Current Disappearance of 3yo William Tyrrell * The foster mother has been recommended for charges of pervert the course of justice & interfere with a corpse

[Kurve]

Criminal charges the former foster parents currently face as at 15 April 2022 include:

• Apprehended Violence Orders on both (AVOs)
• Lying to the NSW Crime Commission on former foster mother *Not Guilty
• Lying to the NSW Crime Commission on former foster father *Not Guilty
• 2 x charges of assault against a child on former foster mother *Guilty
• 1 x charge of assault against a child on former foster father
• Stalking &/or Intimidation on both
• Dummy bidding real estate fraud *Guilty

TIMELINE

Where's William Tyrrell? - The Ch 10 podcast (under Coroner's subpoena)

Operation Arkstone

 

[stormbird]

Chumley is reporting what was said at the inquest (several years later).
But this is not consistent with the FGM walkthrough video taken several days after William disappeared. She does not remember any phone calls in the morning, and says she rang GO in the afternoon and he indicated he was 'aware of the situation'.

What concerns me about this is, why ring GO to put him off coming?. It was the Friday, and he wasn't due until the following Tuesday. Why was FGM so sure William wouldn't simply be found on that Friday afternoon? Still doesn't explain why GO rang the house in the morning, if he was booked for Tuesday. Maybe he was also expected on Friday to do some preliminary work, or maybe he was wanting to start earlier.

The explanation given by GO at the inquest does not align with the FGM walkthrough, and does not explain the phone call in the morning.

I think that in FGM's walk-through video she says that she called GO in the afternoon but she doesn't specifically say that she asked him to "put off the job to a later date", as Chumley has her saying. So where did Chumley get that from? I can't remember seeing it reported anywhere else, and obviously FGM wasn't put on the stand at the inquest.

If it's true that FGM assumed they would have to delay the job, I agee that it's strange she thought William would not be found quickly.

 

[NRL Fan]

I think that in FGM's walk-through video she says that she called GO in the afternoon but she doesn't specifically say that she asked him to "put off the job to a later date", as Chumley has her saying. So where did Chumley get that from? I can't remember seeing it reported anywhere else, and obviously FGM wasn't put on the stand at the inquest.

If it's true that FGM assumed they would have to delay the job, I agee that it's strange she thought William would not be found quickly.

GO must have indicated he might start earlier but by Tuesday at the latest, else the FGM call on Friday makes no sense. Why else would she ring GO when the number one priority was to find WT ?

 

[stormbird]

GO must have indicated he might start earlier but by Tuesday at the latest, else the FGM call on Friday makes no sense. Why else would she ring GO when the number one priority was to find WT ?

My guess is that no one other than FGM and GO would know why she rang him, or not unless either of them told someone else. FGM might have been calling for any reason whatsoever. And whether she rang him or not might have nothing to do with the search for William and IMO tells us nothing about what she thought was a priority.

 

[31550]

My guess is that no one other than FGM and GO would know why she rang him, or not unless either of them told someone else. FGM might have been calling for any reason whatsoever. And whether she rang him or not might have nothing to do with the search for William and IMO tells us nothing about what she thought was a priority.

FGM was explicitly asked about phone calls several times by the policewoman doing the walkthrough. She seemed completely oblivious of the fact that GO had called in the morning. (Perhaps no answering machine?) But she also said, "Well, you'd know what time I called him." indicating awareness that police would have checked the phone records at this point. So she clearly felt obliged to give some explanation for calling GO (and perhaps the missed incoming call from GO), and she goes on to explain about who GO was, and the deck job. But she never says explicitly why she called him in the afternoon. It makes no sense to be cancelling the Tuesday job on the Friday. She could have said she was returning his missed call (if she was aware of it), but she doesn't give this as the reason either. FGM did not mention the call to Spedding either, probably because that call was made by FM.

Were FGM and GO perhaps close friends, or was there another relationship other than casual employment? GO was an electrician, not a builder as I understand it, although she described him as a 'handyman'. Was the phone call perhaps to say, "Don't come around here this afternoon!" ?

 

[NRL Fan]

The return phone call from FGM does fit into the FA snatch theory. If we assume that GO had arranged a tentative Friday morning appointment with FGM and GO had mentioned this to FA the day (or more) earlier and to meet him on site. After FA snatches WT, FGM rings GO later telling him not to come because of the situation and ongoing search.

