Speaker 1: Just before nine o'clock last night, the jury returned guilty
Speaker 1: verdicts against all three defendants.
Speaker 2: It was absolute shambles, to tell you the truth, just
Speaker 2: absolutely really.
Speaker 1: Colored blood on his clothing the day after the alleged a.
Speaker 3: Top a shallow mud bank and the bits through a river.
Speaker 1: Basically, I think most of the people are used to
Speaker 1: me are good people.
Speaker 3: I think a really important question we need to ask
Speaker 3: is how many Indigenous prisoners in Australia are innocent.
Speaker 2: This is Curtain, a podcast where we pull back the
Speaker 2: blinds to shine a light on the darkest parts of
Speaker 2: our justice system and ask who are the victims. I'm
Speaker 2: Amy Maguire.
Speaker 3: And I'm Martin Hodgson, a senior advocate for the Fine
Speaker 3: Prisoner Support Service. And a warning, this series contains the
Speaker 3: names of deceased peoples and has distressing content that might
Speaker 3: upset some listeners.
Speaker 4: Throughout the Curtain podcast series, we've spoken considerably about two
Speaker 4: key issues, the police investigation and its flaws and what
Speaker 4: it says about the way the police conducted the investigation
Speaker 4: into the death and murder of Linda and how that
Speaker 4: caught up Kevin Henry. And also we've spoken a lot
Speaker 4: about parole. Last week we spoke about some of the
Speaker 4: further flows we'd uncovered in the police investigation, and this
Speaker 4: week we're going to speak about that issue a little
Speaker 4: bit more broadly in relation to Rockhampton, Queensland, where sadly
Speaker 4: Linda died and where Kevin still spends his life behind bars.
Speaker 4: Some twenty six years later, in the year two thousand,
Speaker 4: a man named Leonard Fraser was found guilty and given
Speaker 4: a life sentence for the rape and murder of a
Speaker 4: nine year old girl. That's despite the fact he'd spent
Speaker 4: almost twenty the preceding twenty two years behind bars for
Speaker 4: the rape of another woman. This was a clearly deranged individual,
Speaker 4: and yet somehow he got parole. A few years later,
Speaker 4: in two thousand and three, he was on trial for
Speaker 4: the murder of more women. This was in the Supreme
Speaker 4: Court of Queensland, just like Kevin Henry was placed on
Speaker 4: trial in the Supreme Court of Queensland. It was believed
Speaker 4: at the time that mister Fraser had done a deal
Speaker 4: with police on some of the issues, and again it
Speaker 4: largely revolved around a confession. One of the victims was
Speaker 4: said to be fourteen year old Natasha Ryan but during
Speaker 4: the trial. This occurred.
Speaker 1: First did by ten News with Georgina Louis Jeff Mullen
Speaker 1: believing I'm Jeff Mullen and I'm Georgina Lewis. There's to
Speaker 1: be a crime and a misconduct commission investigation into how
Speaker 1: police ignored a tip off that alleged murder victim Natasha
Speaker 1: Ryan was still alive. A counseling service received a call
Speaker 1: from a woman answering her description several weeks ago. Today,
Speaker 1: Natasha's father told of the joy and pain of discovering
Speaker 1: his long lost daughter after years of believing she had
Speaker 1: been murdered. He spoke exclusively to ten News.
Speaker 4: On April eleventh, two thousand and three. Literally during the
Speaker 4: murder trial where Natasha was said to be one of
Speaker 4: the victims. The police prosecutor stood up and announced that
Speaker 4: he was pleased to inform the court that Fraser was
Speaker 4: not guilty of this particular murder. Natasha Ryan's father nearly collapsed.
