Shandee Blackburn suspect’s car `dead ringer’ for vehicle caught on CCTV
Important features made a suspect’s car appear identical to one driven close to where Shandee Blackburn was murdered.
At first glance, amateur boxer John Peros’s car might look like any other Toyota HiLux ute that was getting around Mackay.
But there were important features, detailed in the Shandee’s Story podcast, that made it appear identical to a vehicle recorded on CCTV driving close to where Mr Peros’s former girlfriend Shandee Blackburn was murdered in 2013.
One feature, a missing wheel flare, was initially overlooked by police and was never presented to the jury that acquitted Mr Peros of the slaying in 2017.
It was revealed during the subsequent coronial inquest.
The difference was striking when Sergeant Brett Schnitzerling used a 3D model at the inquest to demonstrate how the ute would have looked if the front driver’s side wheel flare was present.
The vehicle of interest in the CCTV footage and Mr Peros’s ute were the same make and model.
And Sergeant Schnitzerling said both were clearly missing the same wheel flare, commonly used to protect vehicles against gravel or other objects kicked up by the tyres.
Coroner David O’Connell noted the other similarities between Mr Peros’s car and one seen on the night of the murder.
Both vehicles were missing their distinctive “Toyota” lettering on the tailgate. They both shared a non-standard twin pipe configuration at the rear of the vehicle.
They had identical-looking non-standard wheels, identified as aftermarket off-road-style Sunraysia wheels.
They both shared a diesel snorkel on the left-hand side. Both shared three rear window bars, standard for that model.
And there were no differences in features. Something as simple as a roof rack or a canvas covering the tray would have appeared in footage. But it didn’t.
They both had a bull bar. They both had the same decal and rubber striping running along the doors. There was just one observable difference between Mr Peros’s car and the original, and detectives were adamant they could explain it.
A small dark spot on the tailgate of the car in CCTV footage can’t be seen in the re-enactment done with Mr Peros’s vehicle.
But earlier police photographs of Mr Peros’s ute from February 2013 showed a small rust spot in the same position. It had been painted over some time before police seized the car again to do the re-enactment.
“I have no doubt that the vehicle of interest … was Mr Peros’s vehicle,” Mr O’Connell concluded in his findings.
Mr Peros denies involvement.
Anyone with information about the murder of Shandee Blackburn can contact Hedley Thomas confidentially at shandee@theaustralian.com.au.
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