 

[stormbird]

From Searching for Spiderman, 2020, page 291:

"[GO] told police he went to the Kendall Community Centre to pay his advertising account on Friday 12 September. Then he drove to Port Macquarie and ran some errands. [GO] said he heard the news about a boy going missing from Kendall on a radio news bulletin. When he returned to Logans Crossing that afternoon, he drove through Herons Creek, rather than Kendall. He told police he stayed home all day and night.

Detectives from Strike Force Rosann were interested in [GO] for a simple reason: he was [FGM's] handyman. She had booked him to complete some repair work on her decking, but a hospital stay had forced [GO] to postpone the job until sometime after 12 September 2014. So it seems he wasn't expected at the house on the day William Tyrrell disappeared."

 

[31550]

From Searching for Spiderman, 2020, page 291:

"[GO] told police he went to the Kendall Community Centre to pay his advertising account on Friday 12 September. Then he drove to Port Macquarie and ran some errands. [GO] said he heard the news about a boy going missing from Kendall on a radio news bulletin. When he returned to Logans Crossing that afternoon, he drove through Herons Creek, rather than Kendall. He told police he stayed home all day and night.

Detectives from Strike Force Rosann were interested in [GO] for a simple reason: he was [FGM's] handyman. She had booked him to complete some repair work on her decking, but a hospital stay had forced [GO] to postpone the job until sometime after 12 September 2014. So it seems he wasn't expected at the house on the day William Tyrrell disappeared."

The question remains, "Why did GO ring FGM on the Friday morning?"

 

[shorsky]

I have been waiting to respond to this because I recall it being covered in the Ch7 2-Part Doco which has been removed from circulation. I now have been able to view the second part where this was covered. Overington says Porter's car was seen on the Saturday (one day after William vanished) heading North, and returning the next day (Sunday). She also says RP was discharged from hospital at 3pm on the Friday. Maybe if he had dialysis 3 times a week, it was Monday/Wednesday/Friday? This would allow him to have made the alleged trip.
The suggestion in the doco from CO and "Steve" is that FA possibly took RPs car after dropping him at hospital, drove to FGM house in relation to the decking job via GO, opportunistically snatched William, concealed him somewhere until the next day, then drove in RP's car 300km North (to Casino?) to dispose of the body on Saturday, returning on Sunday.

What concerns me is that with FA serving a 17-year sentence, wouldn't police / prosecution have offered him some sort of 'deal' to reduce his sentence if he co-operated with them to help find William's body? This suggests FA is either not involved, or is pure evil, or both.

One would think / hope that opportunity would’ve been tested to the Max - hence I found it rather intriguing that FA wasn’t cross-examined at the inquest, altho he apparently was given privilege as if he was ‘representing himself’ & therefore was able to view & question other testamentary.

I think he does have an ‘evil’ persona, but I‘m not convinced that he is the ‘perpetrator’. I think perhaps he enjoys the notoriety of having all this ‘evilness‘ swirling around him, and the power he gets from that social position.

* having said that, if he is guilty - how can it be acceptable that he outwits our top criminal investigators!

 

[shorsky]

Here is a transcript of part of Caroline Overington's interview with "Steve" concerning Frank Abbott.

CO: Tell me about any conversations you’ve had with Frank Abbott about William Tyrrell.​

​

I’ve had plenty. I’ve asked him numerous times was he involved in it and he said no.​

​

CO: Why have you asked him that?​

​

For quite a while, about three months he was always saying, “They know where I was on the Thursday, the Thursday. I got my pension out on the Thursday”. And after hearing that for so long, I thought I’d look up the day that he went missing, and it was the Friday.​

​

CO: It’s the Friday.​

​

And I confronted him over this over the phone and he said “Maybe the police have got their dates wrong.” … Most people in this community would know where they were on that Friday.​

​

CO: And he hasn’t been able to tell you where he was?​

​

No. He’s got no movement on his mobile phone for three days.​

​

CO: Around that time?​

​

Exactly at that time.​

​

…​

​

Police turned up at my place and introduced themself and wanted some background regarding Frank Abbott, and I said “What’s it regarding?”, and they said “William Tyrrell.” They spoke to me and they told me he’s the number one prime suspect in their investigation now.​

