Monday 21 October 2013

It was meant to be fun.

An Australia Day paddock party, a reunion for a group of 19-year-old school friends before they went their separate ways, to university and work.

But something went very wrong.

By sunrise, two young people were dying, their families and friends devastated and a community was in shock.

At around 4:45am, a 17-year-old reversed his ute and ran over two sleeping teenagers, sharing a swag on the ground next to a stockyard fence. It was an accident, but the driver responsible had broken the law. He didn't have a licence and had been drinking throughout the night.

To complicate matters, the driver was also the son of a long-serving local highway patrol officer, who was a colleague and friend of police attending the scene.

For everyone concerned it was a shocking and conflicted situation. Over the following months, people began to ask questions about the police investigation. Even after a Coronial Inquest, many questions remain unanswered: what did police do on the morning of the incident? Why didn't police take a statement from the driver, or try to interview him that morning? How did the driver blow zero when he was breathalysed? And why did police tell the public and the grieving parents that alcohol was not a factor - and never publically correct their mistake?

By reconstructing the events of that night, Four Corners investigates the police handling of the case, asking: why has no one been held to account?

While They Were Sleeping, reported by Caro Meldrum-Hanna, produced by Deb Masters and presented by Kerry O'Brien, goes to air on Monday 21st October at 8.30pm on ABC1. It is replayed on Tuesday 22nd October at 11.35pm. It can also be seen on ABC News 24 on Saturday at 8.00pm, ABC iview and at abc.net.au/4corners.

Transcript

While They Were Sleeping - Monday 21 October 2013

KERRY O'BRIEN: Welcome to Four Corners. Tonight's story will send a chill through every parent watching. Emotions are powerful, raw and utterly understandable. They're also unresolved.

It's a story about rite of passage in the bush; about a paddock party on Australia Day three years ago that went horribly awry. Leaving two young adults dead, after being run over in their sleeping bag by a utility.

The driver was the son of a policeman.

The parents of Eliza Wannan and Will Dalton-Brown believe justice has not been well served. But senior police, the Coroner and the Director of Public Prosecutions all disagree.

I know the world is full of tragic stories, most of which are left untold. But this one deserves to be held up to the light, so Four Corners has reconstructed the events of that night. We examine what the local police did and did not do and follow the Coronial Inquest into the deaths of Eliza Wannan and Will Dalton-Brown.

The reporter is Caro Meldrum-Hanna.

TRIPLE 000 OPERATOR: Ambulance, what's the exact address of the emergency?

RHYS LORD: Um where are we? Belgravia Road, a property called Ridgeview.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA, REPORTER: It's Australia Day 2010. An hour before sunrise, at 10 past five in the morning, 19 year-old Rhys Lord rings triple 0.

(Sound of voices speaking over radio)

He's at an all night party on a country property in NSW.

VOX POP: How many people?

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Two people are fighting for their lives.

RHYS LORD: Just tell 'em to come out, fuck this.

TRIPLE 000 OPERATOR: Listen they're being organised. We're going to have to get quite a few vehicles there so I want everyone there to be quiet there and behave...

RHYS LORD: Yeah, no, look I'm sorry I'm just trying to figure out...

TRIPLE 000 OPERATOR: Alright, how old is the first person? Male or female and how old are they?

RHYS LORD: There's a male and a female.

TRIPLE 000 OPERATOR: Yeah how old is the person. How old? 20, 80?

RHYS LORD: 19.

VOX POP 2: They're not breathing, they're not breathing.

TRIPLE 000 OPERATOR: Alright now.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: An ambulance is heading to a property near the small town of Molong, 25 minutes from Orange in central west NSW.

(Sound of ambulance driving on country road)

The injured are both 19 years old. And they're not breathing.

TREVOR NOBBS, PARAMEDIC, ORANGE AMBULANCE SERVICE: We were told that there were two people, a male and a female, that had been run over and there were CPR in progress. So clearly a serious accident.

(Sound of panicked voices)

VOX POP 2: Just get here!

TRIPLE 000 OPERATOR: When they get out on Molon, what road will they head out on? Listen!

(Chaos girls screaming in background)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: In the chaos, 17 year old Petrisse Leckie takes over the call.

PETRISSE LECKIE: Are they conscious and breathing (shouts to the group). No, no they're not.

TRIPLE 000 OPERATOR: Alright what we're going to do is...

PETRISSE LECKIE: Shut up.

TRIPLE 000 OPERATOR: CPR on both of them all right?

PETRISSE LECKIE: Yeah we've been doing CPR on both of them.

TRIPLE 000 OPERATOR: Okay alright, now can you look at the girl and tell me what injuries she has?

PETRISSE LECKIE: It's all internal too. She has no colour in her face. it's too purple in her face.

