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Brett
Peter COWAN
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Serial child molester
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: December 7, 2003
Date of arrest:
August 13, 2011
Date of birth: August 18, 1969
Victim profile:
Daniel James Morcombe, 13
Method of murder:
Strangulation
Location: Sunshine
Coast, Queensland, Australia
Status:
Sentenced to
life in prison, with a non-parole period of 20 years, on March 14,
2014
Daniel James Morcombe (19 December 1989 – 7
December 2003) was a 13-year-old Australian boy who was abducted from
the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, on 7 December 2003.
In August 2011, Brett Peter Cowan (born 18 August
1969), a former Sunshine Coast resident, was charged with Morcombe's
murder. In the same month, DNA tests confirmed bones, found in an area
being searched by the State Emergency Service (SES) under the guidance
of the police, were Morcombe's.
On 13 March 2014, Cowan was found guilty of the
murder of Daniel Morcombe. Cowan was sentenced to life imprisonment
for indecently dealing with a child and interference with a corpse. He
will not be eligible for parole until March 2034.
Abduction and murder
Morcombe was abducted from an unofficial bus stop
under the Kiel Mountain Road overpass in the Woombye district of the
Sunshine Coast approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north of The Big
Pineapple on Sunday, 7 December 2003. Morcombe planned to catch the
1:35 pm bus to the Sunshine Plaza Shopping Centre for a haircut and to
buy Christmas presents for his family, but he failed to return.
Witnesses reported seeing Morcombe at approximately
2:10 pm on the Nambour Connection Road under the Kiel Mountain Road
overpass. The bus he was supposed to catch had broken down a few
kilometres before his stop, and was behind schedule. When a
replacement bus eventually arrived, Morcombe hailed the bus, but it
carried on without stopping, due to its delay and the fact that his
stop was only an unofficial request stop. The driver of the bus
radioed the depot for another bus to go and pick up Morcombe. The bus
driver and other witnesses later reported seeing a man standing a
distance behind Morcombe and another man slightly further away at the
time. When the second bus came a couple of minutes later, Morcombe and
the man had both gone.
In 2011, Perth man Brett Peter Cowan was arrested
and charged with Morcombe's abduction and murder. He confessed to
having approached Morcombe to offer him a lift to the shopping centre.
When Morcombe accepted, he drove him to a demountable house in the
Beerwah area. Upon entering the house, Cowan attempted to pull down
Morcombe's pants. When Morcombe resisted, Cowan killed him. Cowan then
drove Morcombe's body to an embankment, undressing and abandoning it.
Cowan disposed of Morcombe's clothing in a nearby river
Morcombe owned a distinctive fob style pocket watch
with "Dan" engraved on it, which has not been found.
Investigation
The death of Daniel Morcombe was one of the most
extensively investigated crimes in Queensland's history.
As of 12 December 2008, a total reward of
A$1,000,000 ($250,000 from the Government and another $750,000 donated
privately) had been offered. The privately donated portion of the
reward expired at midnight on 31 May 2009. On this day, the Seven
Network reported that a known paedophile (identified by the media as
Douglas Jackway) could be of interest to the police. Jackway had been
released from prison in 2003, one month before Morcombe's
disappearance.
By early 2009, the investigation had seemingly run
out of leads, but in May a full-size clay model of the man believed to
be involved in Morcombe's abduction was placed at the spot where
Morcombe disappeared. Within a few days there were more than 300
tip-offs.
In June 2009, the Queensland Government came under
criticism from Parliament over the release of Jackway from prison. One
MP claimed the Supreme Court had presented clear evidence of his risk
of reoffending. This publicity also prompted civil liberties groups to
call for laws banning media outlets from naming people linked to
criminal cases.
In July 2009, the parents of Morcombe called for a
coronial inquest in the hope of finding answers to their son's
abduction and murder. The Morcombes said that after 5½ years, it was
time for an inquest. Of particular interest to the family are several
criminals who have told police they know who killed Morcombe and where
his body was buried.
Murder charge: Brett Peter Cowan
Brett Peter Cowan was born in Bunbury, Western
Australia to Marlene, a homemaker, and Peter Cowan, who was a Vietnam
veteran, on 18 August 1969. He grew up in the Brisbane suburb of
Everton Park, where acquaintances described him as an "ordinary guy"
with few hobbies or social interests who "seemed alright".
