Convicted family killer Sef Gonzales to ‘clear his name’ on 20th anniversary of murders
Sef Gonzales is in jail for killing his family. Now he says he was set-up, as his legal team has never-heard-before forensic evidence. HEAR HIM SPEAK
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After exhausting almost all legal avenues to be exonerated, convicted family killer Sef Gonzales is requesting a fourth inquiry into his conviction at the NSW Supreme Court.
Gonzales, who was just 23 when found guilty of the horrific murders of his parents and teenage sister, claims he has fresh evidence that will finally clear his name.
It took him almost 20 years to collate it, he says, due to the debilitating PTSD he suffers after finding the bodies of his father Teddy, 46, mother, Loiva, 43, and sister, Clodine, 18.
“That’s one of the reasons why it’s taken me so long to go through the evidence and find proof of my innocence is because for many years I couldn’t even pick up the brief and read the pages without throwing up, or having a bad panic attack episode,” Gonzales said in an exclusive prison interview.
According to Gonzales, and a number of lawyers who have been working behind the scenes for more than a decade, his conviction could be overturned by never-heard-before forensic evidence.
As of this week, former Supreme Court judge Hon Greg James AM QC, has joined the cause.
Gonzales’ was sentenced to life without the possibility of release for the 2001 murders.
An appeal was dismissed in 2007, and he has since made three unsuccessful applications for an inquiry into his convictions.
“It’s the evidence that no one knows about. It’s the evidence that the jury never heard about. And that’s where the injustice is because the jury never heard about it,” Gonzales said.
He said he will challenge his conviction on two major forensic premises.
The first is the blue paint which prosecutors successfully argued was found on Gonzales’ jumper sleeve and matched blue paint used by the killer at the crime scene.
When police discovered the slain Gonzales family in their North Ryde home on 10 July, 2001, the perpetrator had graffitied a message on the wall: “F**K OFF ASIANS KKK”, it read.
During his trial, prosecutors tendered a pathology report stating paint found on Gonzales’ jumper sleeve matched the graffiti paint.
However, Gonzales alleges police withheld two additional expert reports, from different pathologists, who both found the blue paint on his jumper could not be matched to the graffiti paint.
These allegedly hidden reports could potentially debunk a key piece of Crown evidence which police used to tie him to the murders.
The second major forensic challenge Gonzales will raise is that his father’s time of death was incorrectly calculated.
During his trial, the Crown argued Teddy died at 6.45pm. This time of death was ascertained by a forensic pathologist who measured Teddy’s body temperature the morning after the murders.
The cooler the body: the longer the person was deceased.
Gonzales argues the pathologist made a mistake in his calculations, and in fact, if the science is correctly applied, shows that Teddy died after 8pm.
This is significant because from 8pm on the night of the murders Gonzales has an airtight alibi: he was at dinner in the city with close family friend, Sam Dacillo.
In a multi-pronged attack, Gonzales has recently lodged submissions with the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission of NSW, alleging his conviction was secured through police misconduct, including tampering with evidence, and an inquiry with the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) alleging mishandling of his trial.
Mr Gonzales has engaged Sydney’s leading criminal lawyer Simon Joyner to assist his case. Mr Joyner said recently, “we anticipate filing a s 78 application shortly in the Supreme Court which involves grounds focusing on forensic evidence and its correct use. Importantly, that evidence we say is compelling. Mr Gonzales has also asked me to retain Mr Greg James QC, to advocate the grounds from him”.
While a convicted person can make unlimited applications for inquiries into their convictions, a judge can refuse to review their application if the matter has already been dealt with.
Gonzales most recent application was dismissed earlier this year.
LISTEN TO SEF GONZALES’ PRISON TAPE BELOW:
A Department of Communities and Justice spokesperson said: “Applications for post-appeal review of this sort are uncommon in NSW, and are only granted if it appears that there is a doubt or question as to the person’s guilt, any mitigating circumstances relevant to their sentence or any part of the evidence in their case.”
