Media Release 19/5/2001

Partners and Friends

I had taken in an Aboriginal partner in 1993. Shane, who was an expert at boomerang making, but was going under in his business and on the verge of a breakdown. In the meantime I was on my feet was doing quite well. We joined forces on the understanding that I would still be helping young indigenous people to get jobs. We worked very well together and set up a good little business at Aussie World on the Sunshine Coast where we employed up to about 25 people.

Included among them, were three foster children of my friend Colin Jones. Colin and his wife Gloria I met in Cherbourg in 1988, where they were running a very successful children's shelter. We didn't have a lot to do with each other at that stage, mainly because we were both just so busy doing what we were doing. We ran into each other at different times over the following years. Again I was very aware of the work Colin was doing you only had to look at the kids in his care to know he was doing the right thing, happy, laughing, healthy kids, give it away every time.

Sister Bernadine at Cherbourg who worked closely with Colin convinced him to go to University to get a degree. He was concerned that with his background of very little schooling, this would be impossible. He was soon asked to Lecture at the University, as well as Lecture at the Police Academy for the new recruits. These people thought he knew what he was talking about and they still do.

The shelter in Cherbourg was such a wonderful success story. So Colin was asked by the then Government to work for the Department of Family Youth and Community Care. His job was to look at other communities, with the view of repeating Cherbourg Shelter's success in other places. Colin, like a lot of other people, could see the huge problems with the way the Department was handling thing. He, like myself and others later on, voiced his opinions on these matters and found, as so many others do, that his opinions were not wanted. So he made a few enemies. Many people working in the Department are well aware of all these problems, but only voice them privately for fear of recriminations. This is where an Ombudsman is needed just for the Department of Family Youth and Community Care, where these people are game to go to air their grievances. Maybe this could be the answer. After you finish, reading this book you may also agree.

Colin came to work for me because he wanted to get his foster kids away to a better environment then Brisbane. He worked for me for a fraction of what the department was paying him. I loved having him and the three boys who were all fifteen and a half when they started late 1993. One of the boys was an alcohol syndrome baby. Colin made me aware of this before I agreed to take them on. This caused no problems at all, other then I decided not to place him in the back workroom with the equipment as he was on medication. You were unaware there was anything wrong with him other then maybe he was a bit slower then most.

One of the boys Harrison was so good that he got three pay rises in the first few months, as he left a lot of the men on three times his wage for dead.

Colin worked in the shop and as he could speak seven languages, no customer would pass through the door without Colin being able to speak to them. This surprised and pleased them to see a Tahitian/Aboriginal man greet them in their native tongue.

One funny time involved Steven. A group of Japanese students was in the shop and Steven was playing Didgeridoo as he played one of them asked the guide "Does he speak English?" Steven stopped playing and just said Kanetewai, which is good morning in Japanese, then went back to playing. The poor girl nearly fainted, and then they burst out laughing when Steven laughed. Mind you, it was the only word Colin had been able to teach him or me.

Australia day 1994 we were all working as we were so busy, not only with a regular order for two thousand boomerangs each week but also many other products needed for the shop which was busy during holiday season. The boys asked the day before if they would be off; I decided then that they could have the time off.

Colin drove them to Brisbane then came to work intending to go back and pick them up that night. When he got to Brisbane two of the boys were waiting, Mathew was missing.

For a few days, Colin would go down to Brisbane looking everywhere for Mathew, fearing what might happen to him if he were not on his medication and started drinking.)

One night as I watched TV and two of Colin's other foster kids were with me, Debbie shouted as we watched the news about a bashing in the Mall. There in the background was Mathew. As soon as Colin was told he was in his car and on his way to Brisbane to see the Police, not only was Mathew in the news story but also other youth Colin knew. Colin had a very good relationship with the police as he was lecturing the new constables in Aboriginal cultural issues.

A few days later he was found and along with others charged in relation to the Mall incident. I wrote a support letter to the court to say that he still had his job after whatever punishment he may get. This turned out to be three months at a detention centre.

Once back on the Sunshine Coast, he was placed under the department of Family Service and there began the nightmare that I wouldn't have believed if I wasn't involved. Mathew was at this stage not a child; he was an adult. He had just become a father, which seems awfully young at fifteen. It isn't until you realise what they have been through in their short lives has them looking and acting like twenty year olds, when they are only fifteen in years. The department decided he would go back to school, somewhere he hated and didn't fit back into instead of coming back to work, and he enjoyed and was good at.