TRIPLE 000 OPERATOR: Her face has gone purple.

PETRISSE LECKIE: It's really purple in her face and there's blue in her face (sobs).

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The owner of the property and father of the party's host, Grant Christopherson, gets on the line. He and his wife Jackie have been asleep.

TRIPLE 000 OPERATOR: And how did this accident happen, do you know?

GRANT CHRISTOPHERSON: I only just arrived so I'm a little bit unclear myself.

TRIPLE 000 OPERATOR: Ok all right.

GRANT CHRISTOPHERSON: I think the ute has backed over some people sleeping in a swag.

TRIPLE 000 OPERATOR: Ok.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: By now the couple have been kept alive by their friends for 20 minutes.

PETRISSE LECKIE: Oh yep, I can see the lights coming down the road now.

TRIPLE 000 OPERATOR: Great there you go.

PETRISSE LECKIE: Yep.

TRIPLE 000 OPERATOR: All right you've done a really good job there.

PETRISSE LECKIE: Yep.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: At 5.37am the ambulance arrives and the paramedics take over.

TREVOR NOBBS: It was very sombre. They were very aware of how serious this whole scenario was. Very, very sombre, very flat and very quiet.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Eliza Wannan and Will Dalton-Brown, friends since high school, are barely alive.

(Caro Meldrum-Hanna interviewing Jonathan Trethowan)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Could you see their faces?

JONATHAN TRETHOWAN, SCHOOL FRIEND: Yeah.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: How did they look?

JONATHAN TRETHOWAN: Cold. Um, yeah, just cold and lifeless.

(Sound of phone ringing)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Eliza Wannan's parents have no idea what's happening to their daughter until the phone wakes them.

KATRINA WANNAN, ELIZA'S MOTHER: And I picked it up and it was Mr Christopherson, and he said there's been an accident. And I remember yelling and saying is Eliza okay? Is Eliza okay? And he said, they're doing CPR on her at the moment.

ANDREW WANNAN, ELIZA'S FATHER: So I heard Katrina then say, 'Grant is she dead?' And that certainly changes your whole approach at those early hours as you're waking up.

(Andrew and Katrina driving to Molong)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Andrew and Katrina Wannan head for Molong

(Interviewing Andrew and Katrina) Can you describe the scene?

ANDREW WANNAN: It was, it was carnage. Um is the best way I can describe it.

KATRINA WANNAN: There was lots of cars, I just remember all the cars. It was in a big paddock. It was like a car park. That's what it was like.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: As you reached Eliza, can I ask you how she looked?

KATRINA WANNAN: She was just very still at that stage. She was, her face was still, her face was still beautiful.

TREVOR NOBBS: She was shattered; she was desperate as she was begging for a positive response from our treatment and Eliza. She was as desperate as any mother would be faced with the fear of losing her daughter.

KATRINA WANNAN: And I just kept talking to her. I just kept saying you've got to hang on darling, you've got to hang on, you've really got to fight.

ANDREW WANNAN: And also we had Will beside us at this time too, and I remember saying oh God, there's another one.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The Wannan's don't notice the local police arrive and breathalyse the driver.

(Sound of ambulance driving)

At Orange Hospital Will's mother Lee Dalton is waiting for her son.

LEE DALTON, WILL'S MOTHER: He was on a ventilator. He was unmarked except for a slight graze over his left shoulder.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: But his injuries were fatal. Will and Eliza had been crushed by a ute while they were sleeping together in their swag.

ANDREW WANNAN: All we were hearing was that a swag had been run over and that it was a terrible accident. We couldn't understand why Will and Eliza would put a swag behind a, or next to a ute as we were hearing.

LEE DALTON: I was constantly told, in ICU, no alcohol involved; it's all just a terrible accident. There was no irresponsible behaviour, there was no irresponsible driving; no alcohol; we're not going to lie to you. One detective kept saying to me over and over again, we're not going to lie to you.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: On the 27th of January 2010 at four in the morning Eliza died.

Will, seven hours later.

LEE DALTON: We all held him…as the machine was switched off, and I put my hand over his heart (starts to cry)…and after the machine was turned off his heart kept on beating…and I was terrified…but it stopped. His heart stopped beating.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: As you left the hospital...

KATRINA WANNAN: Which is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, to leave the room, to turn your back for that last time is the worst thing that anybody would ever have to do. That's what haunts me still. I keep saying to myself I should have looked back again, I should have… (begins to cry) I just want one more look. I just want to be able to see her one more time.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Leaving the hospital Andrew Wannan was approached by the local police.

ANDREW WANNAN: They asked me if they could do anything.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: What did you tell them?

ANDREW WANNAN: Just do your job.