​

CO: How did you react to that?​

​

I was shocked.​

​

…​

​

Frank has told me on numerous times that he’s never ever been to that street. But however he told me explicit exits and entrances. I was unaware until I actually went out there and had a look after I spoke to him, and that really sent chills up me. How could someone know that, if they’ve said to me, and said to the police, they’ve never been in that street?​

​

CO: He told you that he’d never been in Benaroon Drive, is my understanding?​

​

That’s correct.​

​

CO: Did you say “I don’t believe you!”?​

​

Yes​

​

…​

​

He’s blatantly told the detectives that he can’t drive. Doesn’t know how to drive. All that sort of stuff and that’s absolute rubbish. Also he mentioned to me that there’s a camera out at Kendall. And he said to me, “Well, if I went that way, they’d have me on camera.” I didn’t even know there was a camera there. But he did. So there’s a lot of inconsistencies there with his story.​

​

It's interesting that police would say Abbott was their prime suspect at this time (or even at any time). Perhaps 'Steve' made that part up? But why would he? Was 'Steve' ever a POI himself? The inquest was shut down soon after all this stuff came to light, and since then the focus has shifted from FA et al to the fosters.

Was Rosann contemplating 'targeting' FA the same way Spedding and Savage were targeted? And did they maybe get gun-shy after the legal actions brought against NSW Police by both Spedding and Savage?

I watched the interview with ‘Steve’. Just my own personal feeling - he rated 0 for me.
Was he paid ?
Was he trying to divert attention ?

 

[shorsky]

I can probably answer both questions here. RP lived in Wauchope and would drive on the Oxley Hwy to Port Mac hospital and not drive past any of those cameras, so him being picked up on the north and southbound cameras would indicate a trip for another purpose. In terms of the river, I go fishing there regularly on a small runabout and there are a series of lakes that have a tidal flow in and out and then there is the main river (Camden Haven) that can flow very hard after rainfall. For example, during the more recent 2021 floods, the towns of Dunbogan and North Haven became submerged when the lakes and river rose by 3-4m above the high tide mark and that completely flushed out everything. My house up there is on high ground near the river mouth and was lucky to escape damage. If a suitcase was tossed into the main river it would eventually get washed out to sea and then possibly up onto a nearby beach. However, if it was tossed into a lake it might survive longer before being washed out to sea, but would probably be seen in the shallow water at low tide, because those lakes are all very shallow and have exposed sand and mud flats at low tide. When you consider the vast amount of bushland and fire trails up there, you would think it's easier and safer to bury a body in the bush, rather than dump one into the river or lake and hope for the best.

btw - I did a bit more analysis of the drive north theory and it is possible to bypass the cameras from Port Mac to Kempsey, if you drive through Wauchope and up to Telegraph point and then through Kempsey, rather than the highway bypass. However, there were cameras further north at Urunga and Valla that were also active - contrary to what I noted earlier. The cameras were removed after 2019 when the Nambucca heads to Urunga freeway bypass was added, and they were on the old road and could not be bypassed from what I can see on google maps. Thus it's 99% certain that they couldn't get this far north without being caught on camera, which is about 140km from Kew.


View attachment 1703989

Thanks for providing all this info NRL. It really does help visualise the local area & associated infrastructure.

As much as I find FA most distasteful, my gut refuses to believe that he’s hoodwinked our best criminal investigators for all these years . ..

And as for RP‘s actions & comments as his life was fading - reminiscence can be vitally important in helping people face death. I saw it with my Dad - we heard about one particular extraordinary accomplishment many times over 12 or so months.

It seems this is an important process in reaffirming a person‘s identity & self-worth as they prepare for death.

So I’m thinking - RP was a local & and no doubt was well aware of the sudden disappearance of a little boy.

He knew FA was a pretty dodgy character who bragged about all his deviances & was possibly capable of anything. Plus he was a known associate of FA.

So, as RP faced the end of his life, and as all that played more & more on his mind - was he desperately trying to disassociate ? And was that driven by Guilt or Innocence ?

We heard relayed in the media from the ‘nurses‘ he spoke to - did we hear of their qualifications ? Did we hear from any specialist in regards to the mind / memory / comments of the aged, sick & dying ?


All this is just my objective opinion & my personal reminders that in life, not everything is as it appears initially.


