Quest for justice too long denied

The deaths of two teenage Indigenous girls near Bourke in northwestern NSW should have been fully investigated shortly after the tragedy almost 35 years ago. The families of cousins and close friends Mona Lisa Smith, 16, and Jacinta (Cindy) Rose Smith, 15, who accepted a lift from a white excavator driver, Alexander Ian Grant, 40, in December 1987 and never returned home, have welcomed the fact that a full ­inquest will at last be held into the girls’ deaths. It is what the families have long sought. The fact the issue was not resolved decades ago reflects the sloppiness of the justice system at the time.

The Australian has pursued the matter for four years. The Toyota HiLux driven by Grant skidded, crashed and rolled, killing both girls. Cindy was found at the crash site lying next to Grant, who was drunk, unhurt and had his arm across her exposed chest. Her pants were pulled down to her ankles and her top was pulled up under her chin, prompting allegations he sexually abused her as she lay dying or dead. Grant was charged with culpable driving causing the death of both girls and indecently interfering with Cindy’s dead body. However, the latter charge was “no-billed” and withdrawn before his 1990 trial, largely on a technicality: medical experts could not pinpoint the exact moment of Cindy’s death. Lawyers for the girls’ families recently slammed this as “repugnant”. During Grant’s trial, the Smith families were not told about the no-billing of the sexual interference charge, and a packed courtroom erupted in anger when the defendant was found not guilty of the driving charges. The outcome prompted intense anger in the Bourke community. Grant walked free. He died in an aged-care home about five years ago.

In 2017, a forensic book by Richard Stanton, Enngonia Road, was published. It argued that the police and prosecution cases were sloppy, fragmented and badly managed. Grant was not arrested after the crash, despite the fact he had been drinking heavily and two children lay dead. When The Australian interviewed the magistrate who committed Grant for trial, Rosemary Cater-Smith, she condemned the police investigation as “incompetent” and urged that the case be re-examined.

With the backing of George Newhouse, the National Justice Project chief executive, the families persisted. Mr Newhouse said The Australian’s reporting had been “critical to keeping attention on this tragic event, ensuring Mona and Cindy are not forgotten’’.

The recent announcement by the NSW Coroner’s Court that inquests into the girls’ deaths would be resumed is a breakthrough for justice. As Cindy’s mother, Dawn Smith, 80, who still works for Bourke’s Aboriginal Legal Service, said this week: “You never get over losing any child.’’