(Prime News)

NEWS REPORTER: Police are investigating the incident at a party on Belgravia road near Molong yesterday, they've ruled out alcohol as a factor.

The 19 year olds were with a group of 30 others. Police say it's a tragic accident

NEWS REPORTER 2: The 17 year old driver of the utility is cooperating with police.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The following day, the local police in Orange went public. Explaining what happened, one statement stood out.

(Channel 7 News, Inspector Peter Atkins making a statement)

INSPECTOR PETER ATKINS, ORANGE POLICE, NSW: Police are making a number of investigations, we don't believe alcohol is a factor in this accident.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: When Inspector Atkins told the nation that this was nothing more than a tragic accident at a party of about 30 campers, and that alcohol wasn't a factor, the community trusted that this was the case.

But in reality, the truth was very different.

(Sound of birds and sheep)

To find out what really happened that morning, you need to go back. Three years ago, to Australia Day 2010.

It was end of the summer holidays and Will Dalton-Brown had just arrived back from a gap year in Africa.

JACK THOMAS, SCHOOL FRIEND: There was no-one that didn't like Will; he was one of those rare people I guess that just, got along with everyone. He was kind, knew how to have a laugh. Cheeky I guess.

(Video footage of Eliza singing along to a song)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Stylish and confident, Eliza Wannan was back in Orange after a holiday in Paris.

(Interviewing Jack) What was Eliza like?

JACK THOMAS: I really like Eliza, she was, one of a kind. Just a nice, beautiful person.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Will and Eliza had graduated from the elite Kinross Wolaroi in 2008, a co-ed private boarding school in Orange.

Will and Eliza's school friend was throwing an Australia Day party on his parents farm Ridgeview in Molong.

It was BYO and his parents, Jackie and Grant Christopherson, attended that night.

Jackie told her 19 year old son that she and Grant weren't having anything to do with the party; that he and his friends were adults now, and they were responsible for everything.

But they weren't all adults.

JACK THOMAS: I have heard of a couple of the parties at Molong getting a bit more out of hand, um I think this party was a bit of a mix.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: It was a mix of age groups. The Christopherson's younger son, then 17 years old, had also extended the invite to his friends on Facebook, kids from the local area.

(Sound of car driving on dirt road)

LEE DALTON: There were children as young as 15 at this party. No keys were collected. There was not even the basics that you would do if you were prepared to take the risk of having this type of party, you'd at least take some measures to ensure that the children were safe. And one of the most logical would be everybody put their keys in a bucket and they don't get their keys until the following morning.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Will and his friends arrived at Ridgeview at around 2pm.

JONATHAN TRETHOWAN, SCHOOL FRIEND: Australia Day, it was gonna act as a good central point for everyone who had been doing their own thing, sort of over the Christmas break and a good chance for everyone to touch base with each other before uni, unis and jobs kicked off.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The stage was set for a big night. With a combination of younger and older kids, the numbers swelled to over 100 party goers. Aged between 15 and 20.

(Sound of cars driving up to the property, parking, everyone getting the party ready)

Inside the wool shed was the dance floor.

Nearby, a flat dry paddock where cars were parked.

JONATHAN TRETHOWAN: More people just kept arriving, just as a constant flow of people into the night.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The plan for most was to drink through the night and not drive. To camp in swags or sleep in their cars.

(Interviewing Jack) Why doesn't everyone drive home?

JACK PRATTEN, SCHOOL FRIEND: Because usually everyone's been drinking.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: So you'd be over the limit?

JACK PRATTEN: Yep.

JOHN BLACKLEY, SCHOOL FRIEND: There was a definitely a binge drinking culture ah, at, at those parties.

(Sound of people greeting each other at party)

JACK PRATTEN: Oh, obviously there was a few people partying pretty hard.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: How many drinks would you and your friends be likely to be able to handle at a party?

JACK PRATTEN: Personally myself, not many, but there's plenty that could drink heaps.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: What's heaps?

JACK PRATTEN: I don't even know.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Twelve plus?

JACK PRATTEN: Twelve plus.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Another paddock was set aside for circle work. A popular past time at country parties, where cars and utes are modified to do burnouts and donuts.

At 8pm, Eliza Wannan and her girlfriends arrived at Ridgeview.

She and Will quickly found one another.

(Interviewing Rachael) And what was Eliza doing?

RACHAEL HAYES, SCHOOL FRIEND: I saw her at the fire chatting with people, I saw her twirling on the dance floor and I saw her drinking. I think she was having a great time.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: At around 9pm, 17 year old Rhys Colefax arrived, driving his new ute.

He didn't have a licence; he was on his L plates. But on that night, against the law, he took his friends out for rides on the highway.

