Casefile True Crime - Case 152: Cindy & Mona Lisa Smith

Episode Date: August 8, 2020

Note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this episode contains the names of people who have passed away. The families of Cindy and Mona Lisa Smith have given Casefile permission to air this content. --- Episode narrated by the Anonymous Host Researched by Jessica Forsayeth Written by Erin Munro Creative Director: Milly Raso For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-152-cindy-mona-lisa-smith

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this episode contains the names of people who have passed away. The families of Cindy and Mona Lisa Smith have given case file permission to wear this content.

Cousins Jacinta Rose and Mona Lisa Smith had been inseparable since childhood. The two girls were just one year apart in age and grew up close to one another in the small town of Burke, located in central northern New South Wales. Jacinta, who was the younger of the two, was better known by her nickname of Cindy. She was born on October 23, 1972 and was the youngest of seven children, with four brothers and two sisters. She lived with her mother Iona Dawn Smith and her siblings in a house on the east side of town.

She was often looked after by her brother Lloyd, who was seven years her senior. Mona Lisa's family resided on an Aboriginal reserve named the Alice Edwards Village, which was located about two and a half kilometres west of Burke. And by locals as the reserve, the Alice Edwards Village consisted of 20 cottages, which were run down and overcrowded. It was entirely populated by Indigenous Australians from two families, the Edwards and the Smiths. Siblings, cousins and other extended family members lived side by side, and the close community provided a sense of safety and belonging to its residents.

Mona Lisa was born on November 29, 1971, to parents June Smith and Dougie Shillingsworth. On the night she was born, her father had walked to Burke Hospital to visit June and their newborn, singing Nat King Cole's song Mona Lisa the entire way. This led the couple to name their baby girl after the famous song. They also had another daughter Fiona and four sons. Dougie held big dreams for all of his children, hoping that they would have good jobs and lead successful lives. The close knit family spent their evenings together dancing and singing, but when Mona

Lisa was just six years old, Dougie suffered a heart attack and passed away. Cindy and Mona attended primary school together before enrolling at the same high school. They were both happy-go-lucky, popular, kind and well-liked. Cindy was the nurturing type, taking on babysitting duties and caring for her younger cousins when needed. Mona also babysat for her cousins and was sporty, playing regularly in a netball team. When Cindy was in her early teens she left high school and Mona followed suit at the end of 1987 when she was 16 years old.

Cindy, who was now 15, often travelled the short distance to the reserve to spend time with Mona and her family. The two girls occasionally got up to mischief together, but they were well-behaved and widely regarded as good kids. Because there wasn't a lot to do in Burke, which was a remote outback town, they would spend their time hanging out with friends, visiting parks and swimming and fishing at the nearby Darling River. On Saturday, December 5, 1987, Cindy and Mona spent the day together and accompanied one

of their aunties to a nearby park. By the time evening fell, the two of them had decided to go into town. Burke was a small town with a population of just 3,400 people. It was originally home to the Namba people, but when white settlers arrived in the area during the mid-1800s, these traditional landholders were dispossessed. Like all indigenous people across Australia, the Namba people battled a loss of land and culture, were hit hard by European disease, and experienced conflict with colonists. By the late 19th century, their population had dwindled.

While some continued to live a traditional lifestyle in the region surrounding Burke, others found employment on nearby cattle stations. In the 1940s, Burke's indigenous population grew again when displaced people from other regions arrived. The majority of these indigenous settlers were Wonka Mara people from the far northwest of New South Wales, and they included some of Cindy Smith's relatives. By the late 1980s, Burke was home to a mix of indigenous and white Australians, as well as itinerant workers who worked on the cotton farms in the surrounding area.

Aboriginal people in the community were often subjected to racism and discrimination, and the town had a high crime rate, with significant levels of alcohol and drug abuse. Despite this, Mona Smith's sister Fiona told Casephile it generally felt like a safe place to live. Neither Cindy nor Mona had ever travelled far from their hometown. The furthest away they had been was the town of Angonia, located 97km north of Burke. Both girls were well known in their community and had a number of friends and acquaintances around town.

On the evening of Saturday, December 5, they headed into Burke at around 7.30pm. As it was early summer, there was still daylight when they arrived. Cindy, who was the smaller of the two, was wearing a blue, yellow and white striped t-shirt, black track suit pants, and blue and white runners. Mona was dressed in black track suit pants and navy blue hoodie with the words Perisher Valley on the hood, white and blue football socks with red trim, and a pair of runners. The two girls went to the home of Mona's cousin, 18-year-old Daniel Booth, then hung out near his house for a little while.

At around 9pm, they were seen walking back to the reserve. At 4am on the morning of Sunday, December 6, three farm workers and their wives left a farm north of Burke to drive to a small town over the state border in southern Queensland. It was still dark outside when the six of them piled into two separate four-wheel drives and made their way to the nearby Mitchell Highway, which is a key road link connecting New South Wales with Queensland. Locals refer to the stretch of highway between Burke and the nearest town to the north, Angonia, as the Angonia Road.

The rural two-lane roadway measures about six metres wide and is bordered by red dirt and sparse patches of scrub, with taller trees growing slightly further away. After travelling for about 30 minutes along Angonia Road, the driver of the first vehicle, Farm Foreman Tex Johnson, spotted a horrific scene. A white 1985 Toyota Hilux Ute sat wrecked by the side of the highway, with its driver's side roofs smashed in and its windscreen lying on the ground. Nearby, along the shoulder of the road, was a body lying face down. Tex told his wife Adele to stay in the car while he got out to inspect the crash.

He approached the body and saw that it belonged to an adolescent Aboriginal girl. She had seemingly been tossed from the car, then rolled into a hollow dirt area by the side of the road that functioned as a drain. The girl had sustained severe injuries and was deceased. She was wearing black Traxupants and a navy blue hoodie, the same outfit that Burke teen Mona Lisa Smith had been wearing the previous day. Adele then called out of the car window that she could see two more bodies near some scrub by the side of the road.