The Cowan's lead a strict household—himself and his
three brothers attended Marcellin College, now known as Mt Maria
College, a Catholic high school in northside Brisbane. He dropped out
in year ten and began working odd jobs throughout his late teens. He
was a habitual drug user, who first tried marijuana at the age of
eleven and regularly used amphetamines, cocaine and LSD.
Cowan's first conviction came at the age of 18, on
December 5 1987, when he was charged with molesting a seven year old.
Cowan had been performing community service at a park when he lured
the child into a public toilet. He was charged in 1989 and served
three years in prison.
On September 28 1993, he raped a six year old child
outside a Darwin caravan park, leaving him seriously injured in an
abandoned car in the bush. Cowan was sentenced to seven years in
prison and served four and a half years of his total sentence. After
his release, he moved to the Sunshine Coast with his pastor aunt and
uncle, becoming a reformed Christian and regularly attending church.
He married Tracey Moncrieff in 1999 and the couple
had a son before divorcing in 2004. Cowan was living in the town of
Beerwah around the time of Morcombe's disappearance. Early on in the
investigation, Cowan became a suspect due to his criminal history and
his proximity to the area in which Morcombe was last seen.
On 13 August 2011, Cowan was taken into custody and
charged with Morcombe's murder and other offences, including child
stealing, deprivation of liberty, indecent treatment of a child under
16, and interfering with a corpse.
In 2006, Cowan had admitted to police that he
travelled the road from which Morcombe disappeared on the same day of
his disappearance, on his way to purchase marijuana from a drug
dealer. Around this time, a white Mitsubishi Pajero was seized from a
property on Russell Island. The vehicle was believed to have been
involved in Morcombe's abduction after a witness at the coronial
inquest in April 2011 reported seeing a vehicle of similar description
parked 100 metres (330 ft) north of the site where Morcombe was last
seen.
Remains found
On 21 August 2011, two shoes and three human bones
were found at a search site at Glass House Mountains.[26] Forensic
testing confirmed that the bones were Morcombe's. The shoes were
similar to the ones that Morcombe was wearing when he disappeared.
Underpants and a belt were also found. By the end of the
investigation, seventeen bones had been found, including a rib, hip,
leg, arm and vertebrae. They were all confirmed as belonging to
Morcombe using DNA from his toothbrush to make the match.
Funeral
Morcombe's funeral was held at Siena Catholic
College on 7 December 2012. It was attended by more than 2000 people.
Trial
On 7 February 2014, Brett Peter Cowan was ordered
to stand trial.[30] He was charged with murder, indecently dealing
with a child under the age of 16 and improperly dealing with a corpse.
The trial, at the Supreme Court of Queensland, began on 10 February
2014 under Justice Roslyn Atkinson. The prosecution closed its case on
7 March. 116 witnesses gave evidence and over 200 exhibits were
tendered in evidence. Cowan pleaded not guilty and declined to give
evidence.
Verdict
On 13 March 2014, Cowan was found guilty of all
charges. Cowan had two previous convictions for child sex offences.
Sentence
On 14th March 2014, at 12:12 pm Eastern Standard
Time, Brett Peter Cowan was sentenced to life in prison with the
possibility of parole after 20 years for: the murder of Daniel
Morcombe, unlawful interference with a child and interference with a
corpse. He will also serve 3 1/2 years for indecently dealing with a
child. Judge Roslyn Atkinson said "but I don't think you should be
released in 20 years time" which could affect his sentence.
Impact
The Morcombe family started the "Daniel Morcombe
Foundation",[34] and has put its resources into keeping Morcombe's
disappearance in the public eye and trying to find out what happened
to their son. The foundation is committed to educating children about
personal safety and to raising awareness throughout Australia of the
dangers of predatory criminals. These efforts are supported by the
Australian media, especially on each anniversary of Morcombe's
disappearance when a "Day for Daniel" is held to promote awareness of
the vulnerability of children. An accompanying event is the "Ride for
Daniel", which covers 50 km of the Sunshine Coast, held each year
since 2005.
Morcombe's murder was the focus of the Crime
Investigation Australia Season 1 episode "Tears for Daniel".
Wikipedia.org
Daniel Morcombe's murderer Brett Peter Cowan
sentenced
By Marissa Calligeros - BrisbaneTimes.com.au
March 14, 2014
The serial paedophile found guilty of murdering
Queensland schoolboy Daniel Morcombe has been sentenced to life in
prison, with a non-parole period of 20 years.
