Partner haunted by Marrawah pub shooting of Simon Crisp two years ago

ALLY Nicholls believes the person who killed her partner is still part of the community of Marrawah that she now plans to leave.

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LIKE Tasmania Police, Ally Nicholls believes the person who killed her partner is still part of the small community of Marrawah that she now plans to leave.

It is two years since gunshots broke the still midnight air outside one of Tasmania’s most remote pubs.

Inside, Ms Nicholls and her 10-year-old daughter huddled in fear and rang 000.

Soon Ms Nicholls would learn her partner Simon Crisp had been shot as he took out the garbage and she finished her shift behind the bar.

The closed circuit TV camera out the back of the pub had stopped working a week before the shooting. Ms Nicholls now believes it was tampered with as part of a premeditated murder.

Forensics police at the scene of the shooting in July 2013.

Tasmania Police yesterday renewed their appeal for those who know what happened on July 13, 2013 to come forward.

MORE: RENEWED PUSH OVER MARRAWAH MURDER

Detective Inspector Richard Chugg said people in the small far North-West community knew who was responsible for the killing, but had not come forward for personal reasons.

Ms Nicholls has lived in Marrawah for many years and for more than a decade she ran the small community store with the father of her children.

She still appreciates Marrawah’s wild beauty, but says that beauty had been tarnished and she no longer felt part of a small town now full of gossip and ill-feeling.

Ms Nicholls has received many threatening phone calls since that terrible night and came home not long after to find her cat had been shot in the driveway of her home.

“I don’t go into town much these days and have not been back to the Marrawah hotel since,” she said yesterday.

Ms Nicholls had known Simon Crisp all his life. First as the annoying little brother of a friend, later as a teenage boyfriend and then, many years later, as a partner.

Police at the Edith Creek General Store in relation to the Marrawah shooting.

Mr Crisp moved into Ms Nicholls’ home overlooking Mt Cameron and the Woolnorth wind farm only five months before he was killed.

He was working as a dog catcher for the Waratah-Wynyard and Circular Head councils and also helped her work on a nearby farm.

Mr Crisp had seized a dog in Wynyard just before he was shot, but that link was soon discounted by police.

Ms Nicholls said Mr Crisp had not talked about being in fear of his life before it was so violently taken.

“We had been working together on a nearby farm for two months before he was shot and he never spoke of any trouble brewing,” she said.

“I have my theories about what happened but nothing has been proven. I think it relates to private feuds in the area. That is why I want to move to the mainland.

“I am pretty sure the police know too, but need more evidence to solve the investigation.”

SES and police block the road at the scene.

Ms Nicholls said her daughter had been shaken by the incident and refused to talk about it.

“She was sleeping by the fire waiting for me to finish my shift and go to the airport to fly out on a holiday with her and Simon. She heard the shot too,” Ms Nicholls said.

“At first I thought Simon had dropped the garbage bag he was carrying out. I wanted to go out and see, but I had to stay inside and protect my daughter. I called out but he did not answer.”

She said it seemed to take forever for police to arrive from Smithton.

Her adult son also drove in from Smithton, arriving at the hotel before the police.

It had been a busy night at the pub and Ms Nicholls finally got the last customers out at 11.50pm.

Ten minutes later the killer struck.

The lure of a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest over the Marrawah Tavern murder has yet to flush out the person or people responsible.

She said the man who lives next door to the hotel had heard his dog start barking before he heard a bang and a car driving off.

“He didn’t think much of it because the pub had just closed and lots of people were heading off,” she said.

A $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the person or people responsible for the murder still stands.

Detective Inspector Chugg said those who knew what happened might now feel able to speak to police.

“We are asking those who know who murdered Mr Crisp or information that could help the investigation to provide the vital evidence we need,” he said.

“ No one will ever know who provided the information.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Burnie CIB on 6434 5291 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.