‘I haven’t murdered her or anything’: Allison Bernard Inquest hears caretaker Thomas Byrnes’ first words to police

One of the first things Archer River Quarry caretaker Thomas Byrnes did when police arrived at the quarry to investigate the disappearance of a young woman in 2013 was to protest his innocence, an inquest has heard.

ONE of the first things Archer River Quarry caretaker Thomas Byrnes did when police arrived at the quarry to investigate the disappearance of a young woman in 2013 was to protest his innocence, an inquest has heard.

Giving evidence at the coronial inquest into the February 2013 disappearance of Kowanyama mother-of-two Allison Neridine Bernard, former officer in charge of Coen Police Station Matthew Moloney said when he first arrived at the quarry, Mr Byrnes was “quite defensive” and “agitated”.

The inquest heard one of the first things Mr Byrnes said to then-Sergeant Moloney was: “I haven’t done anything with her. I haven’t murdered her or anything else”.

The court previously heard Mr Byrnes was the last person to see Ms Bernard alive at the Quarry on the night of February 10, 2013.

No trace of her has ever been found and no one has been charged over her disappearance.

Mr Moloney said he obtained a version of events without giving Mr Byrnes his rights and cautions because what most concerned him at that early stage was finding Ms Bernard.

He said that by deciding not to warn Mr Byrnes, it gave him a version of events “so we had something to go on”.

Thomas Byrnes leaves the Cairns courthouse precinct after day three of an inquest into the disappearance of Kowanyama mother Allison Neridine Bernard in December 2021. Mr Byrnes was the last person to see Ms Bernard alive when she disappeared from the Archer River Quarry in February 2013.

But Mr Byrnes’ behaviour piqued his suspicions, the inquest heard.

“It just seemed unlikely … one of the things was that it seemed unlikely a girl would just run away in the middle of the night with just a towel around her. It’s not impossible. But likely?” Mr Malone explained.

After those first conversations with Mr Byrnes and then speaking to Weipa CIB over the phone, the inquest heard Mr Moloney gave Mr Byrnes his rights and cautions.

He declared a crime scene at 5.55pm on February 13.

Counsel assisting the coroner Molly Mahlouzarides asked Mr Moloney whether the place where Mr Byrnes usually resided – The Bend – was ever considered a potential crime scene or secondary crime scene in the matter.

“Not really, because it just was so geographically, the places were so far away. And although there’s always potential for people to travel late at night – there wasn’t much evidence of it,” he said.

Mr Moloney said he did not take part in the extensive land search of the area surrounding the quarry over the next week and a half because he was back at the Coen station handling logistics and inquiries and assisting specialist organisations, as well as dealing with the usual calls for service.

He described it as the most intense 12 days of his 29-year policing career.

Later in the inquest, Mr Moloney was questioned about investigations he undertook in December 2014 into mine shafts near The Bend after receiving information from the owners of the property.

He dug in one shaft to a point where he was satisfied nothing was buried there.

An inquest into the disappearance of Kowanyama mother of two Allison Bernard is under way in the Cairns Coroners Court.

He crawled into another natural cave which he described as a “kill cave”, and was filled with the bones of dead animals, most of which were old.

“I didn’t see any immediate signs of what looked like obvious disturbance,” he said.

After spending several hours in the witness box, Mr Moloney directly addressed Ms Bernard’s family.

“We did the best we could and we’re sorry we didn’t find (Ms Bernard),” he said.

“I worked so hard, and I’m a father and I’ve lived up the Cape a long time, we did what we could with the resources we had.

“If we lived in Brisbane you know, we’d get, there would have been more than that. But that’s a geography thing.

“Let’s talk about the elephant here. If I thought that any cop acted racist or that police weren’t doing their job because they looked down on Indigenous people I’d be telling the court. You’d know. It would have been articulated.”

The inquest also heard from Sergeant Andrew Ibell, who led the intensive 12-day air and land search for Ms Bernard in 2013.

Sgt Ibell told the inquest he believed that if Ms Bernard was on the quarry in 2013, the search teams would have found her.

He said that in the circumstances reported by Mr Byrnes, it was unlikely Ms Bernard would have left the quarry building or ventured very far from it.

“I believe that if she was seeking shelter or she was under threat of violence or whatever, she may have gone from the immediate quarry buildings but remained in the area. She’d only have had to go 50 to 100m and be in the dark, out of sight of Mr Byrnes.

“In the 30 years I’ve been doing land search, for someone to walk off of their own free will in those circumstances is very unusual.”

Mr Byrnes is due to be called to give evidence to the inquest on Friday.

Originally published as ‘I haven’t murdered her or anything’: Allison Bernard Inquest hears caretaker Thomas Byrnes’ first words to police