Daniel's parents Bruce and Denise Morcombe, and his
brothers Dean and Bradley, were at an annual golf charity day for the
Daniel Morcombe Foundation and declined to be in the courtroom when
Justice Rosyln Atkinson handed down her sentence on Friday.
"In view of criminal histories and the enormity of
the crime that you have committed it is appropriate in my view to set
the parole eligibly date after you have served 20 years of your
sentence," Justice Atkinson said.
"I am not of the view that you should be released
in 20 years’ time ... that is not in my control."
Cowan was also sentenced on Friday to
three-and-a-half years’ imprisonment for indecently dealing with
Daniel and two years’ for interfering with his corpse.
The sentences are to be served concurrently with
his murder sentence.
The former tow truck driver has already spent
two-and-a-half years in prison since his arrest in 2011.
Cowan already had two convictions for molesting
boys aged six and seven prior to 2003, when he abducted and killed
Daniel, 13, on the Sunshine Coast.
In sentencing Cowan, Justice Atkinson said anyone
considering granting him parole should exercise caution.
‘‘Whenever anyone is considering the prospect of
granting you parole in the future they should mark my words that you
are a convincing, plausible and adaptable liar,’’ she said.
The state government increased the non-parole
period for murder from 15 to 20 years in August 2012, which could be
applied retrospectively upon a judge's discretion.
Queensland's Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said
he would review the sentence and seek advice from the Director of
Public Prosecutions about a possible appeal.
"Murder is a heinous crime and one of this
government’s first acts of parliament was to increase the non-parole
period to 20 years for murder and 30 years for multiple murder," Mr
Bleijie said.
Meanwhile, the Morcombe family joined the Drive for
Daniel at the Carbrook Golf Club for the third consecutive year, which
was attended by 160 golfers who donated their course fees to the
foundation.
Justice Atkinson said Cowan had looked like an
ordinary person, not a monster, when he opportunistically offered
Daniel a lift from a bus stop on the Sunshine Coast on December 7,
2003.
‘‘You had no intention of taking him to the
shopping centre. You were just thinking about what you could do with
him,’’ she said.
She said instead Cowan had taken the 13-year-old to
an isolated area and killed him.
‘‘Everything about what you did to that child was
horrific and disgraceful,’’ she told Cowan in the Brisbane courtroom.
‘‘This is not just a murder, but a terrible murder.
It has had widespread and shocking impacts.’’
Justice Atkinson spoke about Cowan’s "apparently
normal upbringing''.
"But you have committed terrible crimes throughout
your life ... escalating in your offending,'' she said.
"When I talk about your upbringing, of course it
reminds me of other victims of your crimes; your family, your siblings
and most terribly of all your own children, who will forever be
associated with you and your name."
On Thursday, jurors found the 44-year-old father of
three guilty of indecently dealing with 13-year-old Daniel, murdering
him and interfering with his corpse.
The jury deliberated for nearly eight hours before
delivering its verdict.
The Crown prosecution had argued that Cowan should
be jailed without parole for longer than the mandatory minimum 15
years, as was cop killer Phillip Graeme Abell in 2013.
Daniel’s parents Bruce and Denise tendered victim
impact statements after the verdict was delivered, describing the
anguish of losing their son at the hands of a serial child molester.
With Cowan present in the courtroom, Denise
Morcombe described him as a ‘‘perverted soul’’ who underestimated the
Morcombe family’s drive to catch Daniel’s killer.
‘‘That was your mistake, you evil, evil, unhuman
thing,’’ she wrote.
For the Morcombes, the After Time begins
By Amy Remeikis - BrisbaneTimes.com.au
March 14, 2014
It was the sort of photo parents take all the time.
A family gathering. Happy children. Lips wet with
sugary water, bellies full.
A boy, caught in that moment between childhood and
the angst of teendom, turned to the camera with his glass of cordial.
The camera clicked. He finished his drink. Life went on.
But for the rest of us, Daniel James Morcombe was
captured in that photo. Everything he was, from his contented grin, to
the kindness in his eyes, was frozen.
In that photo, the one used in news reports,
missing posters and police bulletins, Daniel Morcombe was the face of
every well-loved child.
After December 7, 2003, he became the reason
Queensland parents held their children closer. If Daniel, with his
coastal country upbringing, safe neighbourhood and loving family could
go missing, what child was safe?
That rainy day, 12 days short of his and twin
brother Brad's 14th birthday, marked the beginning of the Not Knowing.
