Bourke families hoping for inquest justice for Cindy and Mona after almost 36 years of grief

The first full inquest into the horrific deaths of two teenage Aboriginal girls in Bourke will probe why the white defendant walked free

Dawn Smith, mother of Cindy Smith, reflects on the death of her daughter. Picture: Adam Taylor

Grieving Bourke mother Dawn Smith has been on a painful, frustrating “and lonely” search for ­almost 36 years for answers about why a middle-aged man charged with causing the deaths of her 15-year-old daughter, Jacinta, and her 16-year-old niece, Mona, never spent a day in jail.

“We’ve waited so long. Thirty-five years. Come next month, it will be 36 years. A long and lonely wait for answers,” Ms Smith, 81, said.

However, on Monday – in what lawyers have called an “incredible breakthrough” – an inquest will be resumed in Bourke, in outback NSW, into the horrific deaths of Indigenous cousins ­Jacinta Rose Smith, known as Cindy, and Mona Lisa Smith, just hours after they accepted a lift from a 40-year-old excavator driver in December 1987.

Cousins Cindy Smith (left) and Mona-Lisa Smith tragically died almost 36 years ago on the Mitchell Highway, just outside of Bourke, when a car rolled. The driver, Alexander Grant,walked free despite having been drinking heavily. Picture: Adam Taylor

The driver, Alexander Ian Grant, had been drinking heavily and, after his ute crashed on the Mitchell Highway outside Bourke, he was charged with culpable driving causing the death of both girls.

In a macabre twist, Grant was also charged with indecently interfering with Cindy’s body: the 40-year-old was found, drunk and unharmed at the crash site, with his arm draped across the chest of the dead, nearly-naked 15-year-old.

Cindy, a Wangkumara girl, had suffered massive internal injuries and a broken pelvis in the crash, while Mona, a Murrawarri and Kunja girl, was partially scalped and lay dead just metres away.

Yet in 1990, Grant – who ­admitted lying to police and whose high-powered barrister was paid for by a mystery donor – walked free from the Bourke Court House, causing uproar in the town. Ms Smith was so “shocked” by Grant’s acquittal, she threw her shoe at the all-white jury.

The octogenarian still works for Bourke’s Aboriginal Legal Service and hopes “the truth will come out’’ at the eight-day inquest about the failure of the police and legal systems to bring Grant to justice.

While she and her family were relieved a full inquest was finally being held, it was also a difficult time for them.

“People say, ‘You’re strong’, but you’re not,” she said.

The mother of eight had kept going “for the other kids’ sake. They all get upset to see me crying, so I leave it until I go to bed.’’

The grave site of Mona-Lisa Smith . Picture: Adam Taylor

In a dramatic breakthrough, NSW Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan announced last year she would reopen the inquest that originally began in 1988, but was suspended after one day when Grant was charged.

The resumed inquest follows a decades-long quest for answers into why no one was ultimately held accountable for the deaths of Mona and Cindy, and the alleged sexual abuse of Cindy as she lay dead or dying by the side of a highway.

Grant was acquitted after his defence team convinced the jury Mona was driving the ute when it crashed. Grant initially told police he had been driving, before changing his story. He also had his ute’s steering wheel detached and shipped to him before police could inspect it a second time.

The charge of indecently interfering with Cindy’s body was controversially “no-billed” or with­drawn shortly before Grant’s trial, largely because of a technicality: medical experts could not pinpoint the exact moment of Cindy’s death. Lawyers later slammed this decision as “repugnant’’, and no child abuse charges were subsequently brought against Grant.

The excavator driver died in a NSW aged-care home around 2017, according to NSW Police.

Despite this, George Newhouse, chief executive of legal ­advocacy group National Justice Project that is representing the Smith family, said the resumed inquest was “an incredible breakthrough’’.

“After 36 years, a grieving family and the whole Aboriginal community of Bourke may have the truth about Mona’s and Cindy’s deaths exposed, and perhaps, some accountability for the failures of the police in investigating that crime,” he said.

Mona-Lisa Smith when she was 15. Picture: Adam Taylor

“Re-opening the investigation will give the community an insight how Indigenous peoples are treated by the police, particularly the families whose loved ones are the victims of crime, or have died in suspicious circumstances.’’

The Coroner had been “really respectful” towards the families and was allowing a smoking ceremony to be held before the inquest started, he said. The Smith family also planned to march peacefully on Monday from the Aboriginal housing settlement, the Alice Edwards Village on the edge of Bourke, to the Bourke Court House.

“This is the first time the Smith family feel they have been treated with courtesy and respect by state authorities,” Mr Newhouse said.

However, he cautioned: “The jury is still out on whether it will deliver them the accountability and justice they are seeking.’’

Melbourne barrister Julie Buxton is working pro bono on the case and Mr Newhouse said: “We owe a debt of gratitude to Julie, who developed our legal strategy for reopening the case.’’

“I think it’s important to acknowledge the tireless work of The Australian in campaigning for the reopening of the inquest. I am convinced that it would not have happened without those ­efforts,” he said.