Mathew was taken to the Maroochydore office where department officers interviewed him. In conversation, Mathew stated that Colin had hit him, well all hell broke loose, and they didn't bother to ask why. The reason, it turned out, was that he had been sniffing petrol and really out of it. He looked like going through a glass door and was swinging at Colin. To stop him Colin was protecting himself from someone, who was off his brain, was bigger and stronger then him hit him.

The day this was happening at Maroochydore was a normal day at our work place. The phone rang and I answered it to find Debbie (Colin's 12 year old foster child) completely out of it. Crying, if I could call it that (hysterical was more like it), saying "Where's Uncle Colin, they are saying terrible things about Uncle Colin". It was to turn out that after Mathew had said that Colin had hit him, they went to the Caloundra school attended by both Debbie and Aleen, got them out of their classes and, in the headmaster's office, asked them if Colin had ever touched them etc, etc, etc. I don't think I have to tell you the effect this had on Colin, who put on a brave front for everyone because of his concern for the children.

Inside he was dying.

Mathew was removed from Colin and placed with a part Aboriginal Family Service Officer, Oriel, at Caloundra. Three days after this happened, I along with Steven and some of my family were at the Powerboat Club for dinner. Oriel, who I had never met, was pointed out to me by Steven, who did know who this officer was. At the end of the night, after we had finished having dinner and a little play the poker machines, I noticed a very drunk Oriel and her friend were still there. It crossed my mind as I thought to myself

"I wonder who is looking after Mathew?" A few days later, I sat in my office and watched as Mathew and someone I had never met, but knew was Oriel, arrive at my door. Mathew said hello, but I was shocked at how he looked, different to anything I had ever seen. I was to write a poem about it which says what I was feeling that day. Mathew was with an officer from the department, Oriel, who never said who or what she was. All that was said was "Mathew said he might be owed some pay?" I got out the wage books. As this was from before he went to Brisbane and the pay went directly into their accounts, I wasn't sure how much it was.

There was something about you

The way that you looked

I wasn't quite sure what it was

Back from jail, full of promises

And taking your medication

But something didn't ring true

As I just kept looking at you

Someone older, someone wiser

Said as you left "Don't you ever trust him"

He's saying one thing,

But planning the next thing he'll do

He's up to no good this one

Trust me! I know! Remember I was just like him"

It didn't take long, three months I think

To destroy families and take a life

I now know what you were capable of

That's what I was looking at

Where do we go from here?

What have we learnt?

What should we have done to help, or even stop you?

Kerry Bowden 1996

I said to her as I looked at the books, "Yes, $145.00 was paid into his account", to which she replied "Someone has taken the money out of his account. I knew what she was inferring, then, as I looked again at the sheets, I said, "No, sorry, it was only $45.00. The mark is from the carbon. It was just the one day's pay he was owed and paid." They left, still without her saying who she was. As I came out of the office, Steven said:

"Don't you ever trust him; he's up to no good."

Meanwhile Colin, who knew him the best of anyone, went to the Maroochydore office and begged and pleaded with them not to let him off his medication. (He knew when he saw him that he was already off that). He also pleaded with them not to let him go back to Maryborough. He also pleaded with them not to take the two girls off him and Gloria and send them back to Cherbourg.

The effect on Colin, Gloria, Trish 17, (who was the mother of Mathew's baby son born in January (spitting image of Mathew) and the other two boys still working for me, was devastating. It got so bad, that it even got back to us, that department people were saying Colin was the father of Trish's baby!

The two girls were taken kicking and screaming from Colin and Gloria, then sent back to Cherbourg. Oriel would not leave them alone. As their world fell apart, Colin said to me, "Kerry, I must move back to Brisbane." This they did, but Harrison who was such a good little worker didn't want to lose his job. So it was decided that he would stay with me.

Some time later Harrison asked me if a friend of his, Clifton, could have a job with us. I spoke to Colin about him, to be told not to have him, as he would not be a good influence on Harrison. I decided that I would let him come down for the weekend and at least for Harrison's sake meet him.

He arrived, and very late that night there was a knock at the door. Mathew and another boy, who I thought was Oriel's son, asked if they could see Harrison and Clifton. Mathew, who had been in my house many times, was not invited in, as I felt very uncomfortable and very aware that he had been drinking. I called the boys and said that they could go downstairs across the road for a short time, while I made myself a cup of tea and sat where I could watch them. I had also told Harrison that when I was finished I would call and they were to come back in. This they did, and I watched Mathew and the other boy heading off after midnight to heaven knows where. This same person that was taken from a loving family who kept close tabs on him, was now in the care of the department and wandering the streets. Even I was frightened. I put Clifton on the bus on Sunday afternoon, back to Maryborough. At work one day just after this, Harrison asked if he could go to Maryborough for the show. I said yes as long as he was back for work on the Monday. I put him on the bus on the Friday, knowing Harrison was a very reliable person and would be back for work.