Not knowing, with its uncertainty and darkness
leaves a void filled by anxious and terrified imaginations. The Not
Knowing plagued the Morcombes, haunting them, even as they pushed
ahead, shining light on a topic parents keep locked away with their
deepest fears.
Daniel had started the day picking passionfruit
with Brad and older brother Dean on a neighbour's farm in Palmwoods, a
small community in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.
All three boys loved being outside. They had the
sort of idyllic childhood politicians like to paint during election
campaigns, 'big-backyard Australia' where they ran, rode motocross,
fell down and refused to show the pain, laughing it off together.
They had animals, each other and dreams.
Daniel wanted to be a vet and was happiest with a
pet in his lap.
It rained that day, the last of the Before Time and
the boys were delayed. They couldn't join their parents, Bruce and
Denise, at a work lunch which had been organised in Brisbane, about an
hour and half away.
So while his brothers took advantage of a lazy
afternoon at home, Daniel decided to buy some Christmas presents and
get a haircut at Sunshine Plaza in Maroochydore.
He wandered down from his home to a locals' bus
stop just a few minutes away. There was no designated stop under the
Kiel Mountain overpass, but those who lived in the area knew they
could flag down a passing bus from there. Plus, it was dry.
So there he waited. And there he disappeared. And
for more than a decade, that was the only thing his family, his
community, the police, knew for sure.
Daniel was gone. The Not Knowing began. But his
family made sure he was never forgotten, never 'just another case',
never a 'I-wondered-what-ever-happened-with...'.
In one of his first interviews, still hesitant and
nervous in front of the cameras, Bruce set the tone for how his family
would move forward.
“They have picked on the wrong family. We will
never give up,” he told reporters.
They kept their promise.
A memorial service was held for Daniel in December
2004. The following year, in May, the first meeting of the foundation
named in his honour and his memory was held.
Since then, the Morcombes have spoken to thousands
of school children about personal safety, spreading their message –
protection, safety and opportunity for our children – across the
nation.
Less known is the work the foundation does to
support child victims of crime, providing everything from money for
medical treatment, to things to make the child smile.
And through it all, the Not Knowing continued.
The desperate, the ill, the cruel, the
attention-needing and the well-meaning rush to pervade the Not
Knowing. The Morcombes encountered them all. The psychics. The
mediums. The constant 'I-know-who-did-it' phone calls. The unnamed
woman who called to say she had been in the car which had spirited
Daniel away in 2007. The Douglas Jackway theory in May 2009. The Not
Knowing bled into year after year after year.
And then, in 2010, after years of lobbying, a
coronial inquest was held. State Coroner Michael Barnes went through
the millions of pages of police reports, witness statements,
testimonies, false leads and procedural files. Most cases have a few
folders dedicated to them. Daniel's case had rooms full.
After hours and hours and hours of testimony,
questions and questioning again, 'P7' was identified as the most
likely person of interest. He had history. He had opportunity. His
alibi was blown open. Police, who had kept him on their radar, unable
to close in, finally had a green light to get their man.
P7, otherwise known as Brett Peter Cowan, was
arrested in a caravan park on August 13, 2011.
Searchers fanned out across a macadamia nut farm in
the Glass House Mountains, at the southern end of the Sunshine Coast.
On August 17, 2011, a shoe, the same size and brand
as Daniel's favourite pair, the ones he had been wearing when he left
his home seven years and seven months before, was found. And the Not
Knowing began to crack open. Three days later, its mate was found.
And then, on August 21, 2011, while at Denise's
parents' joint 80th birthday party in Melbourne, came the news a bone,
one of an eventual three, had been found.
His family knew. Daniel had been found.
But the wheels of justice grind slowly. Daniel was
held by the authorities while scientists for both the defence and the
prosecution conducted their tests and formed their conclusions.
A committal hearing was held late in 2012. Cowan
sat in his designated seat dressed in an ill-fitting suit, furiously
taking notes.
He did his best not to look at the family he had
destroyed, but they looked at him. They stared him down until the
evidence of what had become of their son became too much and they had
to look away.
And then came his lawyer, in flat tones, relaying a
script from a recording made by undercover detectives. There were no
images, not a lot of context, but the words, they painted their own
picture. 'Yeah. I did it.'
This man, this pathetic, gangly man, who at 190
centimetres tall had towered over their son, had lured their innocent
boy with the promise of a lift to the shops, secreted him away to an
isolated spot, made his awful intentions clear, and spooked Daniel
into action.
