New Inquest in to the death of Mark Haines - Tamworth

[stormbird]

One day later, and there still appears to be no news about the directions hearing. The Tamworth newspaper (the Northern Daily Leader) is available for registered users through the eresources at the State Library of NSW, so I checked that, hoping for some sort of update, but I couldn't find anything.


I keep wishing the courts would put out their own news reports. What's the point of having "public" hearings if the public doesn't know what happened? Even if there's a coroner's finding at the end of an inquest, there will be a lot of information left out and not much to explain why the coroner focused on some things and not others.

Links:

Eresources at the State Library of NSW (there's a fantastic range of sources, so it's well worth a look if you're in NSW)

Register your [NSW] public library card for eresources

NewsBank (lots of newspapers, including those in Australia - I think there's usually a delay of a day or so after publication before they're available through the library)

Northern Daily Leader (Tamworth, Australia) on NewsBank (can be viewed as either an image or text)

 

[stormbird]

Well, Upcoming inquests now has that directions hearing again:

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Friday 9th August 2024
Inquest into the death of Mark Haines
Directions Hearing
Forensic Medicine and Coroner’s Court Complex, 1A Main Ave, Lidcombe
Courtroom Three at 10AM
Before Her Honour Magistrate Grahame, Deputy State Coroner

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I suppose this means it wasn't held last week.

 

[stormbird]

The directions hearing should have been held yesterday (9 Aug 2024) but I can't find any news about it.

If it went ahead there might have been news about whether the inquest hearings will resume on 28 October 2024 in Tamworth and whether more hearings will be needed at some other time after that week, and maybe news about whether the police investigation has a new Officer in Charge or why the coroner's people were asking for one. That's what I was hoping for, anyway.

For future reference, here's the case number according to the NSW Online Registry:

Case number 2022/00343305

 

[stormbird]

One more listing for a directions hearing is now in Upcoming inquests, Coroners Court New South Wales:

Friday 20 September 2024
Inquest into the Death of Mark HAINES
Directions Hearing
Courtroom Three at 10am
Before her Honour Magistrate Grahame, Deputy State Coroner

 

[stormbird]

From Upcoming inquests, Coroners Court New South Wales

Monday 28 October – Friday 1 November 2024
Inquest into the Death of Mark HAINES
Manner of Death
Tamworth Local Court, Marius & Fitzroy Streets, Tamworth at 10am
Before her Honour Magistrate Grahame, Deputy State Coroner

 

[stormbird]

From: "Rumour of boxer's role in teen's death aired at inquest", Northern Daily Leader / AAP, 28 Oct 2024

"Soon after the discovery of Mr Haines' body was reported in the local newspaper, there was a rumour Tamworth boxer Eddie Davis was involved in his death, the inquest has been told.

Mr Davis's former partner Cherrie Dunning said a cousin told her about the rumour, but she didn't believe it.

"I never thought that he did it," Ms Dunning told the inquest sitting in Tamworth courthouse on Monday.

After Ms Dunning ended her relationship with Mr Davis, she spent a few months living with friends in Sydney about 1990.

One of the friends made a statement to police in September 1999, recalling Ms Dunning talking about how she was scared of Mr Davis partly because of his involvement in Mr Haines' death.

"You said that he'd killed a guy in Tamworth on the train tracks and put a pillow under his head?" Counsel assisting the coroner Chris McGorey asked, referring to the man's statement.

"I never said that at all," Ms Dunning said.

She denied telling the friends Mr Davis had come home late one night, soaking wet and covered in blood.

Mr McGorey again asked about details in the friend's police statement.

"You said you asked (Mr Davis) what happened and that they had stolen a car, pranged it and then you said that Eddie had put the young fella on the railway track and put a pillow under his head?" Mr McGorey asked.

"(You) also said Eddie had bashed him with an iron bar?"

But Ms Dunning denied she had that conversation with her friends.

"I might have mentioned that he was being accused of it ... but I never mentioned that he'd done it because I didn't know."

Mr Davis is due to be called as a witness at a later date.

The inquest continues before deputy state coroner Harriet Grahame."

 

[stormbird]

Mark Haines inquest hears allegations of “unpredictable” boxer, NBN News, 28 Oct 2024

Includes a 1:57 minute news video.

 

[FTY1]

Witness tells inquest woman 'knows what happened' to Mark Haines before his body was found on train tracks

A coronial inquest into a teenager's 1988 death has heard claims his then girlfriend "fears for her life" because of what she knows.

www.abc.net.au

Mark's girlfriend Tanya at the time is afraid to speak for fear of her safety. Her friend Natalie is a witness but wasn't given details and names of what happened.

"Natalie Blanch, a friend of Mark's girlfriend at the time of his disappearance, Tanya White, told the court on Tuesday she believed Ms White knew details about the night Mark died.