Speaker 4: As you can imagine, his daughter had been missing for
Speaker 4: five years. So how had the police charged a man
Speaker 4: with murder over someone who was still clearly alive. That's
Speaker 4: an issue we'll get back to in a moment. But
Speaker 4: Amy was living in rock Hampton at the time when
Speaker 4: Leonard Fraser went on this horrific spury, and we should
Speaker 4: make it clear that he was absolutely guilty of a
Speaker 4: number of these murders and rapes, and it was a
Speaker 4: frightening time for the people of rock Hampton. Amy, what
Speaker 4: do you remember about that time?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So this happened in the late nineties to the
Speaker 2: early two thousands, and I remember it well because I
Speaker 2: was only about twelve at the time, but I remember
Speaker 2: that there was a great deal of fear amongst the community,
Speaker 2: and it was a fear felt by not only adults
Speaker 2: but also children. And I remember one day being down
Speaker 2: at the soccer fields with my young cousin, who was
Speaker 2: only a couple of years younger than me at the time,
Speaker 2: and to be the soccer field right next to the
Speaker 2: place that we've shown in witness statements that it's very
Speaker 2: likely the two perpetrators actually put Linda's body in the river,
Speaker 2: And I remember sitting there with my young cousin and
Speaker 2: we were watching the flashes of orange amongst the long
Speaker 2: grass to our just in front of us, just above
Speaker 2: the heads of the children playing soccer, and they were
Speaker 2: the sees workers looking for the body of this young
Speaker 2: girl named Kira Steinhart, and she'd gone missing, and she
Speaker 2: was only ten at the time. And I just remember
Speaker 2: my young cousin, who'd actually been in her class at school,
Speaker 2: looking up at me with this fear in his eyes
Speaker 2: and asking my father and me whether they would find her.
Speaker 2: And so I think it really showed not only the
Speaker 2: grief within the community around the disappearance and death of
Speaker 2: this young girl, Kira Steinhart, but also the real fear.
Speaker 2: And it was a fear that was felt right across
Speaker 2: rock Hampden because this man who had killed this young girl,
Speaker 2: his name was Leonard Fraser. He'd actually gone on a
Speaker 2: murdering spree. He had actually killed three other women in
Speaker 2: a very short space of time. And rock Hampden only
Speaker 2: has a population of sixty thousand. So the fact we
Speaker 2: had a serial killer in our midst and Leonard Fraser
Speaker 2: was only was also out on parole at the time
Speaker 2: from a really horrendous rape that he'd committed, it really
Speaker 2: gave a sense that rock Hampden wasn't just a murder
Speaker 2: capital in Queensland, but a murder capital in the whole
Speaker 2: of Australia. And I remember seeing something to that effect
Speaker 2: on one of the national news bulletins. And the other
Speaker 2: thing is this incident.
Speaker 3: It really.
Speaker 2: The other thing is this period of time. It really
Speaker 2: showed to me and I think it really drummed home
Speaker 2: that rock Hampden seems to have this dark underbelly right
Speaker 2: under the surface. And I think it shows in a
Speaker 2: lot of the cases that we've looked at, and particularly
Speaker 2: the case of Linda, that there's something in this land,
Speaker 2: there's something in this water, in this river that lends
Speaker 2: himself to this really that lends itself to this really
Speaker 2: horrendous things that happen along the bank of the Fitzroy River.
Speaker 2: And this was just one of those really really dark
Speaker 2: periods in rock Hamden's history that anyone who is living
Speaker 2: in rock Hampden at the time finds it very, very
Speaker 2: difficult to forget.