And as he tried to escape, this creature had
crushed his throat until the air left him.
Cowan, through his lawyers, admitted to the words,
but denied the actual doing from the moment he was arrested all the
way until the trial. But the Morcombes knew they had finally had a
face for the bogeyman who had deprived Daniel and them of decades of
ordinary wonders.
A face. A name. A history.
Former Sunshine Coast tow truck driver.
An ex-husband and father.
P7.
Convicted child sex-offender.
And murderer. They were sure of it.
Daniel was returned to the Morcombes soon after.
His funeral was held on December 7, 2012, nine years after he left to
buy his family gifts and never returned. He was buried with the
Christmas presents he never got to open.
A public memorial was held so the community could
share their grief. A private burial was held for his family, who
opened their hearts and sorrow to the world, against their much more
private natures.
That day was just for Daniel. It rained again that
morning. The Morcombes can't help but think of their son when the
weather turns.
Early in 2013, Cowan was committed to trial. The
44-year-old, who legally changed his name to Shaddo N-unyah Hunter
sometime between 2003 and 2010, finally spoke on February 10. "Not
guilty."
The jury, six men, six women, disagreed. Cowan
didn't testify at the trial. It didn't matter. His image, on a tape
filmed by undercover police officers, spoke for him.
The man on that tape, in a desperate bid to prove
his worth to an invented crime gang, confessed to the murder of Daniel
Morcombe. In detail. That man had information only the killer would
know.
Brett Peter Cowan's fate was sealed the moment he
left that hotel room.
A month and some change after the trial began, the
jury returned their verdict.
Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.
Outside the court, the sun shone bright and high.
Cowan will only be remembered for what he did, not
who he was. His humanity wiped away, his name said with a sneer.
The After Time has begun.
For the Morcombes, life continues. Time marches on,
despite life changing events. They learnt that just over a decade ago.
They kept the promise they made to Daniel on the day he disappeared,
that they would see it through it to the end.
They'll keep the one they made themselves to "do
something positive every day" with the black cards they were dealt.
Sixty school visits have already been lined up this
year and more will come. Fundraisers will be held. Red ribbons will
continue to flutter in the wind.
Daniel Morcombe will continue to be held close to
strangers' hearts, his image a symbol of protection. Of heart. Of
strength.
And a family's enduring love.
Daniel Morcombe verdict: Brett Cowan, portrait
of a monster
By Stephanie Wood - BrisbaneTimes.com.au
March 13, 2014
The little boy was looking for his sister. He was
six and dressed only in a pair of underpants as he wandered alone
through the BP Palms Caravan Park on the Stuart Highway on the
outskirts of Darwin.
The little boy lived in the caravan park with his
family. Brett Peter Cowan lived in a neighbouring van.
Around dusk on a Thursday night in September 1993,
Brett Cowan, then aged 24, approached the boy and asked him if he
wanted to go for a walk to see an old car wreck abandoned in the bush
not so far away.
The pair left the trailer park, climbed through a
hole in a wire fence and walked along a scrubby bush track. When the
little boy asked Cowan how far it was to the wreck, the young man
swung him up on to his shoulders for the final 200 metres.
Cowan then lay the boy on the upturned rust bucket,
pulled the boy’s underpants down and dropped his own shorts.
About an hour later, the boy, naked and filthy now,
stumbled through the dark back into the BP Palms service area.
Northern Territory Supreme Court documents reveal he was dazed and
distressed.
In intensive care at Royal Darwin Hospital the
extent of his injuries became apparent. A collapsed and punctured left
lung, haemorrhaged eyes, a bloodied nose, abrasions across his face, a
deep cut in his scrotum area.
A doctor said the boy’s “combination of injuries
was consistent with his having sustained a complex series of injuries
involving an asphyxial element, blunt force injury, sharp force injury
and anal penetration”. The boy’s wounds were heavily contaminated with
carbon-containing material, “consistent with contact with a heavily
ashed bushfire area”.
After initially denying any involvement, Brett
Peter Cowan made a full confession. He told police that he needed
help.
But just how much help did he get? It’s a question
that many will be asking about the 44-year-old, who on Thursday was
found guilty in Brisbane’s Supreme Court of murdering 13-year-old
Daniel Morcombe on the Sunshine Coast on December 7, 2003.
