Speaker 1: Apodja production.
Speaker 2: This podcast contains talk of suicide and suicidal ladiation. Listener
Speaker 2: discretion is advised for free counseling twenty four hours. In Australia,
Speaker 2: the number for Lifeline is thirteen eleven fourteen.
Speaker 1: Softly pedals fall, the wind whispers in the tree. My
Speaker 1: lifeless body hangs, It hangs for all to see. A
Speaker 1: life's so very precious. Oh Lord, how could this be?
Speaker 3: Evil?
Speaker 1: That night lurked in Saint Helen's by the sea, and
Speaker 1: some don't care to find out what others did to me.
Speaker 1: My life was full and I was loved. I had
Speaker 1: so much to do, but evil one that fateful morn.
Speaker 1: It killed my family too. Why the hate and anger
Speaker 1: as key questions? They are posed, my family forced to
Speaker 1: suffer my suicide supposed I left the shed, and I
Speaker 1: did rome, but never took that rope from home. The
Speaker 1: fight for truth continues. The truth will always out the
Speaker 1: cracks they are appearing, and fear is all about. Hope
Speaker 1: and love prevail justice she awaits. Those who choose to
Speaker 1: cover up will suffer at God's gate. My heart is
Speaker 1: all a flutter as I see you on the lawn.
Speaker 1: My soul is soaring upwards as I seek to be reborn.
Speaker 1: I am swimming with the dolphins in blue but Chili Sea.
Speaker 1: I love you and I thank you for what you've
Speaker 1: done for me.
Speaker 2: Edie, Welcome back to a special episode of Our Little Lady.
Speaker 2: On the eighteenth of February twenty fifteen, fifteen year old
Speaker 2: Eden Westbrook was found hanging in the main street of
Speaker 2: Saint Helen's, the tiny seaside town in Tasmania. It's been
Speaker 2: ten years. The family have searched for answers, a botched
Speaker 2: police investigation, a pedophile cop, and so many unanswered questions
Speaker 2: as where we are ten years later. To commemorate Eden's
Speaker 2: death today, there are two vigils happening in Tasmania, one
Speaker 2: in her hometown of Saint Helen's and the other on
Speaker 2: the lawns of Parliament House in Hobart. The poem you
Speaker 2: heard at the start of this episode was penned by
Speaker 2: an anonymous author who doesn't want to be recognized. However,
Speaker 2: they do want its sentiment to be echoed across Australia.
Speaker 2: In this episode, we'll talk to Jason and Amanda, Eden's
Speaker 2: little sister Sky and her little brother Dante, who were
Speaker 2: both speaking at the vigil in Saint Helen's. We were
Speaker 2: able to speak to Sky and Donte before they actually
Speaker 2: got up and spoke today in Hobart, and we spoke
Speaker 2: to Jason just after they'd done their vigil in Saint Helen's. Jason,
Speaker 2: A big day today.
Speaker 4: How are you feeling, oh, mate, it's been a massive day.
Speaker 4: We actually got up quite early, went down to.
Speaker 5: The park and did our little vigil here for Eden,
Speaker 5: and then Amanda's had to go to work. So where
Speaker 5: it's going to slip up to Lonceston this afternoon and
Speaker 5: spend it with Bobby Lee and the grandchildren and take
Speaker 5: Justine so we're together because as you know, Skey and
Speaker 5: don have been at the vigil this morning in Hobart.
Speaker 2: And so, first of all, you've obviously seen the speeches
Speaker 2: that both Sky and Donnie did today in Hobart. What
Speaker 2: was your feeling reading those, mate?
Speaker 5: I felt privileged to have my children ring me up
Speaker 5: last week and just to read them out to me
Speaker 5: to see how I thought and what my thoughts were
Speaker 5: on their speeches. And I really don't know the word
Speaker 5: to use, because I've noticed in your podcast I use
Speaker 5: the word powerful a lot. Their speeches were more than powerful.
Speaker 5: They were so heartfelt. They brought me to tears, and
Speaker 5: I was just so proud of who they are and
Speaker 5: what they're about and who they're becoming as young adults.
Speaker 2: Jay, there were two virtuals happening today, one in Saint
Speaker 2: Helen's and one in Hobart. The one in Saint Helen's,
Speaker 2: you and Amanda were at the Fisherman's Memorial. Who was
Speaker 2: there and.
Speaker 4: Look pretty quiet and we didn't expect too many people.
Speaker 4: We expected like there was a few more obviously down
Speaker 4: at the hoe Bart.
Speaker 5: However, there was a couple of people that came were
Speaker 5: in support of what we're doing. And the people were
Speaker 5: that came, we were only there a short time. Jay,
Speaker 5: It was just about being there, present at the time
Speaker 5: and paying respect to Eden's sudden death back ten years
Speaker 5: ago to the day.
Speaker 2: Jason, what are you hoping ten years today that your
Speaker 2: daughter passed under mysterious circumstances. What are you hoping on
Speaker 2: the tenth as you know?
Speaker 4: The truth? I just want the truth.
Speaker 5: I want to know what happened to Eden on that night,
Speaker 5: and I don't want the rubber stamped report that we've
Speaker 5: been given and I don't want the lies to continue.
