Arabic version: عائلة غريمر تطلب مراجعة مستقلة لقضية قتل أُسقطت
According to ABC News, Cheryl Grimmer’s family has given the NSW government until September 29 to order an independent review of the decision to discontinue a murder prosecution connected to her 1970 disappearance. In a September 22 letter to Premier Chris Minns and Attorney-General Michael Daley, the family accused the state’s top prosecutor of a “catastrophic failure of public accountability”.
Cheryl Grimmer was three when she disappeared from outside a shower block at Fairy Meadow Beach in Wollongong in January 1970. Her body has never been found. In 1971, a 17-year-old boy told police he had abducted and killed her, but investigators did not consider there was enough evidence to charge him at the time.
The man, known in court as “Mercury”, was charged with murder in 2017 and pleaded not guilty. The prosecution was discontinued in 2019 after Justice Robert Hulme ruled that the 1971 police interview could not be used as evidence. Although the judge said there had been no requirement in 1971 for an adult support person to attend, he found a child protection law introduced in 1987 governed its use at a later trial. He also found it would be unfair to admit the interview under the Evidence Act.
After the family made 54 submissions in a review by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, director Sally Dowling upheld the discontinuance in a September 16 determination. The family says the response did not address its legal arguments, possible witnesses or how the public interest in a prosecution was considered. It has declined an offer to meet and requested detailed written reasons.
If there is no response by September 29, the family says it will seek support in the NSW Legislative Council for a Standing Order 52 motion to obtain government records. Mr Daley said the interview’s exclusion was a legal question already determined by the Supreme Court, while NSW Police continued to work on the case and a $1 million reward remained available. Upper house MP Jeremy Buckingham has also urged the attorney-general and MPs to “find a fix” after withdrawing a proposed legislative amendment.