SEF GONZALES’ PRISON TAPES
There’s two Sef Gonzales’ in this story.
One, is the Sef Gonzales, as Australia knows him. A baby-faced killer who, at just 20, enacted one of the grisliest murders in recent history, bloodily wiping out his entire family in a plot to secure his inheritance.
And, then there’s Sef Gonzales, the victim. A man now in his 40s, who has spent almost all of his adult life in jail, wrongly convicted, after losing his entire family in a horrific triple homicide.
In his first ever prison interview since being sentenced to three life terms for the 2001 murders of his parents, Teddy and Mary, and teenage sister, Clodine, Gonzales explains the case from his perspective and provides a rare glimpse into his life in prison.
THE ‘REAL’ KILLER
Gonzales puts forward an ‘alternate hypothesis’ that his family were likely murdered by a prominent Filipino businessman, now deceased.
Gonzales submits his family immigrated to Australia as political refugees from the Philippines and that in the months before their murders his parents had received threats.
During his trial, it was revealed Gonzales gave police an email he purportedly received stating a wealthy Filipino businessman was responsible for the murders and that he should lie low and search through his father’s business records.
Police later ascertained Gonzales had fabricated the email.
“You got to remember, 20 years ago, I was a kid who found my family murdered, right?,” Gonzales said from prison.
“Now that’s got to be put into that context. So if, if I had to repeat everything, again, I probably would have done exactly the same thing.
“What happened was the police were questioning me about my dad’s associates and any suspicions I may have had. And because of what I’d seen, what I was going through, I was uncomfortable attributing what I knew from me.
“So I didn’t want to say that this information came from me. So what I did foolishly as a kid, I typed up what I knew from what my father had told me. And I reported it to be from an anonymous email source, and I printed it.
“Now, when that all came out in the trial, obviously I was ridiculed about it because this businessman was called to give evidence and this businessman obviously denied any link to my father, and the Crown ridiculed the whole thing … there is actually a clear link between my father and this businessman, not just in the 80s. But in the months leading up to the murders, so this businessmen that denied any link to my father lied to the jury.”
THE FAKE ALIBIS
During the police investigation Gonzales changed his alibi.
At first, he told police at the time of the murders he was driving to a friend’s house but was unable to locate it. When confronted with his aunt’s testimony she had seen his car at the house carport at the time of the murders, Gonzales admitted he’d lied.
He told police at the time of the murders he had parked his car at home, then caught a cab to a brothel. During trial, the cab driver and the prostitute Gonzales claimed to be with said they were not with him at the time.
Gonzales puts this down to improper police intervention.
“Both people gave evidence that they did remember being with me at that particular time. It was only when they were shown records, that they weren’t there at that time, that they changed the statements,” Gonzales said.
“On the [brothel] records, it shows very clearly that [the prostitute] was working. Her name was listed then at the time that I said, I was at the place. But her name had been crossed out.
“The same thing happened to the cab driver. He gave a statement, making it clear that he did pick me up at the relevant time. Now, when he gave evidence, exactly the same thing happened, he was shown records to indicate that he wasn’t there at the particular time. Now, the reason that’s false is because his wife worked at North Ryde, and he usually picked up his wife around that time. So he was in the area at the time.
“Now what are the odds of all the hundreds of cab drivers in Sydney, for me to have picked the right cab driver whose wife happens to work in the area at the time. So it means that the records, which show that he wasn’t in the area were false, because his wife worked in North Ryde and, he usually picks her up around the same time. Right. So he was in the area. What are the odds of those things happening?”