By this time, the second four-wheel drive had arrived and pulled over. It was being driven by Tex's brother Shane Batty, who had also gotten out to survey the scene. Tex approached the bodies that his wife had noticed. They were lying alongside one another on a sheet of tarpaulin that looked as though it had been neatly laid out on the ground. One of the bodies was that of an Aboriginal girl dressed in the clothes of Mona Lisa's cousin Cindy, a blue, yellow and white striped t-shirt and black Traxupants.

While her t-shirt covered her torso and upper legs, her pants and underwear were both down around her ankles. A middle-aged white man lay next to her, his left arm draped across her chest. On one corner of the tarpaulin, sat a half-empty bottle of beer. Shane checked the girl for a pulse, but found none. As the two brothers assessed the scene, the man lying alongside the girl stirred and came to, appearing groggy but uninjured. Shane informed the man that the two teenage girls in his company were both deceased and

referred to them using a racial slur. The man looked up and insisted Shane was wrong, explaining that the two girls had too much to drink. He then lay down again, resuming his original position next to the deceased teenager. Shane got back into his vehicle and drove to Angonia to report the crash, while everyone else stayed behind at the scene. Tex again attempted to inform the man that the girls were both dead, but he became abusive in response, telling Tex to fuck off.

Eventually, Tex, the other farmhand, and the women decided to follow Shane to Angonia, which was 34km north of their location. It was 5am when Shane arrived at Angonia and alerted the police. Constables Kevin Harper and Ken McKenzie set out immediately, arriving at the scene of the crash at 5.45. They saw Mona Lisa Smith's body lying by the shoulder of the roadway and a man standing by the damaged Toyota Hilux near the Tarpaulin where Cindy Smith lay. The officers noticed that Cindy's t-shirt was up around her neck, revealing her breasts,

and her left leg was bent at the knee, lying at an angle to the rest of her body and exposing her genitals. Upon approaching the man, the two officers saw he appeared to be heavily intoxicated and confused. He was dirty and disheveled, dressed in a khaki shirt, matching pants and work boots. His speech was slurred as he told the two policemen that he had been in the crash and was driving the ute at the time. Constable McKenzie went to cover Cindy's naked body with an excess portion of the tarp,

and as he did so, the man asked, they're only asleep aren't they? Constable McKenzie replied angrily that both girls were dead, but the man continued to insist they were merely sleeping. The officers asked the man to explain what had happened and where he had been travelling to. He responded that he didn't know what occurred, but he had been driving from Burke to North Burke, which was about a 10 kilometer distance. He was surprised to learn he was actually 63 kilometers from Burke.

Suddenly, he pointed at Mona and told the officers, quote, she was driving. The man was identified as 40-year-old Alexander Grant, who explained that he'd been drinking the previous day at several pubs in Burke. He didn't know the names of the two girls, but they had asked him for a lift to the North Burke Hotel. To the officers, it appeared that Grant was still very intoxicated. His eyes were bloodshot, his speech was occasionally incoherent, and his breath smelled strongly of alcohol.

At times, he seemed to struggle to stand upright and supported himself by leaning against the police car. Constable McKenzie inspected the man's Toyota Hilux and noted there was extensive damage to the roof, the front passenger panels, and the driver's side. All of the tires appeared to be in good condition, but the rear passenger side rim was buckled. The windscreen was lying on the ground, as were a number of tools and pieces of equipment. It was a manual vehicle and only had two doors, both of which were jammed shut. Constable McKenzie reached through the driver's window to check the steering wheel and saw

that the keys were missing from the ignition. The road itself was about six metres wide, and the sealed bitumen was in good condition, with wide table drain on both sides of the road. The speed limit on the highway was 100 kilometres per hour. At 6am, two ambulances arrived from Burke. Grants' vital signs were checked and found to be normal. When Grant overheard Constable McKenzie telling an ambulance officer that he had been driving the vehicle, he shouted out, no, she was the driver, and again pointed at Mona.

The paramedics confirmed that both girls were deceased, before transferring Grant to hospital for a more thorough examination. As he was being driven to the hospital, Grant asked if they could stop in at the caravan park where he lived so he could tell his wife what had happened, but the ambulance officer refused. A second ambulance transported the girls' bodies to Burke to be autopsyed, while a tow truck took the Toyota Hilux to Angonia police station. By 7.30am, a detective from Burke named Peter Esmond had arrived at the crash site.

Detective Esmond examined the scene and noticed a second empty bottle of beer in addition to the one on the tarpaulin that was half-consumed, as well as an almost empty bottle of rum inside the vehicle. Constable McKenzie drew a detailed sketch of the site, including measurements of the road, the proximity of the bodies to the vehicle, and skid marks left by the tyres. He later surmised how the crash had unfolded in a statement. Quote, As the vehicle travelled along a straight portion of roadway about 260 metres off the Burke 63 kilometre marker peg, the driver has lost

control of the vehicle, and the vehicle has left the left side of the roadway and travelled with the nearside wheels in the gravel for a distance of approximately 32 metres. The vehicle has then veered to the centre of the roadway in a curve for a distance of about 36 metres before veering to the nearside of the roadway again. The vehicle has again left the roadway on the western side and travelled a distance of 35 metres in a left-hand broadside and then rolled over. The vehicle rolled once and came to rest on its wheels again near the side of the bitumen and then rolled back down the slight embankment of the roadway shoulder and stopped on the

edge of the light scrub. The vehicle is expected to be a total write-off as a result of the accident. Alexander Grant was examined at the hospital where it was confirmed that he had only sustained a knock to his head and grazed elbows. Testing revealed he had a blood alcohol content of 0.159, more than three times the legal limit in Australia. Grant was 40 years old and had grown up in Hamilton, New Zealand. After finishing school, he took up intermittent work on farms and construction sites.

By 1970, he'd been married and divorced and he moved to Australia in 1977 at the age of 30. He had dark hair that he combed back over his head and a thin face and build and was five feet ten inches tall. For a time, Grant resided in the northern New South Wales town of Moree where he worked various jobs in excavation. By the early 1980s, he'd had a number of encounters with the police due to his pattern of drinking and driving.

