Body to be cremated after four year legal battle
Debbie-Lee Gill died on the NSW Central Coast in January 2021. Her body has since been in a Newcastle morgue ever since.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the image and name of a person who has died.
A four-year family battle over the remains of a young Indigenous woman has finally come to an end after a court ruling that ordered her body be cremated.
The body of Central Coast woman Debbie-Lee Gill has been at a mortuary at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle since her death in January of 2021.
The 40-year-old’s death was ruled a suicide by the NSW coroner.
This is due to a longstanding family battle between Ms Gill’s biological family and Leslie Speeding, who claims he was her “de facto spouse” and “senior next of kin”.
Mr Speeding wanted Ms Gill to be buried, while her biological family wished to have her remains cremated.
In usual circumstances, a hospital in NSW can keep the body of a deceased person for 21 days, except for in “exceptional circumstances”.
Last week, the NSW Supreme Court intervened in the longstanding dispute, ruling the body for the Wiradjuri woman should be cremated.
In handing down his decision, Justice Geoff Lindsay said the “stalemate” had gone on “far too long”.
“Leaving the deceased’s body in cold storage, personal animosity on the boil and the public purse diminished by the costs of it all,” he said.
Judge Lindsay ruled in favour of the biological family’s wishes as Mr Speeding did not have the appropriate funds to bury Ms Gill.
“The logistics favour the biological family given their preparedness to undertake to the Court that, at their own expense, they will move expeditiously to have the deceased’s body cremated,” he said in the decision.
“I am not confident that [Mr Speeding] can reasonably be expected to have the resources, or will, to arrange for a burial, let alone a funeral.”
Judge Lindsay ruled that the biological family “cause the body of the deceased to be cremated” within two months.
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