Table of contents
1) The Circumstances of the first few days with Elly case.
2) My Advice on what to do straight away for families who unfortunately find themselves facing the same circumstances as elly’s family Numbers 1-12.
with my past experience I would like to share this with some advice.
If you want answers you are going to have to take it upon yourself to investigate and find the answers yourself especially if the issues you have are in a third world country.
1) The Circumstances of the first few days with Elly case.
I hope the unfortunate circumstances which have happened to our daughter overseas does not happen to other families. However our kids will travel overseas and unfortunately unforeseen tragedies do happen like the circumstances surrounding the death of our lovely daughter Elly.
It’s difficult to believe the news at first as it is relayed from so far away you get the sense of maybe it's not our child. How could this happen to our daughter when she was having such a good time over there. We heard an Australian girl was murdered, possibly raped in Mozambique and your first thought was it can’t be Elly.
Then the news came in that it is definitely our daughter who was found naked near a toilet block. How do you deal with this sudden shock! Its disbelief at first and then shock and after the shock its enormous grief realizing she is not coming home ever again. Friends start coming over for support and to help and we are all still hoping it's not Elly. Nicole, Elly’s mother had spoken to the manager where Elly was staying and he confirmed it was Elly.
DFAT were really good in the early stages and they started to get some solid factual information in for the family informing us that it had been raining heavily over there so much so the nearest airport was closed at Inhambane and they had to transport Elly’s body by road around 900 kms to Maputo for her autopsy. It took around three days by road as the flooding had blocked the main road. DFAT kept us updated all the time telling us when Elly’s body was in Maputo and that her autopsy was on the 14th of November 2016.
DFAT informed us they were told by the funeral director in South Africa that the autopsy in Mozambique may not be professional enough and we should have another autopsy in South Africa as they were more qualified.
I informed DFAT at this point that I would like to fly over to South Africa and bring my daughter's body home. DFAT responded effectively by organizing for me, my sister and Elly’s boyfriend Luke to go over to South Africa and bring my daughter's body home.
We arrived in South Africa on 18th of November after her second Autopsy on the 16th of November 2016 in South Africa. DFAT helped with organizing our flight and Elly had travel insurance 1Cover which was fantastic, paying for everything, accommodation and even bringing Elly's body home.
DFAT had arranged for us to be taken out the back way of the airport with two vans waiting to take us to the Australian Embassy in Pretoria. The staff were fantastic and Mr Adam McCarthy the high commissioner at the time was amazing helping us directly allowing us to use the embassy resources. They organized us to stay at a bed and breakfast near the Embassy and staff picked us up the next day to view Elly’s body at the funeral parlor.
This was really difficult and the hardest thing ever to do as you can imagine but I had to do it. My sister and I viewed Elly and straight away we could see all the bruising on her face especially around her lips and mouth with one of her lips very swollen twice the size. We both had No doubt after seeing these marks, abrasions and dark bruising like this on her face that Elly had been assaulted.
This was very unsettling for me and my sister to see Elly this way and I think it's best not to view the body if you don’t need to as the picture of seeing Elly’s face like this stays with you. It's very upsetting having this picture of my daughter's face in my mind thinking of her last few moments. Even after Elly’s face had make-up on, the marks were still very prominent.
I returned home with my daughter's body which was now the first mistake I made because if I had known what I know today I would have gone over to Tofo straight away without question and not come home doing my own investigation straight away early in November 2016.
When I got home we were told by the AFP that the Mozambique authorities have control of the investigation and they can’t intervene with other countries' investigations. We had no idea what the Mozambique Authorities were like. We were never told about any review process by the AFP for a Mutual Assistance Request. Or about any MAR request. Little did we know the Mozambique authorities did not have control at all as they were trying to cover this up from day one making it look like an accident.
This is my biggest regret listening to the AFP and not staying over there and going on to Tofo straight away in 2016.
The AFP will probably want statements from you. Be very careful what you say to the AFP. If you need to do a statement this will probably be because the coroner has asked for this or it may just be standard procedure so you may have no choice, record everything. Remember your statement is entered into the brief as evidence so it's very important you think about what you say first as it is all entered into evidence.
The AFP came to my home on the 19th December 2016 and told me that the Mozambique autopsy conclusion said that Elly “died a violent death and that it was homicide”. “The doctor here however could not determine the cause of death”. I told the AFP how can that be as when I viewed Elly in South Africa she had marks all over her face with a fat lip and abrasions/bruises and you have just informed me their own autopsy has stated a violent death homicide.
