‘Want justice’: mum’s fresh pain over cold case murder
Tara Cosoleto |
A mother is still seeking answers over her daughter’s cold case murder after a second coroner failed to determine who was responsible.
Joy Membrey, 85, on Wednesday asked Victoria’s State Coroner John Cain how she was meant to live without answers over Elisabeth’s disappearance.
“All I want out of life is my daughter found,” she told Judge Cain on Wednesday.
“I want justice for Elisabeth. That’s all I want.”
Elisabeth Membrey, 22, was last seen leaving her job in the Melbourne suburb of Ringwood late on December 6, 1994.
Police believe she returned home that night and changed into a white T-shirt before she was killed inside the property.
There were significant blood stains on the floor and walls but no signs of forced entry or disturbance.
The only items missing from the home were Ms Membrey’s white T-shirt and her doona.
Police believed she was killed by someone she knew and the perpetrator tried to clean up the evidence before covering her body in the doona and taking her away.
Her body has never been found.
A coroner held an inquest into Ms Membrey’s disappearance in 2000 but could not make findings on the person or persons involved in her death.
Police in 2010 charged Shane Andrew Bond with her murder, claiming he killed Ms Membrey because she rejected his advances.
After an eight-week trial in 2012, a Supreme Court jury found him not guilty of murder.
Police continued to investigate the cold case and in 2023 applied for the coroner to hold another inquest because of new forensic evidence.
They alleged the DNA of Ms Membrey’s housemate’s brother matched DNA found in her car.
The man, who was previously jailed for raping a woman interstate, told detectives he had moved Ms Membrey’s car when it had blocked his sister’s vehicle.
He claimed he was staying with his parents on the night of Ms Membrey’s disappearance.
Detectives believed the man was responsible for Ms Membrey’s murder because of the fresh DNA evidence and his decision to go to Queensland the day after her disappearance.
He allegedly told friends and family he knew what happened to Ms Membrey.
Detectives provided a brief of evidence to the Office of Public Prosecutions but it determined there was no reasonable prospects of convicting the man.
He has never been charged with Ms Membrey’s murder or any other offences related to her disappearance.
Judge Cain on Wednesday found he also could not determine that the man was responsible for Ms Membrey’s death.
“I have concluded the evidence falls just short of the coronial standard of proof,” he told the court.
He apologised to Joy Membrey and her family for failing to provide answers and closure, acknowledging the unimaginable grief and anguish they have experienced.
Mrs Membrey questioned the coroner in response, saying it was unfair and she was confident the accused man was responsible for her daughter’s murder.
“I cannot live another few years not knowing what happened with my daughter,” she said.
Judge Cain reiterated he had reviewed all of the evidence carefully and the hearing was the final stage unless there was other new evidence.
AAP
