Attorney-General reopens investigation into death of Antonio ‘Burra’ Saliba

A fresh investigation into the death of a Qld gambling house manager, previously dismissed as a fatal horseriding accident but believed by his family to be murder, has been ordered by the Attorney-General.

A Saliba family photo featuring Antonio 'Burra' Saliba and a young Danny Meares. Antonio was found dead in June 1983. Photo: Supplied by family

A new investigation into the gruesome death of a Queensland father, who ran a billiards room and allegedly paid off corrupt police for about 20 years, has been ordered by the Attorney-General.

It follows a relentless search for answers from his remaining family members who have always believed his death, ruled as non-suspicious at the time, was in fact, murder.

Antonio Saliba, known as “Burra”, was 45 when he was found dead at his hobby farm at Cameron’s Pocket, near Calen, in June 1983.

His battered body was put down by authorities as being the result of a horseriding incident.

Nephew and well-known restaurateur Danny Meares, currently living in North Queensland, has been pushing for answers, and told this publication he received a call from Attorney-General Deb Frecklington earlier this month announcing the investigation into his uncle’s death had been reopened.

“It was emotional. It’s been a long time,” Mr Meares, 70, said.

“I hope that we finally get closure and justice. We’ve been burdened with this for 40 years.”

Mr Meares said he had been 29 and living and working in the restaurant industry in Sydney when he learned of his uncle’s death.

“My mother rang me to tell me what happened,” he said, adding he had been told the injuries to his uncle were “terrible”.

“The body was all bashed … his head was smashed to pieces.”

A photo of Antonio 'Burra' Saliba before his death at Cameron's Pocket in June 1983. The Attorney-General has ordered a new investigation into the cold case. Photo: Supplied by family

Mr Meares said rumours that Burra had been murdered began circulating “pretty much straight away”.

Burra had been born in Mackay after his father, also Antonio Saliba, immigrated to the region from Malta and started a cane farm, Mr Meares said.

At the time of his death Mr Meares said Burra had been running a gambling house, with billiards at the front and gambling at the back.

A newspaper article about the death, published in the mid 1990s, reported that the Fitzgerald Inquiry had heard that for about 20 years Burra “had been paying protection money so that police would turn a blind eye to his gambling and prostitution involvement”.

It also stated two witnesses had claimed two assailants may have beaten him to death with a hammer.

Mr Meares recalled his mother telling him she received a phone call the night he died where the unknown caller asked if she had a brother named Burra.

Danny Meares has been pushing for answers into his uncle's death. Photo: Supplied by Danny Meares

He said the caller then said, “well you don’t have anymore, we just found him dead”.

Mr Meares said some family members had tried to make inquiries over the years, but it never got very far.

They also took to social media in their search for answers and Mr Meares said he had received a lot of feedback including from someone who claimed to have overheard a conversation where it was said Burra had been murdered.

Mr Meares reached out to Ms Frecklington’s office with all this new information, as well as the article by Stephen Lamble.

On May 2 Ms Frecklington wrote to Mr Meares that she would “exercise my discretion under the (Coroner’s) Act to direct the State Coroner to arrange for an investigation to be held into Antonio’s death”.

“Your correspondence to me outlined alternate sources of evidence regarding your uncle’s death that otherwise have not been considered by the (coronial) records,” Ms Frecklington said in her letter.

Attorney-General Deb Frecklington has directed the State Coroner to open a new investigation into Mr Saliba’s death. Picture: Dan Peled / NewsWire

Mr Meares said after learning this news the first thing he did was reach out to his uncle’s surviving two brothers Alfred and Peter Saliba.

He said he and the family believed there were people still alive who knew the truth about what happened to his uncle.

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Minister for Integrity Deb Frecklington told this publication, “My thoughts are with Antonio’s family, who have shared with me the grief and unanswered questions they have faced over the past 40 years”.

“I believe the information they have provided to me raises sufficient questions and concerns about the death of Mr Saliba and I have therefore directed a coronial investigation be undertaken,” she said.

She has handed the cold case over to the State Coroner, who will investigate.

Mackay MP Nigel Dalton, who has also been speaking with Mr Meares, said it had been “identified that there needed to be further investigation into the incident”.

“We’re very pleased that justice may be on the horizon,” Mr Dalton said.

“I know the victim’s brothers are now in their 80s and no one could really imagine how they’ve been feeling over the past 40 years, having the death of a brother (where it) hasn’t been identified as to how that person died.

“I am hoping that we come to an outcome.”

Originally published as Attorney-General reopens investigation into death of Antonio ‘Burra’ Saliba