(Sound of a ute driving)

MICHAEL SCHWAB, WANNAN FAMILY'S SOLICITOR: Alcohol, high powered utes, and some driving manoeuvres which wouldn't be legal like on a public street.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: As an L plate driver Rhys Colefax wasn't allowed to drink. But he was seen drinking alcohol throughout the night.

(Sound of music and party noises)

As morning approached, Will Dalton-Brown swapped from drinking beer to Pepsi.

RACHAEL HAYES: My last memory of Eliza is seeing her in the distance kissing Will, and the two of them were together and yeah that, that's my last memory of Eliza.

(Sound of music and party noises)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: (Interviewing Jonathon) How did they look?

JONATHAN TRETHOWAN: Probably the best they've looked. Yeah no they both looked great, so.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: There was a romance blossoming?

JONATHAN TRETHOWAN: In the, in the process of, potentially (smiles).

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: At 3am the party was slowing down.

Many had gone to bed in swags on the ground or in the back of a ute.

With no car to sleep in Eliza and Will climbed into the one swag and camped on the ground next to the sheep pens, around 20 metres from where the nearest cars were parked.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Do you think they slept in a place that they shouldn't have? Do you think they put their swag in a dumb place?

JONATHAN TRETHOWAN: There's no right or wrong, it was quite typical, the whole party in itself was quite typical.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: They didn't sleep somewhere that put them in danger?

JONATHAN TRETHOWAN: I'd say no.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: As dawn approached a group of stragglers continued to party. 19 year old Ben Morris was in the back of his ute.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Did you go to bed?

BEN MORRIS, SCHOOL FRIEND: Um, no I didn't, as, well, no.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: So what were you doing?

BEN MORRIS: Um, just sitting having a beer chilling, enjoying the party.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: A short distance away at around a quarter to five in the morning the unlicenced Rhys Colefax got into his black ute.

He turned the engine on and the radio, but not his lights.

JOHN BLACKLEY: Basically all I was told was he wanted to leave early because he didn't want to get caught by the police, and it was that, that either because he was A, drink driving or B, underage. He didn't want to get caught driving on his Ls, so he wanted to get home before the police were patrolling the roads.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: And what happened next?

BEN MORRIS: Um. I remember seeing Rhys's or um car move. But I sorta didn't, didn't sorta take any notice of it.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Ben Morris watched Rhys Colefax's car quickly reverse about 20 metres into the darkness

Then come to a sudden stop next to the sheep pens.

A new sound filled the air.

(Sound of car revving)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Do you remember hearing it revving?

BEN MORRIS: Yeah I remember hearing the car was running yeah, and but I didn't think anything of it.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Will and Eliza were trapped underneath - the spinning tyres catching and tightening the swag around them

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: What was it spinning on?

ANDREW WANNAN: It was spinning on the swag. It was spinning on Eliza. And Will.

LEE DALTON: I just have nightmares...about the pain Will experienced, because he couldn't get his next breath. His chest was so compressed with this car sitting on top of it, let alone the wheels spinning...and he's trapped in a sleeping bag. He's like a lamb to the slaughter.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Police photos show the swag was covered in thick black tyre marks.

At 4:52am Rhys Colefax repeatedly rang his friend Jackie Fitzgerald - five times in the space of just 17 seconds - until she finally answered.

ACTOR (RHYS COLEFAX): I'm bogged pretty bad.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: He told her he needed help, that his ute was bogged.

But when Ben Morris walked past a few minutes later, Rhys Colefax told him something very different.

BEN MORRIS: I was walking to the shed and that's when I ran into Rhys. And he was upset so, yeah.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: He was upset. What was he doing?

BEN MORRIS: Um, he was in bit a shock I think and sort a realised what had happened and said didn't know what to do I guess, sort a panicked.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: And what did he tell you that had happened?

BEN MORRIS: Ah that he'd run over or killed Jamal and someone else yeah.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Rhys Colefax thought he'd run over someone he knew.

(Talking to Ben) You must have been shocked hearing that?

BEN MORRIS: Yeah I sorta didn't know how to take it at the time yeah. I didn't, I didn't know if it was a sort a joke or what but yeah, and then we went over there and realised it was serious so.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: And what did he show you?

BEN MORRIS: Um, just pointed sorta at the swag, where the swag was and yeah.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: And where was the swag?

BEN MORRIS: It was under the car at the time yeah. I remember I had a look and touched the swag.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: And what did you feel?

BEN MORRIS: Ah I felt a body in there and yeah oh. Then from then sorta realised that someone was still stuck under there and...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Were they moving?

BEN MORRIS: Ah no, no.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: By the time Triple 0 was called, Will and Eliza had been trapped under the 1.5 tonne ute for almost 20 minutes.

