THERE were missed opportunities and “avoidable delays” in finding South Australian grandmother Colleen South in the Mallee, a Victorian Coroner has heard.
Ms South, then aged 58, was found dead on August 8, 2022, under a tree on a remote rural property in Bunguluke, Victoria.
Coroner David Ryan handed down his findings earlier this month, after an inquiry late last year heard Ms South had been reported missing to South Australia Police on nine previous occasions.
Sometimes she would discard her phone, leave her car and wander through other people’s properties.
Her daughter, Veronica, told police that her mother had previously slept on other people’s properties, sometimes near her car or she would walk around and find a tree under which to sleep.
In late June 2022, Ms South was in the process of moving from her address in Renown Park to Queenstown, South Australia. Veronica noticed that her mother “was getting mentally sick before the move” and was “very stressed”.
Ms South was seen in Victoria on July 3 at a petrol station in Berriwillock.
That day, Ms South’s car was found abandoned at Bunguluke Wildlife Reserve, about 15km east of Wycheproof, by local farmer Jim Coffey.
On July 4, Mr Coffey called police at Charlton and left a message about the abandoned vehicle.
Veronica reported her mother missing to SA Police.
On July 5, Mr Coffey went back out to the vehicle with a friend and observed that it had been involved in a collision with a culvert and that the airbags had been deployed.
They also noted bags under a tree about 20m south of the vehicle, including a handbag containing a wallet. They returned to Wycheproof and one of their colleagues sent a text message to Senior Constable Darin Sheahan at Wycheproof about the vehicle.
Sen-Const Sheahan read the message which then triggered an investigation and search by Victoria Police.
The search escalated and continued over the following weeks and involved the deployment of significant police resources, including at various times personnel from the search and rescue squad, mounted police, the dog squad, the air wing, motorbikes and drones and also the State Emergency Service.
The overnight temperatures in Charlton between July 3 and 6 ranged from 3.8 degrees and minus 0.6 degrees.
Sen-Const Sheahan requested the services of the dog squad, the air wing and other police units, however the divisional response supervisor directed a Swan Hill officer to contact SA Police and ascertain the circumstances in which Ms South went missing before further resources were requested.
In the meantime, the immediate area was searched, along with dams and farm sheds in the vicinity where Ms South’s car was located.
The search was temporarily scaled back as it was concluded that Ms South’s vehicle had been abandoned for at least 48 hours, it was dark, there were no witnesses to canvass and Ms South’s previous history of wandering significantly broadened the search parameters.
The following day, assistance from SARS, the dog squad and air wing were requested but not provided, reportedly due to the “passage of time since the vehicle was initially located”.
On July 8, members of SARS attended Wycheproof to provide oversight and tactical advice in relation to the search. Significant resources were deployed including the dog squad, the air wing, the mounted branch and SES volunteers.
The inquest heard Dr Paul Luckin, medical advisor to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, provided an opinion that if Ms South had been “in the open” since July 3, noting the very low overnight temperatures, she would no longer be alive on July 8.
The primacy of the search was transferred from SA Police to Victoria Police on July 15.
Senior Constable Cail Tuckerman, from the dog squad, was deployed to search for Ms South with police dog Clyde on July 8 and 20-21.
“He considered that the time that had elapsed from the discovery of Ms South’s vehicle to their deployment would limit their effectiveness,” Coroner Ryan said in his findings.
“Sen-Const Tuckerman noted that when a dog tracks a person, they follow their scent, which degrades over time.
“He expressed the opinion that ‘the deployment of more canine resources at an earlier stage could have increased the chance of locating (Ms) South earlier, but the ability to respond was restricted by when the vehicle was located and the subsequent notification’.”