Elly had a third autopsy in Melbourne because the coroner asked for another autopsy. If we had known this we would not have had the autopsy in South Africa.
I was not really happy from the start, starting with the Melbourne doctor’s Autopsy report, because he had concluded Elly’s death as Undetermined when the Mozambique report was so decisive it was a violent death homicide as the manner of death and the cause of death was an abundance of sand obstructing the airways. Their conclusion states this in detail. Also I had been over there and seen Elly’s face so badly bruised with big abrasions around her mouth/lips.
For months after the AFP were telling us the Mozambique authorities were still investigating and this could not have been further from the truth. I should have gone over earlier but I trusted the AFP!!! As most people would.
Then we get a Mozambique police report from DFAT on the 6th April 2017 saying Elly died from an overdose. DFAT sent it back to them and said have you seen your own autopsy conclusion which states violet death homicide. We then get a second revised police report four days later on the 10th April 2017 which now states Homicide.
Where is the credibility in the Mozambique investigation with these police reports yet the AFP were still saying to the family the Mozambique Authorities are still investigating our daughters death at this time and after!!!
2) Below is my advice on what to do straight away for families who unfortunately find themselves facing the same circumstances as Elly’s family especially if your loved one's death happened in a third world country.
1) Go over straight away and don’t listen to the AFP if the death happens in a third world country suspicious or not, I mean get the very first flight over there. Go with someone if you can. DFAT will help with getting into the country as you may need Visas. Remember it may be dangerous in some countries so be very careful. However I found the locals very friendly in Tofo.
2) In a third world country they don’t care and in most places there police don’t get paid so they bribe the tourist for money on very small issues. However they do rely heavily on tourism dollars for survival. Even though the authorities are not good, treat them with respect and go and see them and let them know you are there and looking around. Don’t be fooled by their fancy uniforms, Some police just like to look very important. The guide that I had was really good. He said going and approaching the police first shows respect and you get on the right foot from the start with the local authorities.
3) One of the biggest problems you will face is the communication barrier and DFAT may be able to help you as they have trained staff in the language of the place you are going or they may be able to put you onto someone who can go with you to translate and who knows the culture. It will cost you but the exchange rate is very friendly for Australians especially in third world countries. Communication is vitally important and if possible one of the very first things you need to organize before you are on the plane. Record everything if you can.
4) The American dollar is the best to use as it's recognized in all third world countries. It is important to know the exchange rate so you don’t get ripped off. When I went over to Mozambique it was 44 metical dollars, which was one Australian dollar. You can get money out there but banks or ATMs are few and far between in remote areas, let your bank know beforehand it's easy to forget this in your hast as my bank cut me off as they thought It was a fraud transaction. It's hard to contact the bank over there so have a direct email address handy just in case this happens and remember Australia is 8-9 hours ahead. As I said, take American dollars with you and plenty in a money belt as you need to be very careful.
5) You must protect all the trace evidence and if they don’t want any evidence like the clothes your loved one was wearing at the time of their death make sure you get as much trace evidence as you can and bag it in plastic bags, remember they are not properly trained police in most third world countries so they will not follow protocol and will be easily led by rewards however I still would be discreet, but it is a good option in a third world country. You need to try and bring the evidence home with you. Don’t tell the local police that you have physical evidence. They can’t test it over there and they won’t have a secure place to keep it as they don’t really care.
6) Go and see all the doctors involved, record or take notes, try and get their reports, remember rewards in these places will likely get you a long way to getting what you want. They may not give you their reports but you need to try. Now in a place like England there is no way they would do this but in a third world country they will for rewards.
7) Visit the crime scene and take as many pictures as you can even the surrounding areas and depending on how they died collect evidence as in Elly’s case the sand was very important not just at the crime scene but the main beach.
8) Be careful in a third world countries just handing over money for information as they will take advantage of you as they are that poor. In some cases you may need to but be very careful. Record everything and take notes.
9) In a third world country you can just about do what you want as you are the parents or relatives and as you are from another country, you are rich to them. They don’t follow protocols so if you show the initiative you will probably get heaps more information and trace evidence than what their authorities will ever get.
10) Get DFAT involved but still be careful with how much you tell them as they may inform the AFP and do not tell the AFP what you are up to. I found that DFAT and the AFP do not see eye to eye at times as the AFP does not give out much information which annoys DFAT as DFAT is required to and responsible for handing all evidence they acquire to the AFP. Remember the AFP do not investigate and they don’t want to get involved so there is no need to ask them for anything they can’t help and don’t want to get involved.