Hopefully you RIP Ray - if you were an accomplice you deserve all the fires that will continue to punish you.

 

[shorsky]

There is an inconsistency between Overington's documentary notes and the media reports, such as the daily mail, which quoted: "A recent document says in the two days after William vanished, Porter's car was recorded passing the Kew southbound camera on the morning of September 13, 2014, and the north- and south-bound cameras at Port Macquarie, the next day."

Rather than a trip being made heading north on Saturday, returning on Sunday, the media reports a trip heading south towards Kew on Saturday and another trip heading north from Port Macquarie and and returning south on Sunday (same day). I'm not sure if you read my earlier posts, but there were at least 3 cameras north of Port Macquarie and south of Coffs Harbour, two of which could not be avoided if the drive was further north than Valla, which is 130km from Kew. Considering no further images were captured north of Port Mac, the trip becomes less likely, unless they turned off at Kempsey, before the second camera, making for a much shorter distance, but possibly 300km round trip.

IMO that‘s just one of the countless irregularities / inconsistencies / irresponsibilities that followed this disappearance of a little 3 year old boy

Everything was so ‘unpreparedly’ handled from the outset .. if it was pre-planned, those responsible would’ve banked on the small-town local community mentality - and so far appear to have been successful.

But, Karma is a Bitch.

What goes around comes around I believe - it doesn’t have to be a public finding or announcement (as much as my inquisitive nature wants answers & to see justice)

Retribution finds it’s way. I take comfort in that fact for William & I hope his family can do likewise.

 

[stormbird]

[snipped]

We heard relayed in the media from the ‘nurses‘ he spoke to - did we hear of their qualifications ? Did we hear from any specialist in regards to the mind / memory / comments of the aged, sick & dying ?

shorsky, this doesn't answer your questions, it's just a bit more information about RP. It seems there were some conflicting views about his mental capacity in his final weeks or months:

"[Tara S] was the service manager at the aged care facility in Port Macquarie and told the court she called police after the conversation was reported to her.
She described [RP] as having "no form of mental decline" before he died at the end of 2019."

ABC News, 17 March 2019

---

"[RP] had maintained his mental faculties and his decline was physical during his time in the Uniting Mingaletta aged care home, [nurse Kirston O] said."

Canberra Times, 17 March 2020

---

"[RP] complained that police were badgering him all the time, asking silly questions, he didn’t know how to answer them," [his brother TP] said.
"He had a lot of trouble hearing … He said, I don’t know why they keep coming to see me all the time … Apparently they were coming into the nursing home, and he can’t think, he can hardly talk, he’s had meningitis, people don’t know what it does to the brain." ...

[RP] had become "very upset and worried", [his sister-in-law IP] said.
"He was telling us he was quite upset," she said. "He had trouble remembering things. He did tell us about the police being there."
She said he told her: "I have nothing to tell the police but they keep coming."
"He was really quite ill," she said. "The last six weeks before he died, his memory was very bad, his health was very bad."

The Australian, 18 March 2020 (paywalled; I was able to see the article at the time but can't now)

 

[Lady O]

shorsky, this doesn't answer your questions, it's just a bit more information about RP. It seems there were some conflicting views about his mental capacity in his final weeks or months:

"[Tara S] was the service manager at the aged care facility in Port Macquarie and told the court she called police after the conversation was reported to her.
She described [RP] as having "no form of mental decline" before he died at the end of 2019."

ABC News, 17 March 2019

---

"[RP] had maintained his mental faculties and his decline was physical during his time in the Uniting Mingaletta aged care home, [nurse Kirston O] said."

Canberra Times, 17 March 2020

---

"[RP] complained that police were badgering him all the time, asking silly questions, he didn’t know how to answer them," [his brother TP] said.
"He had a lot of trouble hearing … He said, I don’t know why they keep coming to see me all the time … Apparently they were coming into the nursing home, and he can’t think, he can hardly talk, he’s had meningitis, people don’t know what it does to the brain." ...

[RP] had become "very upset and worried", [his sister-in-law IP] said.
"He was telling us he was quite upset," she said. "He had trouble remembering things. He did tell us about the police being there."
She said he told her: "I have nothing to tell the police but they keep coming."
"He was really quite ill," she said. "The last six weeks before he died, his memory was very bad, his health was very bad."