Speaker 4: And one of the reasons we've raised about why some
Speaker 4: of these murders have taken place, why some of these
Speaker 4: crimes like that of Linda's murder remain unsolved and the
Speaker 4: wrong man is imprisoned. Kevin Henry directly relates to the
Speaker 4: police here in Leonard Fraser. We have a case where
Speaker 4: absolutely he killed quite a number of women. It's believed
Speaker 4: he could have killed up to seven, although he was
Speaker 4: never convicted of all the murders that he'd committed. But
Speaker 4: the judge in his case said this about the fact
Speaker 4: that Natasha Ryan, who'd gone missing, had been found during
Speaker 4: his murder trial, and Natasha Ryan was alleged to be
Speaker 4: one of the victims. Even this murderer, this despicable man,
Speaker 4: Leonard Fraser, how could he have committed a murder when
Speaker 4: young Natasha was still alive? And the judge was quite
Speaker 4: brutal on the media and the police. Here's what he
Speaker 4: said about the media. Justice Brian Ambrose heavily criticized the
Speaker 4: media for commenting on the value of confessions to crimes
Speaker 4: made to police under duress or to other prisoners while
Speaker 4: in custody when no or little corroborating evidence exists, And
Speaker 4: we can quite clearly see how that's played out in
Speaker 4: Kevin Henry's trial, where there is no other evidence other
Speaker 4: than a confession made under duress. And not only did
Speaker 4: the media come in for criticism, so too did the police,
Speaker 4: who were referred over the matter to the Crime and
Speaker 4: Misconduct Commission. But this would not be the first time
Speaker 4: that the police in Rockhampton would face the scrutiny of
Speaker 4: the Crime and Misconduct Commission.
Speaker 2: So, Mardin, the case of Leonard Fraser really dominated rock
Speaker 2: Hampden's thoughts, the media, even the national media at the time.
Speaker 2: But around the same time, another case was being overshadowed. Martin,
Speaker 2: can you tell our listeners a little bit about that case.
Speaker 4: That murder case ran over three separate trials for just
Speaker 4: one of the people who was alleged to be involved.
Speaker 4: Her name was miss Anne Aboud. The victim was her
Speaker 4: then boyfriend Ivan Michale. She said this in two thousand
Speaker 4: and four. I used to read about people being charged
Speaker 4: and assumed their guilt. I learned through my case the
Speaker 4: importance of the word alleged. That's because she faced three
Speaker 4: separate trials. She was first acquitted, then in the second
Speaker 4: trial she was convicted, and in the third trial she
Speaker 4: was acquitted yet again. She spent many months in prison
Speaker 4: throughout this time and it destroyed her life.
Speaker 2: So, Madam, this is an incredibly interesting case that not
Speaker 2: many people actually know about, of the same court system.
Speaker 2: It involved the same Rockhampton police. So Martin, you did
Speaker 2: just say Anne Aboud was acquitted and she did serve
Speaker 2: jail time during this period, But what were the rock
Speaker 2: Hampden Police's involvement in this?
Speaker 4: So, just as we spoke about with Leonard Fraser and
Speaker 4: the police being referred to the Crime and Misconduct Commission,
Speaker 4: this murder case that went for three separate trials, finally
Speaker 4: acquitting miss Aboud, who was clearly innocent of any involvement
Speaker 4: in the murder of her boyfriend for which other people
Speaker 4: would be convicted. Once again, the police were referred to
Speaker 4: the Crime and Misconduct Commission four months after a major
Speaker 4: operation began into the police's involvement in such misconduct and
Speaker 4: mishandling of cases quick till findings were handed down about
Speaker 4: the way they treated miss Abode. A senior sergeant from
Speaker 4: Rockhampton had failed to comply with police guidelines and police powers.
Speaker 4: He'd unlawfully detained Miss Abode and then lied to the
Speaker 4: Crime and misconduct investigators during a disciplinary interview. Another police officer,
Speaker 4: this time a senior constable, was also found to have
Speaker 4: failed to comply with the legislation. He had not obtained
Speaker 4: the proper requirement to extend the incarceration of miss Abode
Speaker 4: and had also been involved in an illegal phone tap
Speaker 4: where a telephone was tapped without a warrant first being obtained.
Speaker 4: So not only was Miss Abode held in prison for many,
Speaker 4: many months for a crime she had no part in,
Speaker 4: not only was she finally acquitted after the stress of
Speaker 4: three trials. All of this going on at the same
Speaker 4: time as the police of rock Hampton were under the
Speaker 4: microscope for their failings in mister Fraser's case. The very
Speaker 4: same police of Rockampton were breaking the law by detaining
Speaker 4: mister Boode without authority, by tapping phones and lying when
Speaker 4: they were under investigation. Clearly something was up with the
Speaker 4: police in rock Hampton, and it's quite obvious. We've suggested
Speaker 4: that throughout this podcast that it also relates to the
Speaker 4: case of Kevin Henry.