In late October 1980, he was picked up for drink driving and had his driver's license disqualified for three months. The following month, he was again arrested for driving while drunk and had a blood alcohol reading of more than twice the legal limit. He had a further six months added to his license disqualification, was placed on a good behaviour bond for three years and fined $1,500. Two months later, in February 1981, Grant was booked for speeding. Even though he was still disqualified from driving, the charge was dismissed after no

concrete proof could be offered that he was exceeding the speed limit. In May 1983, Grant was arrested for driving while disqualified and was fined $800 and disqualified from driving until the end of November 1984. In mid-1987, Grant moved to Burke where he resided in a caravan park and worked as an itinerant excavator driver. At the time of the crash, he was employed at a cotton gin in North Burke where he excavated irrigation channels. Despite telling the ambulance officer that he had a wife, Grant was unmarried and owned

next to nothing in terms of assets. While he was in hospital on the morning of December 6, 1987, Grant provided his first official police statement. He claimed that as he was making a phone call from a pub in Burke the previous night, the two girls had approached and asked him for a lift to North Burke. They agreed and they all piled into his ute, leaving Burke at around 11pm. Grant was in the driver's seat, Cindy was next to him in the middle and Mona, whom he identified as, quote, the bigger girl, was on the end.

As they were travelling north, Grant alleged that the bigger girl asked if she could have a turn driving. He said he initially refused, but then agreed upon seeing how little traffic there was. Mona mostly stayed under the speed limit by going between 70 and 80km per hour and was a smooth, steady driver. Grant claimed that at one stage she sped up to the limit of 100, at which point he told her to slow down and grabbed the steering wheel. After she had driven for approximately 30 to 40km, they pulled over to have a drink

and a cigarette. They then turned around to head back to Burke and Grant said Mona took the wheel again. Suddenly the vehicle had veered, though Grant had no idea why. He estimated that the time of the crash was either between 1am and 2am or 2am and 3am. As this meant a minimum of two hours had passed between the three of them leaving Burke and the crash taking place, there was a significant chunk of time that Grant was unable or unwilling to account for. When questioned about the alcohol he had consumed, Grant said he'd had his first drink at around

5.30 or 6pm the previous day at the Carrier's Arms Hotel in Burke. He hadn't kept count, but he believed he'd drunk between 6 and 10 mt of beer, each measuring 285ml, or the equivalent of 1.1 standard drinks. His last drink had been at about 11pm or midnight, which was a bottle of beer he consumed while driving with the two girls. Grant denied drinking between the time of the crash and when the police arrived. He was released from the hospital by late morning and went to Burke police station to provide another statement to Detective Peter Resman.

Grant denied making sexual advances to WeTheGirl, but claimed that after the crash, Cindy had come on to him. Grant said he had crawled out through the passenger door and saw her lying back on the top, pulling her clothes off and asking, Do you want me now? He allegedly ignored her and instead went to check on Mona, who had seemingly been thrown from the vehicle. When he asked if she was alright, she groaned in response, prompting him to believe she was fine.

Grant claimed he then joined Cindy on the top and decided to have a beer. The interview concluded at 12.20pm. Detective Resman told Grant that he would make further inquiries about the matter and speak to him again at a later date, adding, Quote, If you leave town, let me know where I can contact you. Grant replied, Yeah, it might be a good idea to get away for a while. I'll let you know where I'll be. That afternoon, Dawn and June Smith viewed the victim's bodies at Burke Hospital and

confirmed that they were their daughters, Cindy and Mona. News of the tragedy spread throughout Burke and the town became gripped by despair. When it was discovered the police hadn't arrested the man involved in the crash, this despair quickly turned to anger. Recent events in the region had already led to a somewhat fraught relationship between the Indigenous community and local law enforcement. Several months earlier, on August 6, 1987, a 27-year-old Aboriginal man named Lloyd Boney was arrested in the nearby town of Brewerna after breaching his bail conditions.

He was taken into custody and found dead just 95 minutes later, with police saying they had found his body suspended by the neck with a football sock. Lloyd's friends and family suspected that the death was not a suicide, though this theory was dismissed in an official inquiry. After Lloyd's funeral on August 15, a violent riot broke out between members of Brewerna's Indigenous community and the police. Although Brewerna was about 100 kilometers east of Burke, it wasn't uncommon for police officers in the region to work cases across various towns.

One of the officers injured in the riot, Detective Sergeant Vaughn Reed, was assigned to investigate Cindy and Mona Smith's deaths alongside Detective Asman. In a book about the case titled Angonia Road, author Richard Stanton argues that the subsequent bad blood between police and the Indigenous community meant that Burke police were unhappy about having to investigate the fatal crash several months later. This view is shared by some of Cindy and Mona's family members. On the night of December 6, less than 24 hours after Cindy and Mona's deaths, Alexander Grant traveled to Ningen, a town almost 200 kilometers southeast of Burke.

After Grant's ute was towed to the police station, it was later transferred back to the farm in North Burke where he was employed, as it actually belonged to Grant's employers who had been leasing it out to him. At 3pm on Sunday December 6, a crime scene officer went to the property to photograph the vehicle. It was examined again the following day by Senior Constable John Ludwig of the Crime Scene Unit Physical Evidence section. He noted that the roof had been crushed down into the top of the driver's seat and to the

middle of the steering wheel. Senior Constable Ludwig also visited the crash site to take further photographs. Detectives in Burke pieced together the events leading up to the crash. Grant had said he spent the morning of Saturday December 5 working at the Cotton Gin in North Burke until his excavator broke down. At 2.30pm, he went to the Oxford Hotel in town in search of someone who could give him a replacement part to repair the excavator. Despite originally telling the police he didn't start drinking until around 5.30pm, bar staff

at the Oxford Hotel confirmed he'd drunk six beers in a two-hour period. From there, he went to two more pubs, drinking a beer at H, before returning to the Oxford Hotel where he had eight more. Over six hours, he had consumed 16 beers or 17.6 standard drinks. Throughout the evening, a number of witnesses had also seen Cindy and Mona in Burke, though only two were interviewed by police. 15-year-olds Betty Ann Edwards and Karen Johnson provided statements that they'd seen Cindy and Mona with Grant on the night in question.