Speaker 4: I want accountability.
Speaker 5: I want to get us to move on with our
Speaker 5: life and put eating at rest, mate. And we're not
Speaker 5: going to be able to let eat and rest until
Speaker 5: this gets finalized.
Speaker 4: And as you know us, our Jay, we're going to
Speaker 4: continue the fight. Mate. We're in our righteousness. We deserve
Speaker 4: to know.
Speaker 5: Eaton deserves for us to find out what happened to her,
Speaker 5: because that girl didn't leave this home on that night.
Speaker 4: To kill USLF. Something terrible went wrong and we want to.
Speaker 5: Know exactly what went wrong so we can prevent it
Speaker 5: for the future, not just for our family, but for
Speaker 5: other people.
Speaker 2: Dante was just nine years old when his big sister
Speaker 2: Eden was found. He spent the last ten years wondering
Speaker 2: what her life might have been. He's the speech that
Speaker 2: he did today on the lawns of Parliament House and Hobart.
Speaker 3: I want each of you here today to look around you.
Speaker 3: Look at the people on the paths, the cars driving by.
Speaker 3: The community is full of life at this time. Most
Speaker 3: people are heading to work or school. Now I want
Speaker 3: you to think on this day, exactly ten years ago,
Speaker 3: there was a fifteen year old girl hanging by a
Speaker 3: rope from a tall tree that stood in a park
Speaker 3: near the center of Saint Helen's. This girl is my sister,
Speaker 3: Eden Jade Westbrook. On this day, my parents witnessed their
Speaker 3: daughter's corpse hanging in a tree. But not only did
Speaker 3: members of my family have to see this, but also
Speaker 3: my community. I'm not just talking about police officers. I'm
Speaker 3: talking about children, retail workers, suicide survivors, and so much more,
Speaker 3: all people who are shocked to see that on the
Speaker 3: foot all day. We believe Eden died in the early
Speaker 3: hours in the morning. You would have expected police to
Speaker 3: have her body covered up or cut down as soon
Speaker 3: as they could have. Instead, the police left Eden, my sister,
Speaker 3: hanging like she was put on shelf, with the whole
Speaker 3: world to see for hours and today, long enough for
Speaker 3: the school bus to go past the park and allow
Speaker 3: students to take photo of her lifeless body.
Speaker 4: I knew Eden so well.
Speaker 3: She would have never wanted that to be her last image.
Speaker 3: She would have never wanted to inflict horror to the
Speaker 3: children and adults who had to bear witness to such
Speaker 3: a tragedy. Eden and every other person standing here today
Speaker 3: would help that they are treated with dignity and respect
Speaker 3: in their death. This right was stripped from Eden, and
Speaker 3: it can never be returned. To this day, my parents
Speaker 3: are still plagued by the image.
Speaker 4: Of their daughter, their little girl, hanging in the treat.
Speaker 3: I can guarantee she would have wanted to be carefully
Speaker 3: taken down and treated like a rose cut from its stem.
Speaker 3: The rose was her favorite flower, and maybe blue her
Speaker 3: favorite color. Eden was so delicate and innocent. She was
Speaker 3: a child, and at the very least, a child deserves
Speaker 3: to be treated not as a hindrance for the police
Speaker 3: to deal with, but as a person. In case, a
Speaker 3: young girl who had just died in suspicious and tragic circumstances.
Speaker 4: Oh Eden, wherever you are, if.
Speaker 3: Anywhere at all, please let the world after your death
Speaker 3: to be filled with the warmth and light you didn't
Speaker 3: have that night. As it's been so long since I've
Speaker 3: had your voice. Because I still can't manage to bring
Speaker 3: myself to listen to videos I've been talking about it,
Speaker 3: reducing me down to tears. I've just been so long
Speaker 3: since I've given you a hug, since I never knew
Speaker 3: that night would be the last chance. I've just been
Speaker 3: so long since you and all my other seven ones
Speaker 3: have gone to the beach together because since you died,
Speaker 3: this family has never been a whole and it never
Speaker 3: will be again. Being a nine year old going through
Speaker 3: such unimaginable grief as a very peculiar feeling. I mean,
Speaker 3: I didn't even know what to do, so mostly I
Speaker 3: did nothing. Because of this, I missed out on what
Speaker 3: makes finally been ten such a big deal. I never
Speaker 3: got the hype of growing up as an adolescent because
Speaker 3: of the odd way I got. I realized Eden was
Speaker 3: so young with Shigain, and every year I got closer
Speaker 3: to turning fifteen. The night when Eden died, it didn't
Speaker 3: just change her life, change the lives of all those
Speaker 3: around her too. I will never get back the years
Speaker 3: that I spent tormented by grief, but what I can
Speaker 3: do is make the most an hour, whether that be
Speaker 3: treating myself to a day out or fighting for the
Speaker 3: truth and justice to be certain in his name. I
Speaker 3: can't change the past, but with others, I can make
Speaker 3: the truth finally revealed and people hunt accountable for the
Speaker 3: emissions and wrongdoings they caused. In Eden's case, Eden will
Speaker 3: never truly rest until she has justice, and nor will we.