Speaker 2: But despite what you've already heard in this episode about
Speaker 2: rock Hampden Police, there was a case around this period
Speaker 2: that was even worse.
Speaker 4: This involves a career criminal named Lee Henderson. In nineteen
Speaker 4: eighty eight eight he went into the home of a
Speaker 4: young mother, raped and killed her. Now a report would
Speaker 4: later find that and I quote, if the National Crime
Speaker 4: Authority and the New South Wales Police had not been
Speaker 4: taken in by Lee Henderson's lies, a young Gold Coast
Speaker 4: mother would still be alive to watch her two children
Speaker 4: grow up. So how does this involve the Rockhampton Police.
Speaker 4: Well after he was convicted, mister Henderson spent time in
Speaker 4: a number of Queensland prisons, including Capricornia Correctional Center where
Speaker 4: Kevin Henry is today. And it was here that the
Speaker 4: Rockhampton Police became heavily involved in the life of mister Henderson.
Speaker 4: They began to assist mister Henderson, a man in prison
Speaker 4: for the rape and murder of a young mother. One
Speaker 4: officer who'd assisted mister Henderson received this gift card that
Speaker 4: it is alleged at the time by the Crime Misconduct
Speaker 4: Commission also contained a cash gift. This is what mister Henderson,
Speaker 4: this career criminal and murderer, said in a card to
Speaker 4: a Queensland Rockhampton police officer. I've always regarded you as
Speaker 4: one of my best mates and also the best partner
Speaker 4: I've ever had. Here's a little gift of thanks for
Speaker 4: you love always the General.
Speaker 2: So Martin. That shows a very close relationship between this
Speaker 2: man convicted of rape and murder and the Rockhampton Police.
Speaker 2: What do you take from the fact that he gave
Speaker 2: them a card signed with the General.
Speaker 4: So what we were to find out as part of
Speaker 4: Operation Capri This was an operation conducted by the Crime
Speaker 4: and Misconduct Commission that took in the police actions involving
Speaker 4: mister Fraser, the serial killer from Rockhampton, that looked at
Speaker 4: the police investigation of miss Aboot, who was clearly innocent
Speaker 4: and yet faced time in prison and three separate trials
Speaker 4: over a murder she didn't commit. It also looked at
Speaker 4: the Rockhampton police in general and inspected the Rockhampton Police station.
Speaker 4: This is where Kevin Henry gave his supposed confession, the
Speaker 4: one that was taken under duress, and where Kevin Henry
Speaker 4: was held in two thousand and six, despite warnings as
Speaker 4: far back as the eighties that the National Crime Authority
Speaker 4: shouldn't have been dealing with this mister Henderson, that the
Speaker 4: new south Ward Arles and Queensland Police shouldn't have been
Speaker 4: dealing with mister Henderson in two thousand and six, twenty
Speaker 4: years after his criminal career had begun, and while being
Speaker 4: held in Capricornia Correctional Center near Rockhampton for the rape
Speaker 4: and murder of a young Mather. Mister Henderson had a
Speaker 4: locker at the police station in Rockhampton, and his nickname,
Speaker 4: the General, was on that locker. In that locker, the
Speaker 4: police kept for him a large variety of items. A
Speaker 4: black leather jacket and a black swede jacket, a denim jacket,
Speaker 4: multiple pairs of blue jeans, black long trousers, long sleeve shirts, ties,
Speaker 4: pairs of running shoes and more fancy dress shoes, a
Speaker 4: false police birth certificate, a fancy watch, sunglasses, a and
Speaker 4: many other things. Now, why did Rockhampton police have a
Speaker 4: locker for a convicted criminal, why did it have his
Speaker 4: nickname on that locker? And what did police say about
Speaker 4: the existence of that locker when it was discovered by
Speaker 4: the Crime and Misconduct Commission. Despite being interviewed, the police
Speaker 4: officers from Rockhampton Police station all claimed to be unaware
Speaker 4: of the various items of clothing that were being kept
Speaker 4: I quote from the report. None of the officers were
Speaker 4: able to explain where or how the items had been acquired,
Speaker 4: and all claimed to have no detailed knowledge of the
Speaker 4: locker's contents. In the case of the birth certificate, there
Speaker 4: was also there was also a simcard stored with that
Speaker 4: birth certificate, and once again, no police officer would give
Speaker 4: any information to the Crime and Misconduct Commission as to
Speaker 4: how that simcard or that forged birth certificate got into
Speaker 4: a police locker. But here's what we do know. Mister
Speaker 4: Henderson was visited at Capricornia Correctional Center many many times
Speaker 4: with police. Not only was he visited, he was taken
Speaker 4: on daily outings. He was allowed to consort with known criminals.
