Holding Court - part 1

This post will not be a story persée, although likely a few moments of the past will be detailed ad libitum. I think it is an opportune time to discuss the court and associated proceedings, due to a few comments and questions received. It seems that many people are confused in regard to these proceedings, which is totally understandable; we too were unaware of how these sorts of crimes are investigated then charged, up until being unwittingly dragged into the world of murder back in 2015. I promise to keep it as entertaining as possible. 

Questions have been received such as: 

1.“Why hasn’t [someone] been charged?”; 

2. “Why were so many lawyers at the inquest yet there was no prosecution?”; 

3. “How is the Coroner suggesting Ray met with foul play at the bottom of the mineshaft?”; 

4. “Can you summarise the entire 40,000 word’ Inquest Findings for me, my eyes are bleeding?”; and

5. “In your experience, where is the best place to dispose of a body?”

To cover a number of these standard questions, I’ll start with a very brief flow of how these murder matters go, then proceed deeper. First of all, you need to understand that the Police, Coroners Court, and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) are all completely separate entities. Secondly, in the cases of . . .let’s call them the Big Boo-Boos—murder, rape, drug-smuggling, or not paying enough tax—the Police are not simply allowed to go ahead and gang-tackle then charge who they deem responsible. What must happen prior is that the Police get all their facts and fantasies together, complete their investigation and associated reports, then they must submit this information to the DPP for approval to proceed with the arrest. The DPP then reviews all facts and fictions and determines whether it is in the interests of the economy to pursue the matter further.

It’s a good system when you consider it from an innocent, outsider perspective. Best not to give too much power to one department, and all that. We can’t just have the Police making all the rules, after all; they too must be regulated. Imagine if they were given discretionary powers to do as they see fit?

Now, let’s say, for a totally made-up scenario that I just fictionally made up just now *taps-nose* that the Police believe someone guilty of murdering another person and his wife, so did their best with what evidence they had, and submitted it to the DPP—to have that someone charged and taken to court. What if the DPP didn’t reckon the Police had enough to take it further. What then?

Well, lay me down and stroke me with feathers if there isn’t another department that can be turned to. If there happens to be a stalemate between the Police and the DPP, guess what, an independent inquiry may be suggested! The Police may then gather all their facts and fictions and submit them to another totally separate government-funded department, the Coroner’s Court, and an Inquest may be held!

Amazing! It’s almost like a trifecta-utopia of justice departments, all acting for the commoners! 

Let it be known, our family has not been sitting on our hands for six years and counting, waiting for results. We have been in constant contact with the Police throughout the entire investigation. Yes, it has been frustrating. Yes, we have often felt that mistakes were made, and opportunities missed. But, we also well understand that hindsight can be deceptive. Given the remote location and nature of the incident, it is a credit to the Police that they achieved what they have to date in our family’s murder inquiry. (For the record, that is entirely my opinion, of course).

I recall the moment that the Major Crimes’ Detective Sarge called me back in mid-2018 to tell us that the application to charge someone had been rejected by the DPP. The application had been lodged many months prior. Everyone was sure that someone would be arrested and charged. However, the DPP deemed the report did not provide enough evidence. To say I, and we, were gutted is an understatement. I had to hang up and compose myself, to stop wailing like a banshee, before calling back to attempt understand their reasoning why.

Anyhow, eighteen months later, a Coronial Inquest was undertaken. Which is lightning speed in matters of Coronial Inquests—thanks to those who helped push it forward in the queue! From the inquest, it was hoped that further evidence would be garnered from the independent review.  

At risk of repeating myself, because it is also detailed here, our family then sat through the entire two weeks plus a day-or-two Inquest. Every day was equally harrowing and exhausting. 0/10 experience, would not recommend. Necessary though, if you want to fill in the dark spaces, the unknowns in your mind to clarify what may have happened; but, more importantly what did not happen. As a wise man once said: “It is just as important to know where the enemy isn’t”. 

We hoped that the Coroner would ultimately see the scene as we knew: that Ray was murdered, and therefore Jennie likely thereafter, too. Ultimately this was how it came to be. The findings are a public document, you can download and read them here. All 118 pages and 40,000+ words.

The findings are not the length they are to detail what happened in Ray and Jennie’s camp back in March 2015; they are such a length to negate any suggestions or posturing otherwise. 118 pages that sift through and remove all doubt, suspicion, or speculation—dismissing any evidence that would prove contentious—and conclude with logic and purpose.

I have read the Findings approximately seventeen times. I have then copied the word document into an AI text-to-speech application and listened to them a further seventeen times. So, please allow me to summarise the Findings, ignoring all speculation and posturing otherwise: Ray, Jennie, and someone went to the Sandstone region location for the purpose of abseiling down mineshafts. They had all planned and trained for it for months prior to their fateful trip. Ray was subsequently found deceased down a mineshaft. Ray’s injuries, blood spatter analysis, and final position (from a macro perspective) indicated that whatever happened to ensure his decease occurred at the bottom of the mineshaft he was found therein. 

Or, in other words: Ray was murdered at the bottom of a mineshaft that he had pre-planned and trained to abseil down, by the hand of a “person unknown”. Note: abseiling down mineshafts is very uncommon, for reasons that should not need to be explained. 

All the other scenarios, when considered from a compound probability solution, or a Swiss cheese model of accident causation, fall over under scrutiny.

So … Okay, cool. Inquest complete. Now, where to from here?

Well, now it is back to the DPP. 

***To Be Continued***

A standard scene outside Perth Central Law Courts—the Media flies all swooping in on a lawyer and their client.

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Hi all, I intend to do part 2 of this and post it Thursday night. It would greatly help me to clarify the situation and process as detailed as possible by you asking questions. Please do so in the comments below, or message/email me privately, ASAP. TIA.