Alexander Ian Grant ‘lied to police’ after crash that killed Mona Lisa and Cindy Rose Smith near Bourke
A man previously acquitted of killing two Indigenous girls in a horrific car accident – and of molesting the younger girl’s body as she lay on the road – made a crucial admission before changing his story, a new inquest has heard.
A 40-year-old man accused of killing two Indigenous girls in a horrific road accident – and of molesting the younger girl’s body – admitted he was driving when the crash occurred, before changing his story, a former police officer said on Monday.
Retired police officer Kevin Harper told an inquest being held at Bourke Court House in outback NSW that he was “probably within two feet” of Alexander Ian Grant when Grant informed another police officer he was driving the ute which crashed outside Bourke in December 1987, killing local girls Mona Lisa Smith, 16 and Jacinta Rose Smith, 15.
Asked by counsel assisting the inquest, Peggy Dwyer SC, whether Grant, an excavator driver, had “changed his story after he was told the girls had died”, Mr Harper said: “That’s exactly right.’’
The ex-police officer, who lives in Dubbo and testified remotely, also said Jacinta, who was known as Cindy, was “naked from the ankles to the shoulder” and that all items of her clothing “had been pulled up or down” when he arrived at the crash site after witnesses stumbled on the scene.
Grant was charged with indecently interfering with Cindy’s body and culpable driving causing the death of both girls, but was acquitted at his 1990 trial. His defence team argued that Mona was driving the crashed ute, while the interfering with Cindy’s corpse charge was withdrawn by prosecutors shortly before Grant’s trial because of a technicality.
The inquest, for which the girls’ grieving families have campaigned, will not interrogate that contentious decision, because it was “not the proper function of this jurisdiction” to assess DPP decisions.
In another surprising development, Dr Dwyer revealed in her opening address that in July 2023, Mona’s remains were exhumed at Bourke Cemetery, where she shares a grave with Cindy. She said: “The order for an exhumation was made following a compelling application by Mona’s family.’’ The 16-year-old’s remains have been carefully examined and expert evidence about the findings will be given during the inquest.
The inquest also heard from Shane Batey, one of the first witnesses to arrive at the crash site, who testified that Mona’s “head was crushed and the brain was on the road’’.
He arrived before police, and said Cindy was deceased and at that stage “naked from the ankle to the waist”.
He said his brother had planned to stay with the deceased girls and Grant while he fetched the police, but left the scene when Grant said he had a gun.
“I had the feeling there was somebody else (out there),’’ said Mr Batey, who was testifying remotely from Alice Springs, said.
In another startling revelation, Dr Dwyer said the inquest would address a theory raised by a Smith family cousin that another person was implicated in the girls’ deaths.
However, she cautioned that speculation “in the absence of clear facts” about the teenagers’ tragic deaths had “swirled” for decades and had “caused great distress for the Smith families’’.
The inquest will focus on failings of police investigations that meant no one was ultimately held accountable for the girls’ deaths. Yet Grant, who died around 2017, admitted lying to police.
Dr Dwyer said Grant had given what “can only be described as contradictory, entirely implausible accounts to police’’.
Mona and Cindy’s extended family marched to the Bourke Court House on Monday, where they performed a smoking ceremony and observed a minute’s silence for the girls. Their mothers, Dawn and June Smith, attended the inquest, and Dawn’s granddaughter, Bonnie Smith, said the family hoped that after 36 years, these proceedings will give “us some clarity on what occurred and how it was handled by authorities and officials’’.