Monday arrived and there was no Harrison, Tuesday then Wednesday came and still no Harrison. Then that afternoon I heard a sixteen-year-old boy from Caloundra had been charged with the murder of a two-year-old child in Maryborough.

While I didn't even know Mathew had gone to Maryborough, I knew in my heart and soul without thinking that it was Mathew! I phoned a reporter friend and he said he didn't know, as it was a closed court because of his age. I went out to my partner Shane, told him what I had just heard and thought, then said I was going to ring Maryborough to find Harrison.

I found out from his family that he was being questioned by the police and didn't think he could leave town. I decided to phone the police, who at first were reluctant to speak to me. After I explained that Harrison worked for my company, but had been staying with me, the police officer said "Kerry, get him out of here. We are finished with him and this place is no place for him to stay." It turned out the police officer knew Harrison from years before and could see the same potential I could see in him.

I went in to my partner Shane, who had been home to his wife for lunch, where they had discussed what had happened. When I said, "I have to get Harrison out of Maryborough" he said, "Well, he isn't coming back here to work." We had a heated debate, where I explained that Harrison was cleared by the police and was not Mathew. Shane had made up his mind at lunchtime, talking with his wife, that Harrison was not coming back. I was disappointed. I said to him, "If Harrison is not coming back, I have to leave the partnership" as I had to get Harrison out of Maryborough and that was not negotiable. I went into my office and phoned Philip Levy, our accountant, who said to sleep on it and if we still wanted to do it, he would come up and sort out what to do about it.

The next day it was still a stalemate and I was happy to walk away from it all. Harrison's needs were urgent. Shane decided he would go, as his wife was not happy down the Coast anyway. I can understand their feelings; no one knows how they will react until put into a situation.

We finished a very good partnership and the business never recovered. Unbeknown to Shane and the staff, I was very ill at the time and would require surgery shortly after. We both lost big time, but if I had to do it again, I would do just what I did then. Harrison didn't deserve to be abandoned for something he had nothing to do with. I couldn't do that to him or Colin. The next two years leading up to the trial were horrific for everyone concerned.

Myself, who had always thought the death penalty for these sort of crimes was justified, had to rethink and take into consideration that Mathew was off his medication and drinking. In jail awaiting trial, he asked when he would be out. He had no idea what he had done and thought he would be out in three months, like last time.

Meanwhile, the department stopped Colin from seeing Mathew in prison, but when Mathew became uncontrollable, who did they call to go down to see if he could help, Colin! Mathew broke out of the detention centre and it was Colin who searched high and low for him, not the department. It was Colin's house he turned up at, not Oriel's or the department. It was Colin who called the police. It was Colin who handed him over to them - very quietly and without any trouble.

The court case was to be a terrible ordeal for Colin, who had to sit through and listen to what Mathew had done, not being able to speak to him, again a family service order.

The trial finished with Mathew given life - 14 years.

The Family Service Officer, Oriel, took her own life. It was later to come out that if her own background had been taken into consideration, she should never have been in charge of anyone, especially Mathew. She can not be held responsible, rather the Department who employed her should.

The price paid by a lot of people, including the family of the little girl, will go on forever. My price and that of a very good partner was monetary and can't be compared to the cost paid by others. But to this day I regret losing a great partner and also Harrison who couldn't cope with the stress over the two years leading up to the trial and threats on his family. He returned to Marlborough, to heaven knows what!

All this because a department didn't bother to ask anyone about Colin and how he really looked after those kids. I, who had known him for seven years before all this happened, employed him and three of his foster children, lived right behind him, socialised with the family, had the two girls in my unit and shop every week, was never asked about how Colin treated those kids. That to this day still dumbfounds me!

The two girls were sent back to Cherbourg under the department's care for two years, but as soon as the care order was lifted, returned to live with Colin and Gloria, their own choice. No prize for guessing who has been the person, who keeps in touch with Mathew, buys him little things he needs, and visits him, yes, Colin of course.

At the Aussie World site, I continued my business until after the trial, while the other business owners and many staff, knew one of my staff was involved. They could never work out which one. Mathew had never done anything on the site to make them uncomfortable or threatened. Which speaks heaps.

I want to state very clearly now my opinion is:

If Colin Jones had been looking after Mathew there would be a little girl alive today and a young man not in jail for life.