Disturbing details emerge during inquest into death of teen girls

Disturbing details have emerged during an inquest into the deaths of two teenage girls in a remote outback town. WARNING: Distressing

WARNING: Distressing details. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains images and names of people who have died.

Racial bias meant the death of two Indigenous teenage girls more than 36 years ago was never properly investigated, with horrific details of how one of their bodies was interfered with by a drunk predator on a stretch of isolated road now revealed.

Wangkumara girl Jacinta ‘Cindy’ Rose Smith, 15, and her Murrawarri and Kunja cousin Mona-Lisa Smith, 16, were killed on impact in a car crash on the Mitchell Highway at Enngonia, outside Bourke, New South Wales, in December 1987.

A coroner found an intoxicated white man sexually molested the 15-year-old girl as she lay dead after a horror Outback crash.

On Tuesday, state coroner Teresa O’Sullivan handed down her findings in the Bourke courthouse, the same place where the man accused of killing the girls was first acquitted in 1990.

Cindy Smith was killed in December 1987. Picture: Supplied

Now, over three decades later, it has been found that Alexander Ian Grant, then aged 40, had engaged in “predatory and disgraceful conduct” with Cindy after she had died.

The coroner also found that Grant had previously roamed around the area looking for young Indigenous girls, with the intention of plying them with alcohol and sexually assaulting them.

He died in 2017 without ever having spent a day in jail for his crimes.

“Horrifyingly, the evidence indicates he sexually interfered with Cindy after she had passed,” the coroner said, according to The Australian.

“I am satisfied there was some sort of sexual interference of Cindy by touching Cindy’s breast or genital area after she had passed.”

Ms O’Sullivan further concluded that Grant had lied to police when he stated he was not the one driving his Toyota HiLux ute when it crashed.

She also found that police racism at the time meant the incident had never been properly investigated.

Mona-Lisa Smith and her cousin Cindy were killed. Picture: Supplied

Grant had been ‘looking for young girls’

In the weeks before the crash, the court heard that a white male driver had picked up Cindy and her relative Sharon Smith along with other young girls and behaved in a “predatory and sexually inappropriate manner”.

Ms O’Sullivan stated that she found this man to be Grant.

The night of the crash, she stated that Grant was “again scoping the Bourke township for young girls to ply with alcohol and sexually proposition”.

She found that Cindy and Mona-Lisa had accepted a lift from the man, who promised to drop them home. But instead, he took them to the Riverview Hotel to purchase alcohol.

Then, in the early hours of December 7, 1987, he crashed the ute due to a lethal mix of “intoxication, fatigue, road speed and lack of lighting”.

The girls' parents said they never imagined something like this could happen in Bourke. Picture: Visit NSW

The coroner stated that Grant remained in the vehicle as it rolled, but the two girls had been flung from the car and sustained catastrophic injuries when it “rolled onto them”.

While she said she could not state the exact time of death, it was understood that the girls died “very soon” following the crash.

“Mona [died] from multiple internal injuries including head and lung injuries and extensive blood loss.

“Cindy [died] from multiple internal injuries including pelvic and lung injuries and extensive blood loss.”

Grant was originally charged with indecently interfering with Cindy’s corpse and culpable driving causing the death of both girls.

However, the indecency charge was dropped and he was acquitted of the latter charge by an all-white jury at his 1990 trial.

Grant blamed one of the teen girls for the crash. Picture: Supplied

While he did originally tell a police officer at the scene that he was driving the ute, he then changed his story and alleged it was Mona-Lisa who was behind the wheel.

Ms O’Sullivan found that he was in fact driving the car despite his lies and accepted the testimony of Constable Ken McKenzie who was at the scene.

McKenzie reportedly noted that Grant had smelled strongly of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, was unsteady on his feet and appeared dirty and dishevelled.