Speaker 2: We'll finish this episode with Sky. Sky Westbrook is a
Speaker 2: pillar of strength throughout her family. You've already heard she's
Speaker 2: studying law in an effort to ensure that the tragedy
Speaker 2: that her family suffered doesn't happen to anyone else. Her
Speaker 2: tribute to her big sister is heartfelt and heartbreak.
Speaker 6: Today marks ten years since the day my older sister's
Speaker 6: life was taken far too young. Eden was a smart, talented,
Speaker 6: and kind sister. But most of all, Eden was a person,
Speaker 6: a person who was supposed to be protected by the
Speaker 6: same institutions that she was neglected by. On the day
Speaker 6: of Eden's death, my family was not informed by police
Speaker 6: or an emergency service.
Speaker 4: We were informed.
Speaker 6: By a friend who had witnessed Eden's lifeless body hanging
Speaker 6: in the main street, just like many others did due
Speaker 6: to police who refused to cover a fifteen year old
Speaker 6: girl's hanging corpse. My mother and father begged for Eden's
Speaker 6: body to be covered. They begged for her last piece
Speaker 6: of dignity to be protected, but police refused. They let
Speaker 6: Eden hang for hours while they conducted a poor investigation
Speaker 6: and minimal forensics, which led to no answers. I remember
Speaker 6: hearing the news about how my father had to witness
Speaker 6: his dead daughter's body despite him pleading with authorities he
Speaker 6: did not want, and I remember how my mother just
Speaker 6: wanted to hold her baby one last time. Since this day,
Speaker 6: my family have been plagued with grief while fighting an
Speaker 6: ongoing battle with a system that is supposed to ensure justice,
Speaker 6: a police force which is supposed to protect its community.
Speaker 6: During this time of questioning and fighting, I have seen
Speaker 6: beautiful acts of courage and bravery by the people who
Speaker 6: were willing to challenge an unjust system rather than stand
Speaker 6: idly by and watch as neglects and fails members of
Speaker 6: our community. I have also seen acts of cowardice from
Speaker 6: the systems and institutions that were meant to stand as
Speaker 6: pillars of strength for their people. I see this in
Speaker 6: the institutions that have withheld critical information from my family
Speaker 6: for ten years, in the evidence connected to Eden's case
Speaker 6: that disappeared or was never seized, in the state funeral
Speaker 6: they held for a non pedophile, senior Sergeant Paul Reynolds,
Speaker 6: who signed off Eden's case, And in this fact, they
Speaker 6: cannot bring themselves to take accountability even when they have
Speaker 6: done unspeakable damage. If there is nothing to hide, why
Speaker 6: won't they release the autopsy photos to independent forensic pathologists.
Speaker 6: I was eleven years old when my sister died in
Speaker 6: the main street of my hometown, Saint Helen's. I am
Speaker 6: now twenty one years old, whereas Eden will remain fifteen
Speaker 6: for the rest of my life. My older sister is
Speaker 6: now and forever younger than I will ever be. Due
Speaker 6: to what happened that tragic night. Eden's death and the
Speaker 6: actions of authorities involved change the course of my life.
Speaker 6: I now study law as an attempt to ensure the
Speaker 6: wrongdoing that happened to my family does not happen to
Speaker 6: anyone ever again. Even if it only saves one person
Speaker 6: from the grief my family have endured, it would be
Speaker 6: worth it.
Speaker 4: I do this for Eden.
Speaker 6: I do this for my mum and dad had the
Speaker 6: juggle being the courageous and loving parents they are, were
Speaker 6: haunted by visceral grief that will never leave them. I
Speaker 6: do this for my own closure, and most importantly, I
Speaker 6: do it for the people who have fortunately not experienced
Speaker 6: the heinous things the Tasmanian justice system has done to me,
Speaker 6: my family, and Eden. The approach has taken has been
Speaker 6: lacking in genuine compassion and respect. Surely we are entitled
Speaker 6: to the truth. Eden was capable of achieving so much
Speaker 6: good in this world. I knew that even as a
Speaker 6: child she was robbed of so many opportunities, But even
Speaker 6: in depth, Eden's ability to create love, passion, and kindness
Speaker 6: has extended past her short and vibrant life. I know
Speaker 6: all these achievements will never be lived, but I am
Speaker 6: still proud of you. Eden. A high school from which
Speaker 6: you will never graduate. I'm still proud of you for
Speaker 6: the career which you will never pursue. I'm still proud
Speaker 6: of you for a wedding you will never have. And
Speaker 6: I'm still so proud of you for all the kindness
Speaker 6: you would have shown in the world if you were
Speaker 6: still here today.
Speaker 2: You've got so much strength. Tasmania and Australia will be
Speaker 2: blessed to have someone in law like you, to be
Speaker 2: able to represent the people when stuff like this happens.
Speaker 6: And that's why I do it, because when anything like
Speaker 6: this happens to anyone, they're a person and they're entitled
Speaker 6: to justice and dignity and respect, no matter their status,
Speaker 6: no matter where they come from like everyone is entitled
Speaker 6: to basic, basic empathy,