FORGIVENESS
Since being convicted of the murders, everyone from Gonzales’ former life turned their backs on him – except a good friend of his mother. The woman, who asked not to be named, continues to stand by him to this day. When asked how he felt about his entire extended family disowning him Gonzales said: “Well, initially, obviously, you know, that was very hurtful. But, as you get more mature, and you understand that they base it on what they knew at the time. And all this material that you’ve seen now, they never got to see that material. So I think, you know, they’re very intelligent people. I think that once they see all the facts, all the stuff that they missed, I’m fairly confident that they’ll probably see it in a different light.”
FOOLISH AND DUMB
“I look back at how I was 20 years ago. I’ll say myself that I was I was a foolish dumb kid, we did a lot of silly things. That’s not to make any excuses. That’s just the fact,” Gonzales said.
“But it comes down to this: when someone goes through a tragedy like that, what’s the textbook way for someone to react? And even looking back now, I don’t think I would have done anything differently. Because of my age and what I went through.
“Understandably, some of the things that I did may have made me look irrational. But again, I look back at them and think:how would someone react in that situation? What’s the rational way for someone to react when they go through something like that?
“And so I guess I could say, I forgive my young self for whatever I did in the in the past, because … what’s the right way for someone to act in that situation? But no matter what I did, it doesn’t excuse what happened afterwards. It doesn’t excuse you know, the evidence that proves that the police tampered with evidence and all the other things that went wrong after that. That doesn’t excuse any of that.”
THE ANNIVERSARY
When asked how he planned the mark the 20th anniversary of the murders, Gonzales said:
“Me, I’m not big on dates and anniversaries and stuff like that.
I’ve got this view that people shouldn’t act differently just because it’s a different day or a significant day. I honour my family every day, by simply getting up every day, putting one foot in front of the other and not giving up.
“Because at the end of the day, if I gave up, then I think that would disappoint them. And so by simply not giving up, I think I’m honouring them every day just by doing that.”
THE ANNIVERSARY
“I think we’ve reached a point where, I wouldn’t say I have healed from it, because you never heal from something like that. You just getting better at dealing with it,” Gonzales said.
“I still deal with my PTSD every day, but it’s something I deal with quite well. There’s no point constantly dwelling on the past because it just wears you down. But unfortunately, in my case, in order to clear my name, I have no choice but to go through the material and go through the evidence”.
When asked how his PTSD manifests, Gonzales replied:
“I used to get heart palpitations and I’ve tried different medication and different methods of dealing with it. The only thing that seems to work for me is I just do strenuous exercise, I use as much adrenaline as I can during the day, and then when it does hit me. You know, it’s not as bad … different things triggered me about it. You know, I mean, I could be watching a comedy show with a family, and then something will remind me and it’ll trigger it for me.”
LIFE IN JAIL
Gonzales has spent almost the entirety of his adult life in maximum security prison, with no release date in sight unless the proves he has been wrongfully convicted. Like most inmates, he has a prison job.
“I’m a hygiene worker and I also work in the library. That keeps me busy. And on top of that, I don’t do anything special. Training wise I just keep myself healthy.
“I know that this is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. And this could potentially take a very long time for me to clear my name. So being physically healthy is a part of it. But yeah, nothing, nothing really special to report there. I just … I go out of my way to keep my day as simple as possible. And it gets me through and I just stick to a routine every day.”
High profile prisoners are often targeted by other inmates but Gonzales says he hasn’t had much grief.
“I’m pretty safe. Over the years, you deal with certain things, but that’s prison, you know, you just have to get on with it.
“I’ve been quite fortunate. I’ve been around some good people and fair officers, I could say. So, I’ve been I’ve been quite fortunate in that regard. You know most inmates and most officers have treated me quite fairly. I haven’t had really any complaints to say about any of them. So in that regard I’ve been pretty blessed.”
WHAT NEXT
And if he does exonerate himself and get out of jail … how will he live his life?
“As best as I can, I guess. Like I said, I don’t think I’ll do much different, you know, I’ll be keeping things simple. That works for me. It’s worked for me for the last 10-15 years … I’ll try to live the best simple life that I can live in whichever form that takes.”
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