Lili Greer’s new fight to help other women as bikie Les Sharman is suspected of killing her mum Tina

Lili Greer saw the violence her mum copped after her bikie boyfriend was suspected of killing her. Here she reveals why the battle isn’t over. Listen to Episode 3 of the Bikies Inc podcast.

Lili Greer knew her mum Tina was going to be murdered by her bikie boyfriend.

But she couldn’t do anything about it. She was just 13.

“By the time she knew that it wasn’t safe, it was already too late,” Lili told the Bikies Inc podcast.

“She called me saying goodbye because he had guns and she was certain he was going to kill her that night.”

Now Lili is fighting for justice for her mum, who is suspected of being murdered while trying to leave her on again, off again boyfriend Les Sharman – a long term member of the Finks bikie gang.

The 23-year-old has launched a campaign to get a coronial inquest into Tina’s death.

Lili, a university student, is taking on the Queensland coroner, demanding that her mother be treated with respect.

“The whole thing with this case is there’s been no justice,” Lili said.

“During most of my contact with the coroner’s office and the police my blood is literally boiling inside my body.

“You try to compose yourself because you need to advocate and you need to be taken seriously.”

Lili Greer, whose mum Tina has been missing for years and is suspected that she was murdered. Picture: Jonathan Ng

LISTEN TO EPISODE 3 OF THE BIKIES INC PODCAST:

Tina disappeared on January 19, 2012 after she visited Sharman from Boonah in Queensland, 90 minutes’ drive inland from Surfers Paradise.

Police publicly named Sharman as Tina’s killer when they searched his property but her body was never found.

Sharman, who was in the Finks for 26 years, was killed in a car accident while high on drink and drugs in 2018.

Lili Greer and her mum Tina Greer. Picture: Supplied

Tina Greer with her daughter Lili as a baby. Picture: Supplied

He was never charged with Tina’s murder, nor was he officially interviewed by police, Lili said.

The Queensland coroner delivered a devastating blow to Lili in May, refusing to look into her mother’s death.

“I was so mad. I just found that quite offensive,” Lili said.

“It’s just mind blowing the whole process. This is somebody’s life and you have no regard for it, it feels that way at least.”

Queensland Coroner Christine Roney wrote to Lili on May 31, 2022 saying: “We can now confidently state, it seems likely that Mr Sharman was responsible for your mother’s death. He is deceased as you know and therefore no charge can be brought”.

“In these circumstances there is little benefit in taking your mother’s case to inquest as there is little likelihood that any fresh evidence would come to light… Your request for an inquest is declined.”

Coroner Roney implied Tina Greer made an “irrational” decision to return to see Sharman before her death.

“Perhaps she wanted to better explain herself to him, or she had an attachment to him that she could not put behind her. Whatever the reason her continued contact put her at risk even when she had managed to move away from him”.

Les 'Grumpy' Sharman, a notorious outlaw bikie. He was treated as a major person of interest but was never charged and later died in a car crash. Picture: Supplied

Women in relationships with bikies are six times more likely to be victims of domestic violence, research from Queensland police found.

But women linked to bikies are so frightened of reprisals only 30 per cent accept help.

Detective Superintendent Jason McArthur, head of the Australian Federal Police’s national anti-gangs squad, told the Bikies Inc podcast bikies were also more likely to commit serious domestic violence.

Strangulation cases were higher among bikie gang members, he said.

“It is a boys club. Females can’t join. Females are treated as property. They are used for what they can get out of them and what benefit they can provide to the member or to the club themselves. And it’s a really misogynistic, hate filled institution,” he said.

Lili revealed her first contact with domestic violence was “over the phone”. She said she and her mother would speak daily and when three days would go by without a call, she would fear the worst.

Tina Greer who has been missing since January 2012. She is pictured with her daughter Lili Greer. Picture: Supplied

“I just immediately thought, like, something’s happened, like something’s wrong. .. and then she was like, ‘Oh, I’m fine. I’m just being tired or whatever’, Lili said

“And then later we were staying at his house, and then she just, like, pointed to a barstool and was like, ‘Oh, he hit me over the head with that’. And she had to clean up her blood the next day...he’d broken her nose. Like, there’s just the list of, like, physical injuries is ridiculous.”

Another time neighbours called police to say Sharman was trying to run Tina over with his car.

“And then another time my mum was seen running down the road and it’s like quite a rural area, like it’s super rural. You know, like one neighbour every hundred metres, like huge gaps, like proper bush. Yeah. So she was seen running down the road, screaming with blood all over”.

Tina Greer who has been missing since January 2012. Picture: Supplied

Tina Greer with her daughter Lili. Picture: Supplied

Lili was 13 when her mum died. She was just about to start high school and her mum had saved up enough money for them to move into a downstairs flat in Beechmont, an hour’s drive from the Gold Coast.

Her mum, after six years without Lili following custody issues, had so much to look forward to, but Sharman was not happy he was being dumped.

As soon as they moved into the flat, they feared they had a stalker.

Pot plants were broken, the door was smashed in.

In hindsight, Lili suspected Sharman, who was not her father, was behind the terror, trying to make Tina so scared she would move back in with him.

A plaque unveiled at a memorial for Tina Greer.

The paintwork on her Holden Commodore was also damaged – she was visiting Sharman in Boonah one last time where she was going to sand it back when she disappeared.

Lili, who had just started Year 7, confronted Sharman in the days after her mum vanished.

She was not reported missing for four days, during which time Sharman bought a new mattress and had his friend take another one to the tip.

Police search bushland near Spicers Gap for missing woman Tina Greer. Picture: Rob Williams / The Queensland Times

“I just remember yelling if you’re not guilty, then talk to the police,” Lili said.

“For a while, I thought my mum was alive, and I had that hope. I used to write letters.

“I would just write pages and pages and just send them to his address in the hope that, you know, there’s like a 0.5 per cent chance that she’s alive or the next best thing is he’s going to read them and feel guilty.”

Tina never reported Sharman’s domestic violence to the police because he was a bikie.

She told her daughter how he smashed a bar stool over head, breaking her nose, and forced her to clean up the blood the next day.

And there were times Sharman would drag Tina into a bedroom to assault her, while Lili grabbed on to her, screaming that she would not let her go until he threatened her too.

SES and police search for clues and information into the disappearance of Tina Greer. Picture: Sarah Harvey / The Queensland Times

A new $5000 payment to help women escape domestic violence was launched last year in a $240 million scheme, but some victims have complained of delays in receiving the cash.

Lili said she was happy those women were receiving help, but wished the program started 10 years ago.

Detective Superintendent Peter Brigham of Victoria’s anti-gangs division said sometimes women can only escape bikies when their partners are charged with other criminal offences.

“We have seen several cases where partners have seen that as an opportunity to get out, an opportunity that they didn’t otherwise think they had,” he said.

Karen Andrews, federal opposition spokeswoman for prevention of family violence, said it was “absolutely chilling” that women linked to bikies were suffering such horrific abuse.

Ms Andrews acknowledged the challenges of leaving a bikie, but added: “As soon as it’s safe to do so, get out of there. And if it’s not safe to do so, then get the support that you need to get out of that relationship. It’s not acceptable for anyone to be in a position where they have to stay.”

Lili Greer has launched a petition to call on the Queensland coroner to reopen her mum’s case. Sign the petition here.

Originally published as Lili Greer’s new fight to help other women as bikie Les Sharman is suspected of killing her mum Tina