the Whiskey Au Go Go inferno have waited 48 years for answers about the circumstances surrounding the horror attack on March 8, 1973 when the packed nightclub was firebombed.

FILE PIC – Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub in Amelia Street Fortitude Valley where two 4 gallon drums of super petrol were placed to set fire to the premises 08 Mar 1973.

The reopened inquest is seeking to scrutinise the adequacy of the police investigation at the time and whether more people than the two men convicted of the murder were involved.

Barrister Hamish Clift, who represented the newspapers, said it appeared the suppression order had been made to save the police involved from “embarrassment” or “reputational harm”.

“The principles of open justice prevail over those sorts of considerations in my submission,” Mr Clift argued.

“The same thing could be said of many criminal investigations leading to a trial and the evidence given at a trial and indeed many civil allegations where the evidence could be embarrassing or harmful to reputation which may be unfair to a party if they’re aired in open court but that does not usurp those principles of open justice.”

Vincent O'Dempsey is driven into the police watchhouse.

Then-Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath ordered the inquest to be reopened in 2017 after Justice Peter Applegarth sentenced Vincent O’Dempsey to life in jail for the infamous McCulkin murders, and said there was “evidence in that form” he was involved in the Whiskey inferno.

Defence barrister Chris Minnery, who is representing O’Dempsey, joined with the newspapers’ application, saying the inquest had already levelled serious allegations at other people but suppressions had not been put in place for them.

“It is also potentially the case that quite a lot of people, including my client, have had some quite awful allegations levelled at them,” Mr Minnery said.

“My client’s legally represented, I’m here, but there are other people who have had allegations thrown at them who are not represented, it’s quite a long list and the allegations are quite terrible.

“I submit the principles of open justice very much support the lifting of that order and support the lifting of that order so that at least there can be open and transparent consideration of all allegations.”

Vincent O'Dempsey's barrister Chris Minnery. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Coroner Terry Ryan on Friday said he was leaning towards lifting the order but adjourned the case until 1pm to allow the three parties named by Det Sgt Gray time to seek legal advice.

“I should indicate that I am inclined to at this point revoke the order subject to argument on behalf of those affected by it consistent with the case law in relation to open justice,” Mr Ryan said.

Barrister Stephen Zillman appeared after the break representing one of the parties and asked for the case to be adjourned to next week to allow him time to time to take instructions.

Barrister Janice Crawford appeared for a second one of the parties identified in Det Sgt Gray’s evidence and asked the court to delay the application to lift the non-publication order until the end of the inquest.

The Courier-Mail understands that could be as late as December with a second two-week sitting of the inquest likely to take place then. The coroner could then take months more to deliver his findings.

Mr Ryan said adjourning until December or later was an “unsatisfactory” option but agreed to Mr Zillman’s requests to have the case put off until mid-next week.

The original inquest into the Whiskey Au Go Go attack began the day of the deadly fire in 1973 but it was abandoned three days later when James Finch and John Stuart were arrested and charged with murder.

Detective Sergeant Virginia Gray leaves Brisbane Coroner's Court. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Months later they were found guilty of the horror petrolbombing at a Supreme Court trial.

Allegations have been levelled over recent decades claiming more people may have been involved in the planning and execution of the attack but no one else has ever been charged.

The reopened coronial investigation is probing whether more people were involved in the mass murder.

It will also examine the adequacy of the investigations carried out into the causes of and parties responsible for the fire and the deaths, immediately after and over the years that followed.