A group of boys lifted the car and dragged the swag out from underneath.

(Sound of guys lifting car and giving CPR)

VOX POP 4: Five, six, seven, eight. Five, six, seven, eight...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: What did you see?

JONATHAN TRETHOWAN: Just them two, they were laying on top of the swag and people performing CPR and...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: They must be images you struggle with?

JONATHAN TRETHOWAN: I can, it's definitely, it's definitely burnt in, etched into my mind, definitely.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The 17-year old L-plate driver was being comforted by his friends.

JACK PRATTEN: I thought you poor bastard, you're gonna have to live with this for the rest of your life. And the first person I thought about wasn't any of my mates or their parents, I just, for some reason I just thought, that's gonna be pretty tough to deal with.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: That night the unlicenced driver had repeatedly and illegally driven his ute on the highway. He'd also been drinking.

He then ran over two people - ending in a double fatality.

For Rhys Colefax, consequences appeared inevitable.

Dennis Wheelahan QC has examined the police investigation of the case.

DENNIS WHEELAHAN QC: I considered whether or not a question of driving in a manner dangerous to the public, provided an appropriate investigation was conducted, or failure to assist. But it appeared to me that none of these matters were the subject of the level of inquiry that I would expect from seasoned police officers where you have two young people dead. It can't get much worse than that, and they are killed by a motor car driven by somebody who shouldn't be driving.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: At 6am the first police officers from Orange arrived on the scene.

They knew there was a possible double fatality. Problem was, it had happened on private property.

Under NSW traffic legislation, driving offences can only be pursued by police if they occur on a road-related area or a public road.

DENNIS WHEELAHAN: It does seem somewhat paradoxical that the presence of a boundary fence can make such a difference in outcome. It's difficult to see why it should be less offensive to cause death on a private property than it is on the other side of the fence on the road.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: In NSW it's up to police on the scene to decide whether or not it's a road related area.

MICHAEL SCHWAB: The objective factors are it was it was a farm but it, the area that was being used at the time was being used as a car-park. And the test is whether the car-park was open to or being used by the public.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The police counted up to 60 cars and the gates were open. They quickly decided the location resembled a public car park, and treated it as a road-related area.

This meant they could pursue driving offences and legally breath-test the driver.

By now, nearly two hours have passed since Rhys Colefax ran over Will and Eliza.

ACTOR (POLICE OFFICER): Have you had a drink in the last 15 minutes?

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Did police ask, at that moment, did they ask the driver Rhys Colefax have you been drinking?

ADAM JOHNSON, DALTON FAMILY'S BARRISTER: I think the question that they asked him from memory is, have you had a drink in the last fifteen minutes, rather than have you been drinking.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: We're talking about a potential double fatality here at the moment...

ADAM JOHNSON: Correct.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: ...police arrive.

ADAM JOHNSON: Correct.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: And the only question they ask of the driver...

ADAM JOHNSON: Is have you been drinking in the last fifteen minutes.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Fifteen minutes.

ADAM JOHNSON: And um that, that's correct.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The police didn't ask Rhys if he'd been drinking at the party.

And that morning Rhys Colefax blew zero.

According to the breathalyser he didn't have a drop of alcohol in his blood.

(Sound of breathalyser beep)

But the reading was false.

We now know the police were using a broken breathalyser - this document shows it wasn't detecting any alcohol at all. It was sent off for repair one week after the incident.

LEE DALTON: The alcolizer, the machine that was used was faulty and had to be sent away for repair and recalibration, that it wasn't just a little bit out.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Senior Constables Adam Cornish and Mark Hevers arrived on the scene. They were told to take the driver to hospital for a blood and urine test.

They recognised the name Colefax. Rhys was the son of one of their own.

ADAM JOHNSON: Hevers was the officer on duty. Hevers recognised him. Asked him if his father was Brett Colefax. And when he was then, Hevers gave him the phone, said look you better ring your father.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Rhys's father Brett Colefax, a senior highway patrol officer at Orange police for three years - a close colleague and friend of Constables Hevers and Cornish - was stationed six hours away, on the NSW mid north coast.

Inside the police car, using Constable Hevers own mobile phone, 17 year old Rhys Colefax had a private conversation with his dad.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: What was discussed in that conversation?

ADAM JOHNSON: Well, um, I don't know. The, we were never told what was discussed.

MICHAEL SCHWAB: There is always a need for transparency and clarity, and what they should have done was demonstrated that transparency and clarity by referring the investigation to somebody who had nothing to do with the police officer whose son was involved in this accident, or the officers who knew that police officer.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: At 7:00am, as Constables Hevers and Cornish left Ridgeview with Rhys Colefax, the detective in charge, Senior Constable Grant Gannon, arrived and began to document the area.