At around 8.15pm, Betty Ann and Karen had been walking in the direction of the reserve when a white man pulled over in a Toyota Hilux and offered them a lift. They declined, but Cindy and Mona who were sitting nearby outside the home of a friend ran over. They asked the driver if he would take them across to a levee that marked the crossing point between Burke and the reserve. Betty Ann described the driver as somewhat slow and dopy as though he was drunk. When he reached across to open the car door, she saw half a carton of beer next to him

and a stubby in his hand. Betty Ann believed that the man drove off with the girls, but they were seen in the same area about 15 minutes later by one of Cindy's brothers who was walking home from visiting an auntie. At 9pm, they were also spotted by Mona's cousin, Daniel Booth, heading to the reserve on foot. Neither of these men were interviewed by investigators. After Grant was seen speaking with the girls at 8.15, he went back to the Oxford Hotel

to buy a six pack of beer, then went to the Carrier's Arms Hotel, where he drank six glasses of bourbon and coke and four more beers. He left at around 9.30pm and was next seen half an hour later at the Riverview Hotel. A barman said that Grant had entered alone, but he thought he saw an indigenous girl waiting for him by the doorway. Grant bought half a bottle of rum, two bottles of coke, and another six pack of beer. In total, he'd drunk the equivalent of 30 standard drinks throughout the day and had half a bottle of rum and 12 stubs of beer in his possession.

Experienced pathologist Dr Clive Pringle travelled more than 370 kilometres from the city of Dubbo to perform Cindy and Mona's autopsies. They concluded that Mona, who was recovered face down by the shoulder of the road, had suffered severe head injuries and internal bleeding, causing her to pass away quickly following the crash. Cindy, who was found on the Tarpaulin, had deep abrasions across her face, chest, abdomen and back. Dr Pringle found a dried substance on her inner legs, which he thought could be seminal

fluid. He took swabs of the substance, which were given to a scientific officer and transferred to the Department of Forensic Biology for testing. Cindy had suffered a perforated liver and a large laceration to her bladder, leading to severe hemorrhaging and a tear to a major muscle in the lower abdomen that is crucial to walking. Dr Pringle noted that while she may not have died immediately, she would have succumbed to her injuries quickly, and it was highly unlikely she was conscious following the crash.

He concluded that neither of the girls had been wearing seatbelts. The findings from the autopsies were not passed along to either of the girls' families. The only official information they were given regarding Cindy and Mona's deaths was a coroner's report. After receiving Dr Pringle's report, detectives Asman and Reid were inclined to believe that Mona had been driving Grant's Ute as he had claimed. The severity of her injuries, combined with the significant damage to the vehicle's side and Grant's lack of wounds, indicated to them that Grant was telling the truth.

At 7pm on Tuesday, December 8, the two detectives travelled to Ningen to interview Grant again. He was wearing the same clothes that he'd had on during the crash and was staying at a cheap hotel. Grant claimed that his wife had kicked him out for having been with Cindy and Mona, and the detectives noted that he appeared to be intoxicated. They informed him that they wished to discuss the crash, but he requested that the conversation be postponed until the following morning, as he was exhausted. The detectives agreed and collected him early on Wednesday, December 9, for an interview

at the police station. The officers grilled Grant about his alcohol consumption the previous Saturday. He acknowledged being pretty drunk by the time he encountered Cindy and Mona, but denied drinking the bottle of rum that was found nearly empty in his vehicle. He said that following the crash, he and Cindy had both climbed out of the passenger side door, then Cindy had stood and asked for a beer. He gave her the bottle that was later found on the tarpaulin, and after drinking some, she propositioned him.

Grant insisted he had not placed the tarpaulin on the ground, and that Cindy had walked over to it and laid down of her own accord. He didn't remember much else, and suggested he had blacked out, until he was awoken by the farm workers who came across the scene. Grant again claimed Cindy undressed herself, and that he'd had no sexual contact with either of the girls. He said that the one mistake he made that night was not checking whether Mona had her driver's license.

The interview concluded after two and a half hours. It was another week before Grant was officially charged. Rather than taking him back to Burke, police made the decision to charge him in Ningen. On Wednesday, December 16, he appeared in the Ningen courthouse, charged with two counts of willful neglect or misconduct causing grievous bodily harm, and allowing an unlicensed driver to drive his motor vehicle. In 1987, there was a maximum penalty of two years in prison for each of the willful neglect charges.

The punishment for permitting an unlicensed individual to drive was a $1,000 fine and up to 500 hours community service. Grant was ordered to appear in Burke local court in two months' time to enter a plea. He was not detained in custody, and was permitted to leave the area following these charges. Police were instructed not to reveal details of the charges, leaving Cindy and Mona's families uncertain as to what the exact accusations against him were. A joint funeral was held for Cindy and Mona at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Burke. Two herces carried the girls' coffins through the town, and approximately 600 mourners gathered

to pay their respects, with students from the town's high school forming a guard of honour outside the church. The majority of the people who attended the funeral were indigenous. The cousins were laid to rest side by side in the Burke cemetery, under matching black marble headstones adorned with figurines, rosary beads, and flowers. Mona's sister Fiona would later say that she could recall little about the service, as her memory was hazy when it came to events following her sister's death. Some people in Burke feared that there would be retribution from the indigenous community

that night, with rumours spreading that businesses would be firebombed, but this did not eventuate. The girls' deaths and Grant's involvement received almost no attention from the media. On Monday, December 21, the Sydney Morning Herald published an article titled, Two deaths and an outback silence. Journalist Deborah Cameron interviewed Cindy and Mona's mothers for the piece, with both women stating they had been told very little about the crash, how their daughters had died, or the investigation. Dawn Smith, Cindy's mother, shared her belief that police were withholding information because

they didn't want to stir up trouble in town, but the silence had the adverse effect by creating an atmosphere of rumour and suspicion. The Sydney Morning Herald made an application for information about the case. Smith has agreed to release details relating to Grant's charges only after an Aboriginal liaison officer from Sydney intervened, telling them that, quote, their secrecy may cause more trouble than it would prevent. The head of Burke police defended the decision to charge Grant in another town, stating, He won't come back down here either until things quieten down.