The Australian, 18 March 2020 (paywalled; I was able to see the article at the time but can't now)

Did the Police actually keep going to see him?

 

[shorsky]

thanks Stormbird. I’d read all those comments & I’m not disputing their accuracy.

i wasn’t referring to or suggesting that RP had dementia (neither did my father).

I do believe there often comes a time when elderly people get a sense of the end being near, at which stage certain things become important to them to highlight, clear up etc.

just my personal thoughts. I have no idea if this applied in RP’s case

 

[stormbird]

Did the Police actually keep going to see him?

I don't know.

The extract from nurse Kirston's police statement has her saying that RP was complaining about visitors when he was talking to her in April 2019:

"[He said] 'I don't want to talk anymore. I have had enough of these people coming up to talk to me'.
(Whilst Ray said this, I believed he was talking about members of his family)
I said: 'What are you talking about?'
He said: 'I don't want any more visitors'
I said: 'If there are people that you don't want to visit you, you can just let us know and we can make another time for them to come.'
He said: 'I didn't do anything wrong, all I did was give my best mate and the boy a lift?'

There's no explanation in the statement or article about whether the "visitors" were police or (as the nurse believed at the time) his family. If police, then they had visited him once or more by April 2020.

Later in the statement Kirston says she was at work a few months later, on 18 July 2019, when another nurse said 'Have you heard that police have been trying to get a confession out of [RP] before he passes about the missing boy William Tyrrell?'

But the extract doesn't say whether the police had visited in July or at some time earlier.

Daily Mail, 18 March 2020

 

[stormbird]

The hearing for "Appeal: State of New South Wales v William Harrie Spedding" (case number 2022/00368706) is on the NSW Online Registry court list for tomorrow, Tue 13 Jun 2023, and Wed 14 Jun.

Tomorrow's listing has more details than Wednesday's, including that the presiding officers will be Chief Justice A.S. Bell, Justice J. Ward (President of the Court of Appeal), and Justice C. Adamson.

And now also listed for tomorrow, 13 Jun, under the same case number: "Notice of Motion Civil - State of New South Wales v William Harrie Spedding", listing type "Motion (Court of Appeal)".

I'm hoping someone will finally get around to telling the public what's going on. Which part of the judgment is being challenged and why?

 

[31550]

The hearing for "Appeal: State of New South Wales v William Harrie Spedding" (case number 2022/00368706) is on the NSW Online Registry court list for tomorrow, Tue 13 Jun 2023, and Wed 14 Jun.

Tomorrow's listing has more details than Wednesday's, including that the presiding officers will be Chief Justice A.S. Bell, Justice J. Ward (President of the Court of Appeal), and Justice C. Adamson.

And now also listed for tomorrow, 13 Jun, under the same case number: "Notice of Motion Civil - State of New South Wales v William Harrie Spedding", listing type "Motion (Court of Appeal)".

I'm hoping someone will finally get around to telling the public what's going on. Which part of the judgment is being challenged and why?

It appears from today's proceedings that NSW Police and DPP are appealing the entire judgement which awarded Spedding $1.5M.
Stephen Free, representing NSW has today argued that Justice Harrison incorrectly analysed the facts of the case, and made erroneous findings in favour of Spedding.

Court urged to overturn $1.5m award to Bill Spedding

The State of NSW is appealing a judgment ordering it to pay $1.5m after police maliciously prosecuted Spedding over William Tyrrell’s disappearance.

www.theage.com.au

 

[BFew]

It appears from today's proceedings that NSW Police and DPP are appealing the entire judgement which awarded Spedding $1.5M.
Stephen Free, representing NSW has today argued that Justice Harrison incorrectly analysed the facts of the case, and made erroneous findings in favour of Spedding.

Court urged to overturn $1.5m award to Bill Spedding

The State of NSW is appealing a judgment ordering it to pay $1.5m after police maliciously prosecuted Spedding over William Tyrrell’s disappearance.

www.theage.com.au

The below article has some details missing from the SMH one.
Makes it look like if the appeal is unsuccessful, that they want the amount awarded to Spedding reduced.

