Queenslanders Meafou Leon Sipili and Candice Tapatuetoa face major drug trafficking charges

Two Queenslanders have appeared in court in Hobart for the first time facing major drug trafficking charges. LATEST COURT NEWS >>

• Autopsy challenged for Tasmanian woman whose body was found in river
• Launceston General Hospital’s poor medical treatment blamed for man’s avoidable death

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Queenslanders face major drug trafficking charges

TWO Queenslanders have appeared in court in Hobart for the first time facing major drug trafficking charges.

Meafou Leon Sipili, 42, and Candice Tapatuetoa, 37, both from Eight Mile Plains in Queensland both appeared in the Hobart Magistrates Court before Magistrate Peter Dixon on Thursday morning.

Both defendants are facing the same charges being one count each of trafficking in a controlled substance (major offence) and one count each of dealing with proceeds of crime.

Mr Sipili and Ms Tapatuetoa’s matters were both adjourned without plea and they were both remanded in custody.

They will reappear to enter pleas on July 13.

Man missing in Tasmania since the 1980s finally declared deceased

By Amber Wilson

A QUEENSLAND man who went missing without a trace in Tasmania in the 1980s has finally been declared deceased by a coroner.

The body of William Francis Steffen, known as Billy, has never been found.

On Wednesday, Coroner Simon Cooper said while he was unable to determine the circumstances or cause of his death, he was satisfied that Mr Steffen died somewhere in Tasmania in June 1985.

William Francis Steffen who went missing without a trace in Tasmania in the 1980s has finally been declared deceased by a coroner. Picture: Supplied

Mr Cooper said the 32-year-old stayed at a meditation centre at Saltwater River for about a week before his disappearance.

The owner of that centre, believed to be the last person who saw Mr Steffen alive, later said he’d written him several letters seeking advice about “the spiritual consequences, if any, of suicide”.

He also said he’d been concerned for Mr Steffen’s mental health at the time.

The man – who has not been accused of any wrongdoing – said he dropped Mr Steffen in Hobart about June 13, 1985, and that he’d said something about “climbing Mount Wellington or going to the casino”.

But Mr Cooper said the comment didn’t provide “any real clue” as to what Mr Steffen had in mind, or where he went after he was dropped off.

He said there was no evidence Mr Steffen – who had been employed in a variety of jobs including as a taxi driver, driver, barman, caterer, labourer and miner – left Tasmania.

In 2008, with no evidence Mr Steffen had returned to Queensland, the matter was referred to Tasmania Police.

“The only reasonable conclusion, having regard to all the evidence carefully compiled and presented to me by … (the) Tasmania Police Missing Persons Unit, is that Mr Steffen is dead and that more likely than not his death occurred in Tasmania, sometime after 17 June 1985,” Mr Cooper said.

“Given his body has not been found, the cause of his death and the circumstances in which it occurred is unknown.”

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