In Queensland’s highest-profile criminal case ever,
Cowan, the father of three young boys, now awaits Justice Roslyn
Atkinson’s sentencing decision.
It might be little consolation to Daniel’s
heartbroken and weary parents, Bruce and Denise Morcombe, that Cowan
denies molesting their son. “I never got to molest him or anything
like that; he panicked and I panicked and grabbed him around the
throat and just before I knew it, he was dead,” Cowan confessed to an
undercover police officer in Perth in August 2011.
“I was starting to pull his pants down … and he
said, ‘oh no’, and he started to struggle..” Cowan told the officer.
In a later conversation, he said, “... if I didn’t panic I could’ve
been there for an hour doing stuff.”
Whatever jail term Justice Atkinson settles on, it
will be Cowan’s third for crimes against boys. He was sentenced to two
years’ jail in 1989 after indecently dealing with a seven-year-old
boy. Cowan was 18 when he took the boy into a public toilet in
Brisbane and molested him.
In June 1994, he was sentenced to seven years’ jail
for his crimes against the little boy in Darwin. But by 1998, only
four years later, Cowan was out of jail and living in the Sunshine
Coast community of Bli Bli with his aunt and uncle who were pastors at
the Suncoast Christian Church (formerly the Christian Outreach
Centre).
It was to be a new start for the convicted
paedophile and small-time drug dealer, a 190cm-tall man with a goatee,
two silver earrings, a tattoo of a clown on his shoulder and two
upper-arm tattoos - one of a skull holding a smoking gun with skeletal
fingers, the other of a skull in a top hat.
At one point Cowan was going to church three times
a weekend. He met a girl through church and, in September 1999, after
a church wedding ceremony, they celebrated at a reception at the Big
Pineapple, a remnant of gaudy 1970s tourism on the Nambour Connection
Road.
The couple started their life together in Beerwah,
an old sugarcane town spliced by Steve Irwin Way and with a view of
the jagged Glasshouse Mountains. Cowan smoked pot and did a bit of
this, a bit of that — odd jobs, tow-truck driving, industrial
spray-painting — until someone hooked him up with local businessman
Trevor Davis. “I thought quite a lot of Brett,” says Mr Davis, who
owns a sandblasting business.
By all accounts, Cowan had a disciplined
upbringing. “He was an army brat,” says Mr Davis of his former
employee, who was born in Bunbury, Western Australia, in September
1969. He and his three brothers spent much of their childhood in
Brisbane’s Everton Park. Cowan’s father, Peter, retired from the Army
having achieved the rank of major.
Mr Davis says Brett Cowan was intelligent and
hard-working, “an open and friendly chap” who got on with customers
and “never forgot anything I taught him”.
Mr Davis was so impressed by his employee that he
bought a second sandblasting business with the intention that Cowan
could run it independently. “I figured that I could front him into
it,” says Mr Davis.
Tracey Lee Moncrieff gave birth to the couple’s
first child, a little boy, in mid 2003, about six months before Bruce
and Denise Morcombe’s little boy vanished from a bus stop under an
overpass at Woombye on the Nambour Connection Road.
Police quickly identified Cowan as a person of
interest in their investigation. Cowan was interviewed and, just
before Christmas, his white Pajero was carted off to Nambour police
station where it was scoured it for evidence. Nothing was found.
Cowan denied having anything to do with the case.
He would later officially change his name in a vain attempt to avoid
further scrutiny. His new name was “Shaddo N-unyah Hunter” — “Shaddo”
because it was his dog’s name and his dog followed him around like a
shadow. When undercover police asked what “N-unyah” was all about, he
replied “Nunyah business”.
In 2004, Moncrieff gave birth to his second son but
the marriage was soon over. At some point Cowan’s spiritual observance
had come to an end too. “Something was preached over the pulpit that I
didn’t agree with and (I) went and spoke with the pastor about it and
he wouldn’t change his mind so...” he would later tell police.
“He just didn’t appear at a job site one day and
that was the last I saw of him,” says Trevor Davis. “He just did a
bunk.”
The Darwin judge who sentenced Cowan after his sex
attack on the six-year-old boy described Cowan as a “pathological liar
and a person who is prepared to steal even from his own parents”. He
had lived a “parasitic existence, relying on social security and his
parents”, the judge said, listing offences including stealing, break
and enter and unlawful use of motor vehicles.