"I have had frequent conversations with Tanya and she knows what happened to Mark," Ms Blanch told the inquest.

"She told me she is scared to talk and fears for her safety."

...

Ms Blanch said Ms White had told her that a car had picked up Mark on the night in question and she knows the occupants of the car.

When asked by Counsel for Don Craigie, Jalal Razi, who was in the car, Ms Blanch said she wasn't told.


Ms White has maintained to police that the night before his body was found, she and Mark went separate ways when they were near the town pool and she didn't know where he went after that.
"He just said goodbye and we separated," Tanya White told the inquest in April.

"I didn't see any cars or headlights where he was walking."
A white Torana was found crashed near Mark Haines' body, however Ms Blanch did not indicate that the car alleged to have picked him up was the same car."

 

[stormbird]

From 'We didn't do it': man denies rumours over teen's death, The Border Mail / AAP, 29 Oct 2024

"Asked whether he and his brother, local boxer Eddie Davis, ever discussed the widespread rumours they had something to do with Mr Haines' death, Mr [Robert] Davis said they didn't.

"We were innocent and there's no reason to discuss things," Robert Davis told the inquest at Tamworth court house on Tuesday.

"We didn't know him, I wasn't living in Tamworth and Eddie didn't know him either - he was only a kid. ...

Natalie Maher told the inquest she was with Mr Haines and his girlfriend Tanya White the night before his body was found, as a group of friends went to two nightclubs in Tamworth. ...

"I've had frequent conversations over the years and (she's) stated she knows what happened to Mark and I begged her to tell police ... and she just will not," Ms Maher said.

"She said she's scared."

Ms Maher said Ms White had previously told her she knew who was in the car with Mr Haines that night, as well as who was driving.

However Ms Maher acknowledged she did not tell police about these revelations in her own statement to investigators in 2000, partly due to a sense of loyalty to her friend."

 

[stormbird]

No news
I hope the inquest hasn't shut down early again.

 

[stormbird]

"Mark Haines’ best friend fronts inquest in Tamworth", NBN News, 31 Oct 2024

https://www.nbnnews.com.au/2024/10/31/mark-haines-best-friend-fronts-inquest-in-tamworth/

Video news report, 1:35 mins

 

[stormbird]

from: "Witness tells inquest into Gomeroi teen's death: 'I feel for you'", Northern Daily Leader, 01 Nov 2024 paywalled

"As the final witness [this week] to be heard by the coronial inquest, which sat in Tamworth from Monday, October 28, to Friday, November 1, Mr [Eddie] Davis was addressing Mr Haines' uncle, Don Craigie, who had sat in the court each day along with a number of his family members.

"I feel for you - I can't imagine what this whole thing has been like," Mr Davis said.

"I will say again, I did not have a role (in Mr Haines' death), and I hope you find peace.

"I love all the brothers, and always will ... I hope you find out what has happened." ...

Giving evidence, Mr Davis denied knowing Mr Haines at the time of his death.

He also refuted evidence from an earlier witness and former partner Cherrie Dunning-Smith, which suggested he was a violent person.

Barrister Jalal Razi, for Mr Craigie and the Haines' family, questioned Mr Davis at length about the accusation.

"I don't know why she would have said that," Mr Davis said. ...

He did admit to "smacking her (Ms Dunning-Smith) in the mouth" while she was pregnant.

Mr Davis also touched on the issue of racism in Tamworth, noting that had Mr Haines been a "rich white kid" it might have resulted in a different and "more thorough" investigation.

He said it remains much the same today.

"If black kids go missing, you search for them through Facebook posts," he said.

Mr Davis also refuted Ms Dunning-Smith's earlier testimony that he took an overnight trip to Werris Creek on a wet evening, about the same time as Mr Haines' death, returning home in different clothes.

Inquest to continue

After hearing from multiple witnesses, the coronial inquest in Mr Haines' death has been adjourned until Monday, March 31, 2025, for five days to Friday, April 4, when it will reopen at Lidcombe for another sitting.

Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame told the court it was not certain the April sitting would see the inquest completed, as counsel assisting the coroner Chris McGorey said there was still "some significant evidence to be taken".

However, Ms Grahame said the inquest would return to Tamworth to announce its findings."

 

[stormbird]

The NSW Online Registry now has a directions hearing listed for 07 Feb 2025:

Case name: Inquest into death of Mark Anthony Haines
Date: 07 Feb
Time: 9:30 am
Case number: 2022/00343305
List number: -
Location: NSW State Coroners Court
Room: Unassigned
Court address: Address is unavailable as court room is unassigned. Please check again later.
Court phone number: 02 8584 7777
Jurisdiction: Civil
Presiding officer: Deputy State Coroner H Grahame
Court: Coroner's Court
Listing type: Directions