However, she made it clear she did not believe the testimony of the former detective Sergeant Peter Ehsman, who had told the inquest he believed Grant’s story that he was not driving the vehicle and was unaware of any admissions at the scene.

The crash occurred on the Mitchell Highway. Picture: National Justice Project

“Had Mr Ehsman undertaken a thorough investigation … he would surely become apprised of these admissions. Mr Ehsman was not open to clear possibility that Mr Grant could be lying.”

‘Systemic racism’ and ‘cultural bias’

Ms O’Sullivan also found that there had been evidence of “system racism or cultural bias” within the Bourke police force back in the 1980s.

She stated that “tensions” between the Indigenous community and police, as well as “the existence of racial bias within the NSW police force at the time” had had a direct impact on the investigation into the girls’ deaths.

Heartbreakingly, it came to light that Cindy and Mona-Lisa’s mothers – Dawn and June Smith, who were in court on Tuesday – had only found out about their children’s deaths after other family members informed them, rather than being told by police.

Bourke Police Station as seen in 2015. Picture: AAP / Mick Tsikas

Ms O’Sullivan said she found this particular facet of the case to be “unconscionable”.

“This inquest was their final hope to obtain answers about the circumstances of the deaths of their beloved girls, some form of justice, although decades late,” she said.

“They were loved dearly by their families. They attended Bourke High School where they were clearly popular … they were inseparable, like sisters.

“Mona and Cindy were young bright girls sparkling with life and excitement, they had big hopes … and dreams.

“The grief and anguish of their passing remains raw for their families.”

She also praised the mothers for pushing an inquiry into the girls’ deaths, stating that “it’s been a long journey. There’s been many twists and turns in the road, but you never gave up.”

The cousins were more like sisters. Picture: Adam Taylor

Disturbing details

The inquest, which was held over seven days in November and December 2023, heard disturbing evidence about Grant’s sexual behaviour with underage girls, and police indifference.

After the car crash, Mona-Lisa’s body was discovered partially scalped and lying in dirt metres away, while Grant was found with his arms slung across the exposed breasts of Cindy’s body.

Cindy was laid out on a tarpaulin, with her clothing having been pushed up to around her neck and down to her ankles.

Two civilian witnesses who first came across the scene stated that they had observed Cindy’s near-naked body lying next to Grant with her legs together.

The girls’ mothers, June and Fiona Smith, never stopped fighting for justice. Picture: Bronwyn Wood

But the first police officer to arrive thereafter found that the teenage girl’s legs had been moved – presumably by Grant – to expose her genitals.

Mona-Lisa’s partially torn off ear was also later discovered at the crash site, not by investigating police, but by members of her family.

It was found that Grant had the steering wheel removed from the crashed vehicle, which police had failed to seize or properly examine.

In 1990, his high-powered lawyer argued that Mona-Lisa was driving the car and the charge of interfering with Cindy’s body was withdrawn by prosecutors because of a “technicality”.

At the trial, Cindy’s mother was so disgusted by the outcome that she threw a shoe at the all-white jury.

After his acquittal, Grant fled the town and later died aged 70 in a NSW nursing home in 2017.

Bourke courthouse where Grant was acquitted in 1990. Picture: Supplied

“I hurt every day”

Mona-Lisa’s mother, June, previously told the court her daughter was a good child who loved to sing, according to the National Indigenous Times.

“Mona was a beautiful baby, and she grew up … a lovely, happy go lucky girl,” she said.

“As she got older, her and her cousin Cindy were always together every day. They were just like two little sisters.

“I hurt every day and every night. I think about my daughter and my little niece and what they could have turned out to be today … they could have been mothers … but they never got to be that way.”

The devastated mother said Mona’s death left her with insomnia and resulted in her disconnect from members of her own family in Bourke.

“That’s why I never sleep at night … the littlest noise I hear, I walk all night … I sit up to six or seven [am] … I don’t sleep,” she said.

“It’s been going on for 36 years and I still never got over it.”

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