Speaker 4: He was allowed to collect money, two thousand dollars of
Speaker 4: which were deposited into his prison bank account. He was
Speaker 4: allowed to attend a bar. This is why these civilian
Speaker 4: clothes were at the Rockhampton police station so he could
Speaker 4: do such things. It was also disclosed in the CMC
Speaker 4: report that the police had involved in improper disclosure of
Speaker 4: confidential information to mister Henderson. Mister Henderson was also paid
Speaker 4: a reward of five thousand dollars for helping solve a
Speaker 4: crime that he didn't in fact solve. He'd suggested to
Speaker 4: a known criminal when he was allowed to meet that
Speaker 4: criminal having been removed from the prison by police, that
Speaker 4: he could help that criminal get a charge dropped a
Speaker 4: firearmor fence. That charge was dropped and The reward forgetting
Speaker 4: that charge dropped was given to mister Henderson, a convicted
Speaker 4: murderer and rapist, by the police. The police would have
Speaker 4: other more personal dealings. As I read earlier, One officer
Speaker 4: received a gift card from mister Henderson, but he wasn't alone.
Speaker 4: Another was signed off on by Henderson Love the General.
Speaker 4: Mister Henderson was so close to these police officers he
Speaker 4: even sent a congratulation message when one of these officers
Speaker 4: had had a newborn baby, and despite being held in prison,
Speaker 4: mister Henderson knew the name of that baby and used
Speaker 4: it in his congratulations card to that officer. This was
Speaker 4: all going on throughout the same period of the three
Speaker 4: trials of miss A Bird and the trial of mister Fraser,
Speaker 4: a convicted rapist and murderer. In every case, the CMC
Speaker 4: were called in to investigate the police of Rockhampton, and
Speaker 4: just like in the case of mister Henry, miss A
Speaker 4: Bird was found guilty of a crime she didn't commit,
Speaker 4: and in the case of mister Fraser, a confession he
Speaker 4: made to a crime was so inaccurate and under such
Speaker 4: duress that the alleged murder victim turned up alive during
Speaker 4: his trial, the question has to be asked, what was
Speaker 4: going on at Rockhampton police station. What was going on
Speaker 4: when Kevin Henry was arrested and was still going on
Speaker 4: more than fifteen years later. These are the police who
Speaker 4: were able to get Kevin Henry convicted of a crime
Speaker 4: for which there is simply no evidence but a confession
Speaker 4: taken by these police. Having heard what you've heard today,
Speaker 4: having heard what we've mentioned throughout this podcast about the
Speaker 4: police's investigation, the way they treated forensic material and evidence,
Speaker 4: the way they treated witnesses, the fact they charged two
Speaker 4: sets of people with Linda's murder supposedly occurring in two
Speaker 4: separate situations. Can you have any confidence in the fact
Speaker 4: that Kevin Henry is guilty based on the investigation done
Speaker 4: by these police?