Judge wrong to award 'excessive' $1.5m to Bill Spedding

A $1.5 million award to Bill Spedding over trumped-up historical sexual assault allegations brought during the investigation into...

www.maitlandmercury.com.au

'Judge wrong to award 'excessive' $1.5m to Bill Spedding​

By Miklos Bolza
Updated June 13 2023 - 5:06pm, first published 5:03pm
...
On Tuesday, NSW's barrister Stephen Free SC attempted to overturn this judgment, arguing the "excessive" amount was incorrectly calculated by Justice Harrison based on harm suffered by Mr Spedding as a prime suspect in the William Tyrrell investigation as well as the child sexual abuse charges.

"To view this as being in the worst kind of category of case justifying a much greater award of damages than any previous award one can only logically get to if you see it rolled up with the Tyrrell investigation more generally," the barrister said.

Murder charges laid on fabricated evidence or child abuse cases brought over fanciful allegations had not resulted in the same level of compensation as that ordered in this case, Mr Free told the NSW Court of Appeal.

The difficulty was "unscrambling the egg" and separating which damages came from which source, the panel of three appeal judges heard.
...
The hearing continues on Wednesday.'

 

[Angry Red Bull]

The question remains, "Why did GO ring FGM on the Friday morning?"

A whole heap of possibilities:

a) Need to order wood for Tuesday. Softwood or hardwood. Nails or screws
b) Want to get someone out to dismantle
before delivery of wood
c) I've worked out formal quote for you on choices
d) Any conceivable private matter

In terms of why FGM may put off deck because of WT going missing imo is age specific. When a crisis happens (liking a missing grandson) you suspend all arrangements around that time because of the need to deal with emotional fallout. It's that simple and what that age group would do. In truth is what I'd do too

 

[31550]

A whole heap of possibilities:

a) Need to order wood for Tuesday. Softwood or hardwood. Nails or screws
b) Want to get someone out to dismantle
before delivery of wood
c) I've worked out formal quote for you on choices
d) Any conceivable private matter

In terms of why FGM may put off deck because of WT going missing imo is age specific. When a crisis happens (liking a missing grandson) you suspend all arrangements around that time because of the need to deal with emotional fallout. It's that simple and what that age group would do. In truth is what I'd do too

Agree these are all possibilities but none of them actually fit very well to the known facts, or the FGM recollection of events in the walkthrough. According to FGM, a quote had already been provided, and GO was coming on the Tuesday to do the job. We know it was likely a quite minor job, because the house was already (as good as) sold, and the deck and verandah were apparently fit for use by the family on the weekend (not blocked off). According to FGM, no particulars about the job were discussed:

FGM "I did make the phone call on the Friday afternoon. I realised that I had the floorboards to be repaired. He was coming on the Tuesday, and I phoned him to say, ... by that time he had, ... well, it was well advertised everywhere, that was, ... well, you know the time I rang. It was in the afternoon some time on Friday. ​

​

VP: And by that you mean there was a lot of people around the area ...? ​

​

FGM: And it was on the news, and it was ... well, I, I, I, I just said to him... his name is Geoff Owen,... lives in Logan's crossing, he has done some work for me before, and um he did ... I did say, 'Do you understand?' ... I didn't say anything I just said 'Do you understand Geoff, what's going on?' and he said 'Yes', so he knew, and I assumed because of all the publicity that's been going on. And that's the only phone call I made.​

​

​

 

[stormbird]

Cops accused of destroying Bill Spedding's life, Perth Now/AAP, 14 June 2023

'On Wednesday [BS] resisted a legal challenge by NSW, saying the amount was warranted given the ill will police had towards Mr Spedding when he was a suspect in William's alleged kidnapping.

"What is needed is the award of a sum that will sting, a sum that will cause notice to be taken of what has occurred, of the wrongs that have been done to the plaintiff and of the disapprobation of the court," said Mr Spedding's barrister Paul Blacket SC.

The NSW public had an interest in police behaving properly and, if there was to be any reform of the NSW Police Force, they should be sufficiently punished for this type of misconduct, he told the NSW Court of Appeal.
...
"It's as bad a case in Australian legal history in respect of malicious prosecution as you can get," the barrister said.
...
Judgment is now reserved and will be handed down at a later date.'