His photos show the ground is scattered with empty rum cans and beer bottles.

Will and Eliza's swag is up close next to the railing of the sheep pen, well away from the rows of parked cars. Next to it, Will's Australia Day sombrero hat. Eliza's rubber thongs. The swag wasn't forensically examined.

Detective Gannon took only three photos of the car. Two of them show a white esky sitting in the tray. But Gannon didn't venture any closer, choosing not to look inside.

Instead of examining the car and its contents, according to his handwritten notes, Detective Gannon took a handful of witness names and phone numbers before leaving the scene. Over the coming weeks, police took statements from only a quarter of the partygoers.

Beyond that there was no forensic investigation.

MICHAEL SCHWAB: If it had happened on a highway with two people dead and it was on the front page of every of paper and on the national news, there would have been police investigators crawling all over it. There would have been photographs, measurements, reconstructions, they would have obtained a, at least some version of events from the driver.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: But they didn't. Almost three hours after the incident, a blood and urine sample was taken.

The detective in charge Grant Gannon then sent Rhys Colefax home.

DENNIS WHEELAHAN: It makes one wonder whether or not that rigorous independent assessment that ought to have been applied to this case, was in fact brought to bear, and simply put I don't think it was. The material ought to have been put to the young driver. He was asked nothing about the circumstances. I don't think he was asked a question about the circumstances of the accident, and to me that seems to be extraordinary.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The next day, the day after his daughter died, a grieving Andrew Wannan was called in to Orange police station.

They had something to tell him.

ANDREW WANNAN: They told me that the driver of the of the car was a son of a policeman, who had been formerly stationed at Orange Police Station.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Was that a conflict of interest to you?

ANDREW WANNAN: They declared it as a conflict of interest, they, they used that terminology and so I was led to be, led to understand that there would be a, a very different way that the investigation would be carried out, that it would be carried out appropriately.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Will's mother Lee Dalton received a visit from the local police.

(Caro sitting with Lee Dalton at Lee's kitchen table)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Did they tell you they had taken a blood sample from him?

LEE DALTON: I don't believe so, no.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: So you were completely unaware then, that the driver had been breathalysed him and a blood sample taken?

LEE DALTON: I had no idea. I was repeatedly told there was no alcohol involved it was, it was all just a terrible accident.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Lee Dalton didn't believe what she was being told.

She logged onto Facebook, looking for images of the night.

LEE DALTON: I found a photo of Rhys with alcohol in his hand.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: How easy was it to find that photograph?

LEE DALTON: Very easy.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Did the police find that photograph?

LEE DALTON: No. I don't believe so.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Lee Dalton was suspicious.

She requested the official police incident report, written by Detective Gannon the day after Will and Eliza died.

In it, Detective Gannon stated there was no blood alcohol sample.

Lee quickly discovered from a friend that wasn't true.

LEE DALTON: She said that young man was in accident and emergency at the same time as Will. She said one of our most experienced accident and emergency nurses took his blood and he was there for about an hour, so they would have taken his sample also.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Lee Dalton wrote to police, requesting the blood be sent away for testing.

This report by Forensic Pathologist Dr Judith Perl calculated that at the time Rhys ran over Will and Eliza, his blood alcohol level would have been 0.079.

He was well over the legal limit for a licenced driver, let alone the limit of zero for an L-plater.

MICHAEL SCHWAB: As soon as that occurs it's a standard drink driving charge. The charges could have been as simple as neg drive. It could have been drink driving.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: And none of these were pursued?

MICHAEL SCHWAB: No, no, not even the simplest of charges.

(Sound of car driving)

ADAM JOHNSON: At the inquest Detective Gannon said that he deliberately made a decision not to lay them. This is surprising but, it's what he said he did.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Inexplicably and without the consultation that police require, Detective Gannon made another surprising decision.

He overturned his colleague's initial judgement that the incident occurred on a road related area. According to Detective Gannon, it had now happened on a private property.

It seems that Rhys Colefax won't be charged with anything.

DENNIS WHEELAHAN: Two fine young people, according to the evidence that I've read, are dead. Their families are understandably devastated. And what those members of the community would have expected was a thorough investigation where every reasonable inquiry was exhausted before the police decided to do nothing.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: What is this sort of investigation?

DENNIS WHEELAHAN: Well it is inadequate in the extreme. And I think that it fails the basic test for what the community expects.

LEE DALTON: I wrote to the state coroner requesting an inquest, and I think I stated my concerns about the veracity of the police investigation.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: An Inquest was called in May 2011.

The Coroner's office requested a review of the police investigation, to determine how thorough it was.

The review was done by Superintendent David Driver - the Commander in charge of Orange police and Detective Grant Gannon's boss.

