The Night Driver podcast: ‘My brother has been wrongly accused’, says Janeen Hosemans

Janeen Hosemans blames the ‘tall poppy syndrome’ for her hometown’s obsession with casting her brother as a cold-blooded killer.

Brad Hosemans. Picture: Adam Yip

Janeen Hosemans blames a lot of it on the “tall poppy syndrome” and the thrill of watching on as a once-respected civic leader’s life spectacularly unravels; it is the only way she can explain her hometown’s obsession with casting her brother as a cold-blooded killer.

The enduring fixation, which has consumed the town for almost two decades, has been enough to see former Bathurst detective and deputy mayor Brad Hosemans pack up his life and leave the NSW central tablelands behind. Janeen has stayed in the region, refusing to bow to the speculation.

■ Subscribers of The Australian will be able to hear The Night Driver podcast before the rest of the nation, exclusively in The Australian app. Subscribe to The Australian here, and download the app via: Apple App Store | Google Play Store

“I’m absolutely aware (of what people say about Brad). I’m absolutely aware,” she says. “I’ve found it extremely difficult … because it was happening to somebody I love and care about. But also it was wrong, it was simply wrong.

“I mean, gosh, in terms of people who enjoy that type of news story, it really couldn’t get any better, could it? A deputy mayor, a high-profile policeman, and all of a sudden his life is starting to crumble around him in a really major and public way.

“Many of those people are probably the ones that come to the fore whenever there’s an issue that’s going to polarise a community. Or perhaps people had their own axe to grind with him. Or it was a case of tall poppy syndrome, of jealousy.

“He was an intelligent, articulate, good-looking man who was a successful police officer, who was a deputy mayor, who women were very attracted to. He always presented himself very well, he spoke well, a very measured kind of person, he wasn’t given to being vitriolic towards people or yelling at people or losing his temper.”

After Janine Vaughan vanished following a late night out with friends in town on December 7, 2001, Hosemans became the focus of community innuendo. The 31-year-old Janine was last seen getting into a red car with an unknown driver after leaving the Metro Tavern nightspot shortly before 4am.

Janine Vaughan.

The driver’s identity remains a mystery, and her body has never been found.

Rumours spread that Hosemans had been infatuated with Janine, fuelling claims he was responsible for her abduction and murder. The ill feeling against him followed an infamous night at the Bathurst Golf Club earlier in the year in which he and friends — including fellow police — were accused of drunken behaviour, and the then deputy mayor was left facing allegations from a female bar attendant that he had tried to grab her breast while she was serving drinks.

While Hosemans denied the claims and said he was trying to prevent a physical spat between the bar attendant and her former boyfriend, he was charged over the incident and an allegation he had indecently exposed himself.

The indecent exposure charge was later dropped and a magistrate acquitted Hosemans on the groping claims in mid-2002, but by then the town’s rumour mill was running strong and the accusations had been linked to Jan­ine’s disappearance.

Despite repeated investi­gations clearing the former detective of any involvement, and his repeated denials he had ever met Janine, the claims he is a murderer continue to find traction in some quarters of Bathurst.

■ READ MORE: The Night Driver — the new podcast from the investigative journalist who brought you The Teacher’s Pet

While Janeen admits the whispers trouble her, she says she is buoyed by the support she has received from those who acknowledge her brother has been wronged by the accusations.

“One of the things that made (Brad) so good at his job (as a detective) was that people trusted him, people liked him, people were happy to speak to him,” she tells The Night Driver, a podcast by The Australian investigating Janine Vaughan’s murder.

“It’s been many years since he’s left Bathurst but I still, on a regular basis, have people come up to me and ask me how he is and to pass on their regards.

“That’s people from all walks of life. He touched a lot of people in a really personal way. He really honestly had that ability to, to not put himself above people.”

It is a mentality she says her brother has maintained in spite of the rumours about him by many people he considered friends.

“For Brad and I … the only thing that’s really important is your word and your actions, and your own integrity,” she says.

“It doesn’t matter what you do when someone’s looking, it’s what you do when no one’s looking. That’s really the measure of the human being. Simple as that.”