We will wait until things settle down again. We don't want any trouble. Alexander Grant had little money and almost no assets, but in January 1988, one of his former employers agreed to fund his defence. The unidentified employer was described as being from old Sydney family money and had decided to pay for Grant's legal fees out of a sense of, quote, higher Christian values. Leading Sydney Barrister Anthony Quinlivan was hired to represent Grant at an expensive rate said to be, beyond the income of most average people.

After that month, Grant wrote a new statement about the crash for his legal team, which was republished in full in Richard Stanton's book, Angonia Road. Despite telling police he had a wife, Grant described himself as single, but otherwise stuck to many of his original claims. He stated that his intoxication had probably contributed to him making the uncharacteristic decision to give Cindy and Mona Smith a lift and letting Mona drive his vehicle. Grant said that after driving for some distance, they stopped to have a drink. He claimed that the girls poured some rum into the bottles of coke he had purchased

before the decision was made to head home. Mona had been steering the vehicle steadily up until that point, but suddenly veered off the road, possibly to avoid a kangaroo. The ute rolled over, then landed on its wheels. Grant retracted previous claims he'd made about Cindy undressing herself and propositioning him, stating now that he didn't recall this happening. Yet, he said that he did remember checking to see if Mona was all right. At that point, he had a gap in his memory until the farm workers stumbled across the

scene of the crash at 4.30am. Barrister Anthony Quinlaven accompanied his client to Burke Local Court on Monday, February 15, where Grant entered a plea of not guilty to all three charges against him. Although farm employee Shane Batty had been one of the first people to discover the crash site. This didn't speak with him until three months after the incident. Author Richard Stanton has theorized that this may have been because Shane was a seasonal worker and investigators were unable to track him down earlier.

On March 8, 1988, Shane provided a sworn statement at Deighton Police Station, located about 680km southwest of Burke. Shane's description of the scene featured some striking differences to the one described by responding police and ambulance officers. The officers had noted that Cindy's pants had been pulled down and her t-shirt was lifted up, exposing almost her entire body. While her right leg was stretched out straight in front of her, her left leg was bent at the knee and had fallen outwards.

When Shane had encountered the scene more than an hour earlier, Cindy's pants and underwear were around her ankles, but her t-shirt was pulled down, concealing her chest and torso. Shane also noted that both of Cindy's legs had been lying straight out, side by side. To investigators, these discrepancies indicated that Grant must have interfered with Cindy's clothing and body after the farm workers departed for Angonia to alert police of the crash. They also meant that his statements regarding the events had been at least partially false. The case shifted direction again the following month, when a new officer began reviewing the charges against Grant.

Raymond Godkin worked for the Northwest Accident Investigation Squad in the New South Wales City of Parramatta. His job was to review indictable matters before the courts. After reviewing the case of Cindy and Mona Smith's deaths, he became concerned that the charges against Grant were not truly representative of what had occurred that night. Sergeant Godkin noticed that when police officers had first arrived at the scene, Grant had said that he'd been driving. Shortly afterwards, he had changed his story and told them Mona was the driver, a claim

he had stuck to ever since. Sergeant Godkin spoke with Mona's family to determine whether she could actually drive a car. Mona's brother Doug stated that she had only tried to drive a car once. Several months before the crash, a friend had brought their blue Ford sedan to the reserve and Mona had sat behind the wheel for less than five minutes. She slowly manoeuvred the car down a dirt road before getting out. The vehicle was an automatic, unlike Alexander Grant's four-wheel drive, which was a manual.

Doug stated, I am sure that she has never driven any other car. If someone told me Mona drove a manual car, I wouldn't believe them, because she just doesn't know how to drive. Doug's statement was supported by Mona's cousin Daniel Booth and her mother June, who both witnessed her brief drive in the sedan. June added that Mona had accidentally reversed into a steel pole, at which point June immediately told her to get out of the car.

Cindy's mother Dawn had later heard about the incident and stated, We are a very close community, and if Mona was driving at any time, then I would hear about it. Anybody who said that Mona was driving the four-wheel drive that was involved in the accident would be lying, because she just couldn't drive it. Several days after interviewing Mona's relatives, Sergeant Godkin arranged to speak with Alexander Grant on May 11, 1988. Grant initially declined to speak without his lawyer present.

But when Sergeant Godkin asked whether there was anything he wanted to say in their absence, he remarked Well, I've thought about it, and a lot of the stuff I told the detectives is not right, and some of the things I said is really bullshit. He discussed the night of December 5, 1987 openly, admitting that he had been far more drunk than he had told the detectives. Grant maintained that Cindy and Mona had approached him asking for a lift, and Mona had driven the vehicle for a good portion of the journey, adding, quote,

She drove pretty good and handled it real well, really good on the gears. He claimed that when the vehicle crashed, Mona had gone through the windscreen, while he and Cindy remained stuck inside. He was sitting next to the passenger door, and Cindy was in the middle, so he opened the door, clambered out, and pulled Cindy out after him. When Sergeant Godkin asked if Grant recalled telling the detectives that Cindy had been walking around after the crash, he replied From what I have heard since about her injuries, that can't be right.

Like I said, a lot of the things I have said isn't right. He claimed that her clothing must have been pulled down accidentally when he dragged her from the vehicle. Sergeant Godkin reiterated Grant's extremely high blood alcohol level of 0.159 when tested hours after the crash. Then stated Grant replied I know I did the wrong thing letting her drive without a license.