 

[NRL Fan]

Agree these are all possibilities but none of them actually fit very well to the known facts, or the FGM recollection of events in the walkthrough. According to FGM, a quote had already been provided, and GO was coming on the Tuesday to do the job. We know it was likely a quite minor job, because the house was already (as good as) sold, and the deck and verandah were apparently fit for use by the family on the weekend (not blocked off). According to FGM, no particulars about the job were discussed:

FGM "I did make the phone call on the Friday afternoon. I realised that I had the floorboards to be repaired. He was coming on the Tuesday, and I phoned him to say, ... by that time he had, ... well, it was well advertised everywhere, that was, ... well, you know the time I rang. It was in the afternoon some time on Friday. ​

​

VP: And by that you mean there was a lot of people around the area ...? ​

​

FGM: And it was on the news, and it was ... well, I, I, I, I just said to him... his name is Geoff Owen,... lives in Logan's crossing, he has done some work for me before, and um he did ... I did say, 'Do you understand?' ... I didn't say anything I just said 'Do you understand Geoff, what's going on?' and he said 'Yes', so he knew, and I assumed because of all the publicity that's been going on. And that's the only phone call I made.​

​

​

That's even raising more questions IMO. Notice that the FGM doesn't specifically tell GO not to come over in her statement, but claims to have just asked if he knew what was going on. Here statement reads as though she wanted to convey to police that GO already knew about WT due to the media publicity and that her call was not made to inform GO.

 

[Angry Red Bull]

Agree these are all possibilities but none of them actually fit very well to the known facts, or the FGM recollection of events in the walkthrough. According to FGM, a quote had already been provided, and GO was coming on the Tuesday to do the job. We know it was likely a quite minor job, because the house was already (as good as) sold, and the deck and verandah were apparently fit for use by the family on the weekend (not blocked off). According to FGM, no particulars about the job were discussed:

FGM "I did make the phone call on the Friday afternoon. I realised that I had the floorboards to be repaired. He was coming on the Tuesday, and I phoned him to say, ... by that time he had, ... well, it was well advertised everywhere, that was, ... well, you know the time I rang. It was in the afternoon some time on Friday. ​

​

VP: And by that you mean there was a lot of people around the area ...? ​

​

FGM: And it was on the news, and it was ... well, I, I, I, I just said to him... his name is Geoff Owen,... lives in Logan's crossing, he has done some work for me before, and um he did ... I did say, 'Do you understand?' ... I didn't say anything I just said 'Do you understand Geoff, what's going on?' and he said 'Yes', so he knew, and I assumed because of all the publicity that's been going on. And that's the only phone call I made.​

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The suggestion is it just a small job replacing a few boards. Can you actually do that?......just replace a few boards? It's not a huge area. I'm thinking you'd probably need to replace them all.

 

[NRL Fan]

The suggestion is it just a small job replacing a few boards. Can you actually do that?......just replace a few boards? It's not a huge area. I'm thinking you'd probably need to replace them all.

The house was not so old that the boards would have developed rot, but it's possible some had warped and the nails had popped out. You can replace individual timbers, but you need to remove the entire length and replace with a similar new piece and then paint or stain to match. My guess is that some boards had warped and represented a trip hazard and she was replacing them for the new incoming owners.

 

[31550]

The house was not so old that the boards would have developed rot, but it's possible some had warped and the nails had popped out. You can replace individual timbers, but you need to remove the entire length and replace with a similar new piece and then paint or stain to match. My guess is that some boards had warped and represented a trip hazard and she was replacing them for the new incoming owners.

Anyone else find the whole deck repair situation unusual? If you are selling a house, you either fix it up before putting it on the market, OR you sell it 'as is'. Once you have an offer on the house, you don't spend any more money on it than you need to. It's not like selling a car where you need a RWC. I have never seen an offer on a property being conditional on certain repairs being carried out - it's too messy legally and financially, as the job typically needs to be done to the buyers satisfaction, which may then be withheld unreasonably. If I was buying a house I would just factor in any likely repairs to my (lowball) offer. My understanding is that there was already a Contract of Sale in place for FGM house?

The only exception I can think of, is where the offer on the property is subject to a building inspection revealing no illegal or non-compliant building. E.g. where you have a swimming pool or spa, you need fencing to a certain specification, depending on what LGA you are in. A qualified and registered inspector would provide a certificate stating compliance or non-compliance to specific regulations. Is it possible that the deck/verandah at FGM house was in breach of some building regulations?