By Sarah McPhee
Prosecutors have been ordered to pay $190,000 to Tobias Moran, four months after withdrawing charges against him over the death of his German backpacker girlfriend Simone Strobel on the NSW North Coast.
Strobel’s body was found hidden under palm fronds in Lismore on February 17, 2005. The 25-year-old had been travelling with Moran, then known as Tobias Suckfuell, and others, and was last seen at a nearby caravan park on February 11 that year.
Toby Moran, previously known as Tobias Suckfuell, and Simone Strobel.
Moran, 43, was arrested at his Perth home last year and extradited to NSW.
However, in June, the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions declined to certify charges against Moran of murder and attempting to pervert the course of justice, and they were withdrawn and dismissed.
“The Office of the DPP notes the possibility of future coronial proceedings and makes no further comment,” a spokesperson said at the time.
As a result of a defence application for legal costs, heard before magistrate Philip Stewart in Lismore Local Court on Wednesday, the DPP was “ordered to pay costs in the amount of $190,000.00 to Tobias Friedrich Moran on or before 8 November 2023”.
The ODPP declined to comment about the costs order. Moran’s lawyers have also been contacted.
Moran fronted cameras in Perth on the day the charges were dropped, flanking his wife Samantha Moran as she read from a statement.
“I know that there is not a day that goes by that Toby does not think about Simone, and wishes that he had stopped her from walking away that night,” she said.
“Toby continues to be traumatised by the loss of Simone, as well as the speculation surrounding him.”
After an inquest in 2007, coroner Paul McMahon determined there was insufficient evidence to refer the matter to prosecutors for consideration. A $1 million reward for information was announced in 2020. Moran was charged in July 2022.
In a statement, provided by their translator in June, Strobel’s parents Gabi and Gustav Strobel said they hoped a fresh inquest into their daughter’s death could “now proceed without delay”.
“After 18 years, it seems we are no closer to finding out what happened to Simone,” they said.
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