On Saturday, May 14, Sergeant Godkin arranged for a physical evidence collector from the crime investigation unit to re-examine Grant's Toyota Hilux. Although the vehicle was significantly damaged, Grant's employers had sold it to a man named Peter Hurle, whom Grant knew and was friendly with, and Peter had spent some time attempting to repair it. He'd noted that when he received the vehicle, the passenger side door was open and its lock had been damaged in a way that was consistent with having been forced open with a crowbar. The physical evidence collector photographed the Toyota Hilux and tested the inside cabin

for traces of blood. They immediately noticed that the steering wheel was missing and asked where it was. Peter said that he had removed it and shipped it to Grant the previous day at Grant's request. Investigators suspected Peter Hurle had told Grant that police were planning to inspect the vehicle, which had caused Grant to panic and ask for the steering wheel. Without it, officers were unable to dust it for fingerprints to confirm who had been driving. Nothing relating to the steering wheel was ever heard of again. In re-examining the case, Sergeant Godkin also took the step of speaking with the detectives

involved and the first responders to the crash site. After doing so, he was certain that Cindy's body had been undressed and rearranged after being discovered by the farm workers. Although multiple swabs had been taken from Cindy's body during her autopsy, including a sample of what was believed to be seminal fluid, these were never tested, for unknown reasons. Consequently, there was no forensic evidence confirming whether she had been sexually assaulted.

However, the eyewitness accounts provided enough evidence to charge Alexander Grant with indecently interfering with the dead body, which carried the maximum penalty of two years in prison. On May 24, 1988, Grant was officially charged with this offense, as well as two counts of culpable driving causing death, after Sergeant Godkin concluded that Mona would have been incapable of driving a manual four-wheel drive. He was also charged with high-range prescribed concentration of alcohol, a charge given to individuals who drive a motor vehicle on a public road with a blood alcohol concentration

of 0.15 or above. As the counts of culpable driving conflicted with Grant's original charge of allowing an unlicensed driver to take control of his vehicle, the decision was made to hold a committal hearing in order to determine which of the charges Grant would ultimately face. The committal hearing was held almost six months later on November 8, 1988. It was a hot day, making the Burt courthouse feel particularly stuffy and unpleasant. Magistrate Rosemarie Kada Smith presided over the hearing, while police prosecutor Sergeant Rowland today presented for the prosecution.

Alexander Grant was represented by his high-priced barrister Anthony Quinloven and solicitor Bill Howes. The prosecution's primary aim was to disprove Grant's assertion that Mona Smith had been driving his vehicle. The defense pointed to the significant damage sustained to the driver's side of the Ute and argued that Grant was too large to have escaped essentially unscathed if he had been driving. As Mona had suffered extreme injuries, they posited that it was far more likely she had

been behind the wheel. The first witness called to the stand was Sergeant Raymond Godkin, whose work on the case had resulted in culpable driving charges being laid against Grant. Cindy and Mona's mothers, Dawn and June Smith, also testified, speaking about their relationships with their daughters, and both girls' lack of driving experience. The defense attempted to undermine the evidence of both women under cross-examination, suggesting that Mona might have had more experience driving than her family was aware of. While Dawn and June Smith both spoke of how close knit their community was, barrister Anthony

Quinloven tried to discredit this by telling the court that the girls were known to drink on occasion and spend time unsupervised. Constable Ken McKenzie, the first officer to arrive on the scene, also testified, though he appeared nervous. The prosecution portrayed Constable McKenzie as a reliable officer with considerable crime scene experience, but the defense implied his failure to bring his official police notebook to the scene reflected poorly. Constable McKenzie confirmed that Grant had been slurring his words when questioned by

the responding officers, prompting Quinloven to query whether McKenzie had possibly misunderstood his initial claim that he had been driving the Ute. Constable McKenzie stood firm, noting that Grant had definitely stated, I was, in response to the question of who had been driving. Dr. Clive Pringle, the forensic pathologist who conducted Cindy and Mona's autopsies, told the court that both girls would have died within an hour of the crash. He further stated that Cindy would have been in extreme pain and unable to sit up and had likely fallen unconscious immediately following the crash due to shock and injuries.

However, under cross-examination from Quinloven, Dr. Pringle acknowledged that it wouldn't be, quote, totally extraordinary if Cindy had managed to survive for up to two hours. Witnesses Shane Batty and Tex Johnson spoke of how they stumbled across the crash scene. Shane insisted that both girls were deceased when they arrived, but the defense argued he was not in a position to confirm this, as he had no medical experience. By trying to extend the period of time Cindy could have survived for, Grant's legal team were trying to convince the magistrate that Cindy could have still been alive after her body was undressed and adjusted, thus absolving Grant of having indecently interfered with

the dead body. In summing up the case, Magistrate Rosemary Cadas Smith noted that although there was evidence suggesting that Mona Smith had driven a vehicle at least once before the crash, she did not have very extensive experience in driving. She also stated that Grant had clearly been dishonest when speaking with police and that it seemed highly out of character for him to lend his vehicle to a teenager whom he'd just met. Ultimately, Judge Cadas Smith determined that the original charges relating to Mona driving the vehicle would be dropped and Grant would face two counts of culpable driving.

With regards to the charge of indecently interfering with the dead body, Judge Cadas Smith noted that Cindy would have died quickly and dismissed the notion that she had removed her own clothing. Noting that Grant was discovered with his arm draped across Cindy's chest, indicating interference of a sexual nature had been committed, Judge Cadas Smith said that this third charge would also stand. Grant was committed for trial but was not held on remand. He was escorted from the courthouse to a car waiting outside. Some of Cindy and Mona's family and friends ran after the car as it drove away, shouting and shaking their fists with several making eye contact with Grant as they did so.