His review overwhelmingly supports Detective Gannon's investigation, except for his failure to consider charging Rhys Colefax with any driving offences under traffic laws.

Superintendent Driver declared it was "an honest oversight", because Detective Gannon was focussed on the deaths of Will and Eliza.

DENNIS WHEELAHAN: To suggest that ah the failure of the police to do anything was more a matter of oversight, which was what Mr Driver concluded in his investigation, seemed to be simplistic in the extreme.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: At the inquest in 2011 the breakthrough came on the fifth day, when the Coroner suspended the hearings, stating there was enough evidence to convince a jury the driver Rhys Colefax had committed a serious offence. It was referred to the office of the director of public prosecutions.

LEE DALTON: It was a very it was very emotional because finally we were going to get some judicial scrutiny of this accident, and finally Will and Eliza could have some justice.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: But hopes were dashed.

(Talking to Andrew Wannan) What happened?

ANDREW WANNAN: After a long period of time, in March the following year, we get a letter from the Office of the DPP.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: What did that letter say?

ANDREW WANNAN: Very little other than on the evidence available that the charges won't be laid. Four, four lines.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: In the letter, the Office of the DPP decided no charge would be laid against Rhys Colefax, based "on the evidence presently available."

Will's father Gerard Brown asked the deputy director of the DPP, Keith Alder, why they weren't proceeding.

GERARD BROWN, WILL'S FATHER: Keith Alder said he couldn't proceed with the prosecution because the evidence was so poorly collated and you need a, it much, much, much more accuracy to to take something to court.

LEE DALTON: When I eventually got to see Keith Alder, who is the deputy director of the DPP, he said to me I was unaware that he was the son of a police officer until you sat here and told me today. So it appeared to me even though the DPP had made a decision, that there wasn't enough evidence to run this, this case, it appeared that nobody's actually read the entire brief of evidence.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: And whose responsibility was it to gather that evidence?

ANDREW WANNAN: The police.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: And had they not?

ANDREW WANNAN: Not in my mind.

(Outside Orange local court)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Today Lee Dalton and her family are back at Orange local court.

The inquest into the death of her son Will and his friend Eliza Wannan has resumed.

Many of the players have returned.

ANDREW WANNAN: We'll get to more of the facts, and there's some facts which have been missing and it's time for those to get aired.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Inside court, Detective Grant Gannon gave evidence. He denied there ever was a conflict of interest. He didn't work with Rhys's father. Detective Gannon also said he did attempt to interview Rhys Colefax. He phoned his home twice.

As the day wore on, there was one person the families wanted to hear from most.

The driver, Rhys Colefax.

But he maintained his silence; he didn't give evidence.

Rhys Colefax, then 17, now 21, rejected all our requests for an interview. His lawyer told us that Rhys could still be charged with manslaughter.

DENNIS WHEELAHAN: You'd have to say that he's very fortunate. Mr Colefax has had the benefit of a number of what I would regard as systemic investigative failures in this case.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The police also rejected our repeated requests for an interview.

(Caro approaches Detective Gannon outside the court)

Detective Gannon, Caro Meldrum-Hanna from Four Corners how are you? We would just like to ask you some questions now the inquest is over?

SUPERINTENDENT DAVID DRIVER, ORANGE POLICE, NSW: Can you direct any inquiries to the police media unit please.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Yes of course, we have.

SUPERINTENDENT DAVID DRIVER: We won't be making any comment, ok, thank you.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Right, ok, thank you.

(Gerard Brown painting)

The silence is hard to bear for the grieving families.

Gerard Brown paints the scene of the morning Will died, trying to make sense of his son's violent death.

Will's mother Lee watches her son's last adventure, over and over again.

LEE DALTON: I could spend my lifetime talking about him. I will spend my lifetime talking about him.

(Katrina Wannan in Eliza's bedroom)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Every day Katrina Wannan sits on her daughter Eliza's bed.

She didn't go to the inquest.

There is a lot she can't hear, the pain's too much.

But she wonders what he looks like, the boy who drove the ute.

KATRINA WANNAN: If I see a young looking boy, I'm thinking, is that him? Is he looking at me? Does he know me, is that him? I don't want him in jail. I don't need that. But shouldn't he be at least inconvenienced in some way. Shouldn't he at the very least say, you can't drive for five years, you've got no licence.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: If you are to conquer this grief, what do you believe Eliza deserves?

KATRINA WANNAN: Justice.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: How can this happen? How can you get justice?

KATRINA WANNAN: The truth. We need it, we need the truth.

KERRY O'BRIEN: The Coroner has since reported that she was satisfied that police investigators were thorough and adequate, and not compromised by the fact that Rhys Colefax is the son of a police officer who was formerly stationed at Orange.

