CCTV rollout at Jack Evans Boat Harbour, Tweed, after tragic track record
Safety measures will be bolstered at a parkland popular with families on the Qld-NSW border after three bodies were found in recent years. Here’s what’s happening.
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CCTV cameras at a Tweed parkland and harbour popular with families have been installed to improve safety after three bodies were found in recent years.
The remote cameras were installed at Jack Evans Boat Harbour by Tweed Shire Council earlier this month to combat ongoing concerns around safety at the site.
NSW Government spokesperson Emily Suvaal said the community was concerned about rising crime rates in the area and the bolstered visibility would “help our ongoing efforts to keep our community safe” and to “prevent further crime and anti-social behaviour”.
A number of tragedies have occurred at the harbour in recent years, situated between Duranbah and Fingal beaches.
Kevin James Pettiford, 38, was found guilty after he bashed homeless man Andrew Whyte Murray to death with stones as he lay in his sleeping bag at the harbour in 2019.
He was sentenced earlier this year at the NSW Supreme Court to a total of 39 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 26 years.
Earlier this year, a NSW State Coroners Court inquest heard about the tragic 2018 death of a baby girl who was found washed up on a Gold Coast beach after being thrown into the harbour by her homeless and psychotic dad “because she was evil”.
In October the body of a man in his 60s was pulled from the harbour by police divers after a suspected drowning. The death was not treated as suspicious.
The harbour cameras are among the five new remote CCTV cameras installed to improve security across the Tweed.
Tweed Mayor Chris Cherry said with improved safety measures, the harbour was on a fast-track to becoming “the jewel in the crown of Tweed”.
The harbour was recently subject to a multimillion-dollar upgrade on behalf of council.
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