After he left Moncrieff, Cowan seems to have
resumed that behaviour, drifting through a drug-hazed underclass, from
what he described as “Nam-boring”, to Moranbah in north Queensland and
then, by the time of the Nerang interview in 2005, to Uki in the Tweed
Valley.
In 2008 he was living with 18-year-old Leticha Anne
Harvey in Durack, Ipswich. By December 2009 she’d given birth to their
son and they were living in a caravan park on Bribie Island in Moreton
Bay off Brisbane. Cowan would later tell undercover police that he’d
lost access to his two oldest children and that his brother and his
wife had custody of his youngest son.
By March 2011 when Cowan was called to give
evidence at the inquest into Daniel Morcombe’s disappearance, he was
living in yet another caravan park — this time in Perth with another
woman, also called “Tracey”, a woman he described as “a friend with
benefits”, and his pet “birdie”, a “twenty-eight” or Australian
ring-neck parrot.
At the inquest in the Brisbane Coroners Court,
Cowan was Dubbed “P7”, “Person of Interest 7”. He had been bullied at
school, Cowan told the court, and came to struggle with his
bisexuality.
He admitted to smoking “cones” of marijuana in his
hotel room each morning he was required to give evidence.
He admitted something else as he tried to convince
the inquest he wasn’t involved in Daniel’s disappearance. “I wasn’t
interested in teenage boys. I was interested in six, seven and
eight-year-old boys.”
On April 1, excused from the inquest, Cowan caught
a flight back to Perth. On the plane, he sat next to a bloke who
introduced himself as Joe Emery. They got chatting and swapped
numbers. “Joe Emery” was the false name of an undercover police
officer. One of the most extraordinary undercover police
investigations in Australia’s history had begun.
Daniel Morcombe murder: prosecution closes case
against accused killer
By Josh Bavas and Francene Norton
March 7, 2014
Witnesses have finished giving evidence in the
trial of the man accused of killing Sunshine Coast schoolboy Daniel
Morcombe.
The last to appear was a police officer who
described the day Brett Peter Cowan was arrested.
Cowan, 44, has pleaded not guilty to the
13-year-old boy's abduction and murder in 2003.
A total of 116 witnesses have given evidence during
the four-week Supreme Court trial in Brisbane.
More than 200 exhibits have been submitted as
evidence, including photos of remains found at a crime scene and
recordings of alleged confessions by the accused.
Today, Cowan declined to give evidence when asked
by Justice Roslyn Atkinson.
Appearing as the final witness, Detective Senior
Sergeant Stephen Blanchfield told the court he was in charge of the
investigation when Cowan was arrested.
Detective Blanchfield said that occurred at a Glass
House Mountains site about 11:15am on August 13, 2011.
He said that when Cowan was arrested he was
informed of his rights and exercised his right not to answer
questions.
olice seized Cowan's phone, but he spoke to a
lawyer.
The court heard Cowan would not take part in a
formal interview.
Previously, the trial has heard secret tapes of
Cowan's conversations with undercover police.
The defence has said Cowan's confession was false.
At one point in the tapes, Cowan describes the way
he strangled his victim.
Cowan took two officers to a bus stop and is heard
describing how he offered Daniel a lift to an abandoned house.
Cowan told the officers he wanted to "have fun"
with the boy and tried to pull his pants down.
He said Daniel responded by saying "oh no" and when
Cowan thought he was going to run, he choked him and felt something
snap in his neck.
He also showed the officers a creek where he said
he dumped Daniel's clothes.
Earlier today, undercover officer "Fitzy", who
posed as a crime boss, was back in the witness box.
He told the jury Cowan led him and another
undercover officer to an old sand-mining site at the Glass House
Mountains where he told them he dumped Daniel's body in 2003.
He says Cowan believed the pair were in an
organised crime gang with links to police and the courts and thought
they could help "clean up" his past problems.
"Fitzy" told the court the trio were arrested by
other officers who had been waiting at the site.
Under cross-examination today, "Fitzy" also said
Cowan was offered other big jobs with big money if he was a member of
the crime organisation.
Witnesses have finished giving evidence in the
trial and the crown closed its case against Cowan about 11:15am.
The jury has now left for the week and is expected
to return on Monday when prosecution and defence lawyers are expected
to give their concluding statements.
Daniel Morcombe murder: Ex-wife of accused
murderer Brett Peter Cowan testifies in Brisbane Supreme Court
By Francene Norton and Jason Rawlins
February 21, 2014
The ex-wife of the man accused of killing Daniel
Morcombe has told his murder trial about the day the Queensland
schoolboy went missing.