Four Corners has put detailed questions to the NSW police and the DPP, their responses can be found on our website.

The Coroner also noted that the distinction in NSW between road related offences and private property offences should be reviewed.

No such distinction exists in Queensland, Victoria or South Australia.

Next week an investigation into the obesity epidemic that may have begun in the West, but is taking over the world.

Until then, good night.

END

Background Information

STORY UPDATE- November 2013

In response to the program "While They Were Sleeping", which examined the police investigation into the deaths of Eliza Wannan and Will Dalton-Brown, the NSW Police Minister, Michael Gallacher has referred the matter to the NSW Ombudsman, the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) and the Professional Standards Unit of the NSW Police Force for an independent review. The Minister particularly noted the concerns raised re: the police investigation and its handling of the potential conflict of interest.

PROGRAM UPDATES

Statement in Parliament by the NSW Minister for Roads and Ports | Oct 2013 - Read a statement from NSW Roads Minister, Duncan Gay, regarding the tragic deaths of Eliza Wannan and William Dalton-Brown, and the possibility of legislative changes. [PDF 253Kb]

STATEMENTS, POLICE AND COURTS DOCUMENTS

Response from the DPP - Four Corners sent a request for an interview with the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in connection with the inquest into the deaths of William Dalton-Brown and Eliza Wannan. The DPP sent this response. [PDF 347Kb]

Statement NSW Police - Four Corners sent questions to the NSW Police in relation to their investigation into the deaths of William Dalton-Brown and Eliza Wannan. Read their response. [PDF 387Kb]

Coroner's Finding | Oct 2013 - Read the State Coroner's findings into the deaths of Eliza and Will. [PDF 320Kb]

Standards of Professional Conduct | NSW Police - Go to page 7 to read guidelines on how police "must take reasonable steps to avoid conflicts of interest". [PDF 3.66Mb]

NEWS COVERAGE OF THE TRAGEDY AND INQUEST

Coroner says loophole means cop's son will escape charges over deaths of two teenagers | The Australian | 9 Oct 2013 - The son of a NSW policeman will escape charges over the deaths of two teenagers because he ran them over in a paddock, not a road.

Loophole means L-plater Rhys Colefax escapes penalty over deaths of Eliza Wannan and Will Dalton-Brown | ABC News | 9 Oct 2013 - The New South Wales Deputy Coroner has been highly critical of a loophole in the state's road laws that will see a 17-year-old L-plater who accidentally reversed over and killed two teenagers escape penalty.

Rhys Colefax escapes charges over teens killed while sleeping in paddock | The Land | 9 Oct 2013 - An intoxicated, unaccompanied learner driver who killed a young couple by accidentally reversing over them as they slept together in a paddock will never be charged because of an anomaly in the state's negligent driving laws, a coroner has found.

Inquest hears of devastating loss | Central West Daily | 25 Sep 2013 - The parents of Eliza Wannan and Will Dalton-Brown broke down yesterday when they told a coroner's inquest how their lives had changed following the death of their children.

Inquest into Molong swag deaths finishes | ABC News | 25 Sep 2013 - The solicitor for the family of an Orange teenager who died after being run over at a party has told the inquest into the death that the event was a "recipe for disaster".

Struck by grief: Parents' statements to Eliza Wannan and Will Dalton-Brown's inquest | Central West Daily | 25 Sep 2013 - Parents' statements to Eliza Wannan and Will Dalton-Brown's inquest

Parents reveal depth of grief at swag deaths inquest | Central West Daily | 24 Sep 2013 - The parents of Eliza Wannan and Will Dalton-Brown have given heart-wrenching accounts of the impact of losing their children after they were run over on a property on Australia Day, 2010.

Inquest: mother's need for answers | Central West Daily | 17 Dec 2012 - The agonising wait for answers continues for the parents of Eliza Wannan and Will Dalton-Brown after the NSW State Coroner announced the inquest into the death of the young people on a district property in 2010 will resume in Orange in September next year.

Grieving mother backs tough line | SMH | 27 May 2012 - Lee Dalton remembers the moment early on Australia Day in 2010 when she asked to go to the local hospital. Her 'gorgeous' son, Will Dalton-Brown, 19, was fighting for his life.

Screams that came too late | SMH | 29 May 2011 - A booze-fuelled party ended in tragedy when a ute ran over and killed a teenage couple. Now the former highway patrol officer's son who was behind the wheel may face charges.

Camping trip deaths: claim driver was drinking | Central West Daily | 24 May 2011 - A solicitor representing the family of one of two teenagers killed after being run over on a camping trip has produced a photo that he says shows the driver with a beer in his hand the night before the accident.