Grant had relocated to Sydney following the crash and returned there to await his trial. More than six months later, in June 1989, the charge of high-range prescribed concentration of alcohol was adjourned for unknown reasons. It was the only charge against Grant that Judge Cadas Smith didn't address during the conclusion of the committal hearing. The trial was scheduled for January 29, 1990. In the meantime, Grant's defence team requested that the NSW Attorney General issue a no-bill to the charge of indecent interference with the body. If a charge was given a no-bill, it would essentially go away and not be brought up during a trial. Grant's defence argued that there was no evidence beyond the reasonable

doubt that Cindy was deceased at 5am, the approximate time that her shirt was removed. They also stated that Grant's advanced level of intoxication meant there was a question as to whether he was in a state to voluntarily undertake such an action. The Attorney General agreed with these arguments. And on January 24, 1990, the defence team received a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions advising that the charge would be withdrawn. No other charge was introduced relating to the possible sexual assault of Cindy and the only charges Grant would be tried for were the two counts of culpable driving. Cindy and Mona's families were not informed that the charge of interference with the corpse

had been dropped until the trial commenced on Thursday, February 1 in the Burke District Court. Upon hearing the news, they became furious and distraught. As the jury were required to exit the court whenever evidence relating to interference with Cindy's corpse was raised, they were entirely unaware of the matter or the withdrawn charge. The original jury had included two Aboriginal women, but Grant's defence had challenged their inclusion by arguing that they would be under pressure from their communities to convict and, quote, in those circumstances, Grant probably wouldn't get a fair trial. Consequently, the two Indigenous jury members were replaced, resulting in an all-white jury.

The onus was on the prosecution to prove beyond the reasonable doubt that Alexander Grant had been driving the vehicle when it crashed. Their argument was hindered by what Grant's barrister later called, the fabulous physical evidence of the ute's roof being smashed in down to the steering wheel on the driver's side, quote. Anybody sitting in that seat was a goner and my guy didn't have a scratch. On Thursday, February 8, one week after the trial began, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty, prompting the court to erupt in anger. When the verdict was read aloud, Dawn Smith removed one of her shoes and threw it at the jury. She later spoke of her anger at the finding to journalist Rosemary Neal, who wrote an article

about the case titled, The Long Shadow of a Twin Tragedy for the Weekend Australian Newspaper. Dawn remarked, Of course I was shocked. June added that if a police officer had been standing near her, she would have grabbed their gun and shot Grant in retaliation. She recalled that two police officers also seemed bitterly disappointed by Grant's acquittal. In the same article, June Smith told Rosemary Neal that day was the worst of her life, quote. To hear what happened to these girls and he walked free. If it had been two little white girls, it would have been a different matter. And if it was a black man with two white girls, he would have been locked up there and then thrown away the keys, still in jail today.

Due to the angry reaction from those in the public gallery, Grant's barrister and solicitor were given a police escort out of the courthouse. They were instructed by police to leave for Sydney immediately and not stop until they reached Bathurst, a town six hours away by car. Four days later, on February 12th, Grant was arrested in Sydney after severely assaulting another individual and was charged with assault-occasioning actual bodily harm. Many people in Burke were outraged and disgusted by the trial's outcome, feeling that justice had not been served. In the years that followed, the inconclusive nature of the case prompted alternate theories as to what really happened

on Angonia Road on the night of December 5, 1987. They have been fuelled in part by a police statement made in May 1987 by a 13-year-old cousin of Cindy and Mona named Sharon Smith. Sharon told police that on the evening of Friday, December 4, the night before the crash, she had been walking through Burke towards the reserve with another cousin named Julie when a white four-wheel drive she believed was a Toyota pulled over. The driver was a white man who she later identified as Alexander Grant. He smelled of beer and asked if the girls knew where the nearby Rodeo was. The girls agreed to show him the way and got into his vehicle. Upon arriving at the showgrounds where the Rodeo was hosted,

the girls started drinking with Grant. Soon, Sharon noticed that Cindy was also there. At some stage, Sharon, Julie, Cindy and Grant headed towards Angonia to visit Julie's brother. During the drive, Grant requested that Sharon steer the vehicle as he was extremely drunk. As she did so, Grant began rubbing the legs of all three girls. The group spent some time in Angonia before heading back towards Burke. When they arrived to back at the showgrounds, they encountered five more of Sharon's cousins who all wanted a lift. They piled into the rear cargo area of the Ute and before they were dropped off, they stole a number of work tools that had been stored there.

Sharon said she then dropped Cindy off at the reserve, leaving her and Julie alone with Grant. He was extremely drunk at this point and propositioned the young girls, offering them money in exchange for sex. They refused and got out of the vehicle, at which point, Grant drove away. Some people in Burke believed that Cindy and Mona's deaths the following night were deliberately orchestrated by Grant as revenge for being robbed and that he mistook Mona for Julie. There are rumors that Julie had stolen drugs and a substantial amount of cash which Grant had stashed under one of the vehicle's seats. When Grant came into town the following day, supposedly looking for someone to help him repair his excavator, he was actually looking for Sharon,

Julie and Cindy after discovering he'd been robbed. Those that subscribe to this theory believed that several Aboriginal men who had been in four different cars assisted Grant in brutally attacking the girls in exchange for money. The girls were attacked on Angonia Road where they were found and the scene was subsequently staged to resemble a car crash. One witness has reported to Mona's family that they were present for the attack and saw Grant wielding an axe over Mona's head as he said. Where's my money, Julie Smith? Mona replied, I'm not Julie, I'm Mona Lisa. Another witness has claimed to have driven past the crash site the following morning

while detectives were at the scene. The witness noticed a man sitting by the side of the road wearing a shirt covered in blood. It has been said that this man later confessed to being present during the attack and claimed he had tried to help Mona. However, police reports contain no mention of any such man being present at the scene. Many years after the girls' deaths, Mona's mother June and sister Fiona visited a male cousin after another family member accused him of being involved in the incident. The two women asked where the cousin had been on the night in question and he replied that he and their auntie had been traveling to Brewerna amongst four car loads of

people. The cousin's admission to being in a convoy of four vehicles led some to believe he was one of the men who helped Grant attack the two girls. They suspect he merely said he was in Brewerna to cover his tracks and was actually present at the crash site. It has been alleged that the cousin participated in the murders in exchange for money from Grant. For those who believe this alternative theory, it explains why there was so little blood inside the vehicle, how the ute's tyres were inflated and undamaged, why a tarpaulin appeared to have been neatly laid out on the ground and how Grant walked away unharmed. Some of Cindy and Mona's family members are also certain that the girls would never get into a