11) My advice would be to get a private investigator to go over with you but the problem with this is it's such short notice, someone like Mr. Charlie Bezzina if you have the money to do this as the early evidence is so important and having someone experienced would be a major advantage. Do not believe what the AFP tells you, get on the very first plane over there with DFAT’s help, especially if it is a third world country that is DFAT’s job to support and help families in crisis. It may be dangerous to do this in some countries but if you want answers straight away this is what you need to do. It's hard as you have just lost a loved one but if it's a third world country don’t waste time getting over there. This is my biggest regret not to get over there straight away as I listened to the AFP!!
12) If it's in a country where police are capable of a proper investigation like England for instance then you are much more likely to have an investigation handled in the correct manner. It's still up to you to go over and make sure they have all the trace evidence from the crime scene. This is so important and may make all the difference to achieving justice. I wish I had gone on to Tofo on the 18th November and retrieved Elly’s clothes as with the advanced technology today in DNA we may have had a match with one of the suspects the Mozambique police say they have today which places them at the crime scene.
This is where the AFP really let the family down as they were fully aware that the Mozambique authorities did not have the resources for clothes DNA testing and sand samples. Remember it is different in these third world countries. They don’t really care and their values of life are different. When it comes to the doctors reports and trace evidence, grab and get what you can as rewards goes a long way.
In a country like England and I use England as an example because I do feel their police would do a proper homicide investigation and there is no way rewards will work as they would have strict protocols and would not hand over any evidence especially clothing off a victim. I don’t even think you would be able to talk with their doctors with an ongoing investigation going on.
Be careful if the Melbourne VIFM doctor does not conclude the same as the overseas doctors as the VIFM doctors are under the same roof as the coroners court and the coroner’s court are very protective of their team. The coroner will take the Melbourne doctors report at the VIFM over any initial doctor autopsy report from overseas. In Elly’s case the evidence at the inquest was so decisive that the cause of death was an abundance of densely chockablock sand obstructing the airways the coroner had no choice but to dismiss the Melbourne’s pathologist undetermined conclusion and state Dr. Klepps cause of death as aspiration of sand obstructing the airways in her conclusion.
The coroner looks at only the relevant facts and there are two parts to someone's death: The cause of death and the manner of which the death occurred.
With the coroner’s court you can call the coroner’s assistant in charge of your case any time and email the coroner’s court any time but once to get representation you can’t do this anymore you need to go through your lawyer. This stops you from direct communication with the court and the court is strict with following the right protocol channels of communication. (Record everything every conversation).
What I recommend you do is if you have either one of you only to have representation that way one can still contact the coroner’s court or (assistant) directly without having representation.
For example, Say mum has a lawyer but dad doesn't. Dad then can still contact the court directly. Not sure if you can do this but if you can I would. It is very handy to still keep the direct communication channel open to the coroner’s court assistant in charge of the case if you get representation and this may be a way you can have both.
Note;- It is the coroner’s inquest NOT YOURS the coroner has full control on how the inquest will be conducted especially with witnesses. If you are not happy before the inquest let the coroner know with a letter asking what you require with the relevant facts why. See my oral submissions Transcript Pg’s 274- 275 Mr Cain made this very clear to me it’s his inquest and he is running it the way he sees fit.
There are authorities who have let down the family. First it was the Mozambique police deception, Melbourne pathologist and the AFP. The family had its back against the wall right from day one and the biggest piece of advice I can give anyone is that if your loved one dies overseas, especially in a third world country, “don't trust anyone and question everyone”. If you want answers you are going to have to take it upon yourself to investigate and find the answers yourself.
There is little support and DFAT can only do so much which is basically inform you at the start what is going on and help with going over there. We found DFAT was fantastic support especially in the first few months but they can’t investigate.
Good luck trying to get the AFP to send a mutual assistance request!! They don’t want to get involved with another country. It's in the too hard basket for them to deal with. I would really not bother as they won’t tell you all the facts anyway, just what they want you to know which is probably not much anyway.
I hope that sharing my experience and advice helps other families who unfortunately find themselves facing similar circumstances as Elly’s family.
A very special thanks to Mr Charlie Bezzina a retired Melbourne Homicide detective he started to help me in 2018 on a Pro bono basis and has given me support and some very important advice.
Also to Hall & Wilcox Lawyers as they have also been supportive and given me advice for well over two years now on a Pro bono basis. They have been very helpful especially with the inquest.
Also Elly’s Travel Insurance company 1Cover, they were fantastic and paid for everything for the three of us to go over to South Africa and bring Elly's body home.
Paul Warren