Speaker 2: So Martin, what's coming out in this episode. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's astonishing for me to think that the police in
Speaker 2: my hometown could have actually acted like this, particularly in
Speaker 2: the case of Leonard Fraser, who, although he was a murderer,
Speaker 2: was still forced to confess to a crime that he
Speaker 2: couldn't possibly have committed because Natasha Ryan was later found
Speaker 2: alive and well. But also how they treated a vulnerable
Speaker 2: woman and a boud her life was ruined because of
Speaker 2: the police misconduct in this case. But also the other
Speaker 2: astonishing thing is just the lengths the police went to
Speaker 2: in supporting a convicted murderer and rapist. But it's even
Speaker 2: more astonished thinking that all of these cases were investigated
Speaker 2: by the Crime and Misconduct Commission, and you've quoted directly
Speaker 2: from the report, so it was, it had all come out,
Speaker 2: it had all been investigated quite thoroughly. Were there any
Speaker 2: repercussions for these police officers involved in any of these
Speaker 2: three cases?
Speaker 4: Sadly there wasn't. Once again we see the police commit
Speaker 4: acts that would see other members of the general public
Speaker 4: clearly imprisoned. One of these officers had even received a
Speaker 4: loan of some eight thousand dollars. Others had helped mister
Speaker 4: Henderson to distribute money, while mister Henderson gave a bogus
Speaker 4: tip off that the police followed up on. It enabled
Speaker 4: his crime syndicate to steal back a weapon and two
Speaker 4: hundred and fifty thousand dollars from a house nearby while
Speaker 4: the police was supposedly distracted. Despite all that, the police
Speaker 4: commissioner at the time accepted the responsibility for the misconduct,
Speaker 4: but claimed it wasn't widespread. This is a claim that's
Speaker 4: very hard to believe. He also said that these police
Speaker 4: officers had always started out with good intentions of solving
Speaker 4: serious crimes. Well, quite clearly they hadn't solved serious crimes,
Speaker 4: and he simply claimed that they'd lost their way and
Speaker 4: that perhaps there needed to be a greater effort for
Speaker 4: supervision because and I quote he said some had made
Speaker 4: very very poor decisions. That would be an understatement of
Speaker 4: gigantic proportions. But as for any responsibility or punishment, there
Speaker 4: simply wasn't any, despite the Crime and Misconduct Commission having
Speaker 4: to be called in on seemingly every every murder trial
Speaker 4: in Rockhampton, where there was issues raised in each and
Speaker 4: every of those cases as to the police conduct. And
Speaker 4: we're not talking about police conduct revolving around small issues
Speaker 4: or small time criminals. We're talking about three separate murder
Speaker 4: trials where one an innocent woman spent time in prison
Speaker 4: and went through three separate trials for a crime she
Speaker 4: didn't commit. In one case, the police could have bungled
Speaker 4: the conviction of a serial killer, a man who was
Speaker 4: known to rape and murder children, as young as nine,
Speaker 4: and yet the police still committed serious and grave misconduct.
Speaker 4: And in another case, that of mister Henderson, the Rockhampton
Speaker 4: Police were assisting a known criminal, a rapist and murderer,
Speaker 4: mister Henderson, and yet there would be no punishment for them.
Speaker 4: But this won't be the first time you'll hear about
Speaker 4: the Crime and Misconduct Commission in this podcast, because in
Speaker 4: the case of Kevin Henry, there are serious questions to
Speaker 4: be answered.
Speaker 2: Now, all of the cases we've mentioned in this episode
Speaker 2: happened to non Indigenous people. So if you've been listening
Speaker 2: to this podcast and have had trouble believing that the
Speaker 2: police are incapable of doing the things that we've said
Speaker 2: they've done in relation to Kevin Henry's case, consider this
Speaker 2: that fifteen years after the nineteen ninety one Fitzgerald inquiry
Speaker 2: into police corruption in Queensland handed down, around the same time,
Speaker 2: Kevin Henry was picked up for the murder of Linda,
Speaker 2: a murder that he did not do, this was still happening.
Speaker 2: That was episode thirty eight of Curtain