vehicle driven by a white stranger unless they knew someone else who was with the driver. Author Richard Stanton, who wrote the book Angonia Road, has proposed another explanation for why Grant might have escaped with so few injuries if he was driving. The theory is that Grant braked suddenly, which led to Mona being thrown through the windscreen. As the vehicle slowed down, Cindy was also thrown from the vehicle. Grant was then tossed sideways into Cindy's now empty seat before the roof was crushed in and he was able to climb out of the now empty windscreen when the vehicle came to a stop. Stanton believes that the car was stanton believes this would also explain how Grant exited the vehicle,

as responding officers found that both doors were jammed shut. According to Stanton, after the trial, several experts conceded that this was a plausible scenario. Cindy and Mona's family members are torn as to what exactly happened to the girls on the night of December 5, 1987, with much of their confusion stemming from the fact that they received so little communication from the police. Carrie, Cindy Smith's sister, has criticised investigators for not properly interviewing the Aboriginal community in the immediate aftermath of the girls' deaths, as many had been out in Burke that night and could have provided evidence. In 2018, June Smith told journalist Rosemarie Neal, quote,

We didn't know nothing. The police never came and spoke with us. They all sort of kept away. That's the worst part. Sitting and waiting and not knowing. Alexander Grant's defence barrister, Anthony Quinlaven, also spoke with the journalist Rosemarie Neal. Although he maintained that justice was done, he admitted to having some misgivings about the trial's outcome and described it as, One of the most exceptional events that happened to me in 40 years of being a lawyer. As Cindy was 15 years old, Quinlaven queried why the prosecution didn't attempt to prosecute Grant with indecency against a minor instead of indecently interfering with the corpse, quote. Rearranging her clothing, obviously he did that. Blind Freddy could see

he must have done that. He was probably doing something despicable at that point. It was difficult to see why it was that the police or the Crown authorities did not work out that they might have had a stronger case if they had charged him with some act of indecency against a minor under the age of 16. The inferences seem very powerful in that regard. Quinlaven acknowledged that his former client had clearly told bare-faced lies throughout his interviews and court proceedings, adding, My fellow was very fortunate to walk away a free man. Rosemarie Neal also contacted the New South Wales police for her article and they supplied the following statement. The case has gone through court proceedings over 30 years ago and police

have no further comment on matters that are already on public record. The current relationship between New South Wales police and all members of the Burke and Brewerner communities is cohesive and respectful and continues to develop. In 2017, Alexander Grant died at the age of 70 in Sydney. Prior to his death, he had lived in a nursing home where he required constant care after a stroke had left him with difficulty speaking. Fiona, Mona Smith's sister, told Casefile that she experienced mixed emotions when Grant died because she was deeply saddened that he'd never be brought to justice for Cindy and Mona's deaths. Today, Fiona still lives in Burke and works with local Indigenous youths by teaching them about their ancestors and providing a means for young people

to get involved in their community. She believes that Cindy and Mona's spirits are unable to rest due to the traumatic nature of their deaths. Cindy's mother, Dawn, works for the Burke Aboriginal Legal Service, providing professional and culturally appropriate legal services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. She says that she doesn't want to die before justice is done. Cindy's sister, Kerry, now lives in Melbourne and believes Cindy's spirit has followed her there as she is unable to rest without justice. Although Grant died in 2017, the girls' families have been petitioning for an inquest into their deaths in the hopes they might finally receive the answers they've sought for more than 30 years. In 2018, Legal Advocacy Group, the National

Justice Project, issued a formal complaint about the mishandling of the case to the New South Wales Law Enforcement Conduct Commission. The project's principal solicitor argued that there was evidence Alexander Grant was a sexual predator known for attempting to prey on Aboriginal girls. The statement provided by the girl's cousin Sharon Smith, who said she'd had an encounter with Grant the night before the crash, was cited in the submission. The submission also pointed out that the police failure to retrieve the steering wheel from Grant's vehicle was, quote, fatal to the prosecution charges as they could not prove who was driving. In June 2019, Cindy and Mona's families met with New South Wales police for a formal

mediation session about the case. Fiona Smith told the weekend Australian newspaper that the experience was draining yet positive and she was hopeful they were one step closer to achieving their goals. In an exclusive interview with the weekend Australian, the magistrate who committed Grant to stand trial, Rosemary Kada Smith, also spoke out in favour of an inquest. She described the original investigation as incompetent and labelled Grant's version of events as totally unbelievable lies, quote. I do certainly think some questions should be asked and the matter better exposed. I think this should happen in fairness to the families and the relationship with the Aboriginal community who feel that all interests have not been looked

after with some reason. In June 2020, Cindy and Mona's families received notice from the deputy director of New South Wales public prosecutions that an inquest was unlikely to go ahead. The decision to drop the charge of indecent interference with Cindy's corpse was defended, though the office of the director of public prosecutions apologised for not notifying Cindy's family of this development prior to the trial. The New South Wales police commissioner had also revealed that two independent inquiries had found the police handling of the case to be adequate. The girls' families were extremely disappointed by these developments, with Fiona Smith telling The Weeknd Australian, quote.

It's like they're ducking and weaving and no one wants to take responsibility. My mum loses her spark when things like this happen. I saw her sink a bit more. Cindy and Mona's mothers are still fighting for an inquest to be granted. During the making of this episode, they issued an open letter to Casephile that reads, We, the mothers of Cindy and Mona Lisa Smith, want an inquest into our daughter's deaths, which happened on December 6, 1987, on the Angonio Road. It has been 33 years now since we lost them, and nothing has been done to help us find out the truth about what happened to our girls. If they were two white girls, their killers would have been jailed by now,

but they were black girls and everything is swept under the rug. So we ask you, is there one law for white people and a separate law for black people? We have been through a lot these past 33 years, thinking about what happened and whether we will ever get justice for our girls or not. All the stress and pain we are going through now, wondering if we will ever get justice for our daughters. Yours in struggle, Iona Dawn Smith and Edun Smith you