Outback cop’s body-worn camera caught lies two men told about Jeremiah Rivers’ disappearance
The lies two men told a police officer as their friend vanished into the Queensland outback were caught on body-worn camera, an inquest has heard.
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Body-worn camera footage captured the lies two men told an outback Queensland cop about their friend’s disappearance over two years ago and their illegal entry into the state.
The police officer in question also faced scrutiny over his decision not to detain the men, who had breached Covid-19 border closure laws and faced a $66,000 fine.
A five-day inquest this week in the Coroners Court in Brisbane is looking into the disappearance of 27-year-old Jeremiah “Jayo” Rivers, who was last seen at a campsite at the remote Wippo Creek, near Noccundra in South West Queensland, on October 18, 2021.
Senior Constable Brenden Blackford, based at Thargomindah Police Station, was a key witness on Wednesday – the inquest’s third day.
He was told by a landowner that one of the border gates separating Queensland and NSW had been cut, then the owner of the remote Noccundra Hotel tipped him off that a suspicious vehicle with Victorian number plates came to the hotel on the night of October 18, 2021.
“I was told they (the vehicle) would be attending the hotel at around 8am the next morning to get fuel, so I arranged to attend to intercept the vehicle,” Senior Constable Blackford told the inquest.
“They were acting suspiciously, they kept blocking the number plate of the vehicle, and the conversations with the bar staff were very vague which is unusual for that hotel.”
Senior Constable Blackford said the tyres on the suspicious vehicle were similar to the tyre tracks found at the cut border gate.
The next day, he pulled over Matthew Moore and Joe Joe Kantilla-Gaden – who were both travelling with Mr Rivers on the interstate pig hunting trip – in their Toyota HiLux.
Body-worn camera footage was played to the court showing Senior Constable Blackford questioning Mr Moore and Mr Kantilla-Gaden.
“They told me they had been in Queensland for approximately three weeks, they had been camping between Thargomindah and Stonehenge,” Senior Constable Blackford testified.
This was not true. Mr Moore and Mr Kantilla-Gaden were two of seven men travelling in two vehicles who had illegally entered the state just the day before.
“They asked about the border restrictions and said they were trying to get down to NSW but the border gates were locked,” Senior Constable Blackford testified.
The police officer told the inquest he was suspicious because the direction the men had come from didn’t match their story.
“They also said they had had an argument with their friend Jayo (Mr Rivers) and he had walked off into the bush the previous night and they were concerned about his welfare,” Senior Constable Blackford told the inquest.
“But they also said they believed he had contacted somebody to come and pick him up.”
Mr Rivers had in fact disappeared on the morning of the previous day, meaning police believed he had been missing for around 12 hours less than he actually had been.
Senior Constable Blackford told the inquest he did take the missing person claims regarding Mr Rivers “seriously”, but he also questioned why Mr Moore and Mr Kantilla-Gaden had not mentioned it to staff at the Noccundra Hotel when they came in the night before.
“At the time I didn’t believe he was completely a missing person,” the officer told the inquest.
Senior Constable Blackford escorted the two men back to the border and told them to head to the nearby NSW town of Tibooburra to get a phone signal and check whether they had heard anything from Mr Rivers – for example, if he had been picked up by someone.
Lawyer Stewart Levitt, representing Mr Rivers’ family, grilled Senior Constable Blackford about why he didn’t further investigate the duo for their border breach.
“It’s a case-by-case basis … they had advised me that their friend was missing and I was assisting them to get to NSW,” he replied.
“We can always issue that (border breach) infringement notice later on, it doesn’t have to be issued at the time. Due to the circumstances around Jayo’s disappearance, I don’t believe any infringement notice has been issued to any of the parties involved.”
Coroner Donald MacKenzie said it was an “unusual” decision for the officer to take the duo to the border and let them go, after they had made “eyebrow raising” statements.
Mr Rivers and Mr Kantilla-Gaden arranged the interstate trip in October 2021 as a way to head home to the Northern Territory from Balranald in NSW, where they had been living.
The inquest has heard their friend Matthew Moore joined them on the interstate pig hunting trip, as did Mr Moore’s friends from Victoria – Travis Clare, Dylan Thomas, Joel McMaster and Kane Toohey.
The inquest heard the group set off from Balranald and drove more than 1000km across the Queensland-NSW border to Wippo Creek in South West Queensland.
Covid-19 border closures were in place and the interstate border crossing gate was locked. The men cut the chain and allegedly illegally entered, the inquest was told.
When the group arrived at the Wippo Creek campsite on the morning of October 18, Mr Rivers went off to swim in either the nearby dam or creek to cool down.
He did not return and was never seen again. The other six men have said they searched for Mr Rivers all day and all night, but found nothing.
They did not report him missing until 3pm the next day. The group claims the delay was because they were in Queensland illegally.
An official eight-day search was conducted involving police officers, divers, SES volunteers, locals, aircraft, thermal imaging, ATVs, and trail bikes. Nothing was found.
The inquest continues.
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