Families to witness ‘Cindy’s law’ become reality, 37 years after deaths

A ‘long overdue’ reform aimed at closing the loophole that allowed a middle-aged predator to walk free after he sexually abused a teenager as she lay dead or dying, will be introduced to NSW parliament on Wednesday.

Cousins Mona Lisa Smith, left, and Jacinta ‘Cindy’ Rose Smith, right, died after a ute rollover near Bourke in 1987

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A “long overdue” reform aimed at closing the loophole that ­allowed a middle-aged predator to walk free after he sexually abused a teenager as she lay dead or dying, will be introduced to NSW parliament on Wednesday.

The proposed legislation has been dubbed “Cindy’s law” by the families of Indigenous ­cousins Jacinta ‘Cindy’ Rose Smith and Mona Lisa Smith, who both died from horrific injuries hours after accepting a lift from white excavator driver and sexual predator, Alexander Ian Grant, in December, 1987.

Jacinta’s mother, Dawn Smith, welcomed the proposed law which would prevent sexual predators from evading prosecution because of uncertainty over the timing of a victim’s death. “It is 37 years now; all the time I’d think about it – no justice, no one (held) accountable,” Ms Smith told The Australian.

She said Cindy’s law was an overdue but important step forward, adding: “It might help other families’’.

June Smith, right, with daughter, Fiona Smith, reflect on the death of June’s daughter Mona Lisa Smith. Picture: Adam Taylor

Cindy Smith, 15, and Mona Smith, 16, were killed when Grant’s ute crashed and rolled outside their hometown of Bourke, NSW.

The alleged perpetrator, then aged 40, was found at the remote crash site drunk, unharmed and with his arm across the near-naked body of Cindy, whose clothing had been interfered with.

Grant was charged with sexually interfering with Cindy’s corpse but this charge was controversially withdrawn or “no-billed” in 1990 because of a technicality: it was unknown whether Cindy was dying from her crash injuries or already dead when Grant molested her.

Grant also faced charges of dangerous driving causing the girls’ deaths but was acquitted in 1990, when his high-powered legal team convinced a jury that Mona was driving when the ute crashed. Yet Grant – who died in 2017 without spending a day in jail – initially told a police officer he was the driver.

His acquittal caused uproar in Bourke and heartbreak among the extended Smith clan: Dawn Smith was so infuriated by the jury’s verdict, she threw her shoe at them.

In 2024, NSW State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan held the first full inquest into the girls’ deaths and found Grant had engaged in “predatory and disgraceful conduct” towards Cindy. “Horrifyingly, the evidence indicates he sexually interfered with Cindy after she had passed,” Ms O’Sullivan said.

The coroner also found that Grant lied when he said Mona had been driving his ute when it crashed, and that “racial bias” tainted the initial, “inexplicably deficient” police investigation into the Aboriginal girls’ deaths.

NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley said the girls’ grieving families had to grapple with an “unfair” legal system.

“To lose a loved one at any time is devastating, but to have your loss and grief magnified by an unfair system would have been torturous for the families,” Mr Daley said.

“That’s why we’ve acted to ensure no family has to go through this torment in the future.’’

Mr Daley thanked the Smith family and their lawyer, National Justice Project chief executive George Newhouse for their “tireless advocacy on this”. “It’s a fair reform, it’s a good reform and it’s long overdue,” he said.

In a statement, the NSW government acknowledged the reform “is in direct response to an issue raised in the coronial inquest into the tragic deaths of Mona Lisa and Jacinta Rose ‘Cindy’ Smith and the tireless advocacy of their families for reform. The penalty for indecently assaulting a deceased person will also be increased”.

Closing the loophole is part of a suite of proposed reforms to the NSW Crimes Act that also include strengthening laws criminalising female genital mutilation, and raising the definition of a child from 16 years to 18 years of age for offences relating to child abuse material.

Members of the Smith family will travel to the NSW parliament on Wednesday to mark the introduction of the proposed legal reform.