Tracey Moncrieff told Brisbane's Supreme Court that
she married Brett Peter Cowan in September 1999 but they separated in
2004 and their divorce was finalised in 2008.
Cowan, 44, is accused of abducting and killing the
13-year-old on the Sunshine Coast in 2003.
Ms Moncrieff said on December 7, 2003, the day
Daniel disappeared, she attended a church service and returned home to
make lunch for herself and Cowan after settling their baby son.
She says Cowan left their Beerwah home about 1:00pm
to retrieve a mulcher from a friend at Nambour.
Ms Moncrieff told the court she did not see Cowan
return, but heard him outside using the machine about 3:00pm.
Cowan has pleaded not guilty to murder, indecent
treatment of a child and interfering with a corpse.
Meanwhile, the media has been able to publish
photos of Cowan for the first time after they were tendered in
evidence on Thursday.
Cop tells of interviewing Cowan after Morcombe
vanish
Former policeman Kenneth King told the court he
interviewed Cowan two weeks after Daniel vanished.
He said the conversation had been recorded, but was
lost.
Mr King said Cowan confirmed he had driven past the
overpass on December 7, but had not seen any cars or people.
He said Cowan told him he had left home about
1:30pm and arrived home 2:30pm to 2:45pm that day.
Detective Sergeant Gavin Pascoe told the court
today he received information from a fellow officer on August 10,
2011.
Later that night, Detective Pascoe and a colleague
drove to the Kiel Mountain Road overpass at Woombye, the site of
Daniel's disappearance.
He said the pair drove from the overpass and
stopped at Kings Road at the Glass House Mountains, where Cowan
allegedly told undercover police he murdered Daniel.
The court heard the pair then drove to the home of
Cowan's drug dealer at Beerwah and then Cowan's former home nearby.
Detective Pascoe said they did two alternative
routes and timed them on a stopwatch on his mobile phone.
The court heard the times ranged from 14 minutes
and 29 seconds to 30 minutes and one second.
Witness bursts into tears in court
Earlier, driver Toni Lutherborrow told the court
she saw a blue car on Eudlo Road and something under a white sheet
rise up.
Ms Lutherborrow burst into tears as she recalled a
man in the front seat turn around and punch the sheet.
Motorist Wayne John Baker was the first witness to
testify at Thursday's proceedings.
He told the court he saw a boy near the Kiel
Mountain overpass on the day Daniel disappeared.
Mr Baker said he saw a blue car on the opposite
side of the road with two men near it.
During cross-examination by Cowan's lawyer, Mr
Baker said the vehicle matched the description in news reports of a
blue vehicle found abandoned weeks later in a Brisbane car park.
Driver Kim Guthrie told the court she saw a person
pulling a boy wearing a red shirt towards a blue car.
Witness Kim North gave similar testimony today
about a boy and a vehicle.
She also said she saw a person with both hands on a
boy's arm trying to coerce him into the car while another person sat
in the rear seat.
Ms North said she wanted to pull over but could not
find a spot and could not remember the car's number plate.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard from a bus
driver who admitted to ignoring a boy's attempts to hail him because
he was running late.
There were also varying accounts from witnesses
about seeing a boy and a man on Nambour Connection Road.
Some witnesses told the court they saw an "unkempt"
and "gaunt" man standing behind a boy, while others described seeing a
blue sedan parked nearby.
Justice Atkinson told the jury last week that
although there was a substantial number of witnesses to appear, not
all of them were expected to be questioned at length.
At the beginning of the trial, jurors were also
told they would visit the site where the schoolboy disappeared.
Jurors will also walk through a macadamia farm in
the Glass House Mountains where police found Daniel's remains eight
years later.
Police prosecutors claim Cowan led undercover
officers to the site after allegedly confessing to abducting and
killing the schoolboy.
Timeline: Daniel Morcombe case
ABC.net.au
December 7, 2003:
Daniel Morcombe, 13, vanishes while waiting for a
bus under the Kiel Mountain Road overpass on Nambour Connection Road
at Woombye on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. He was on his way to go
Christmas shopping when he disappeared.
December 7, 2004:
About 1,000 people attend a memorial service to
mark the first anniversary of Daniel Morcombe's disappearance. A
special plaque is also unveiled at the site.
October 4, 2004:
A $250,000 reward is posted by the Queensland
Government for information leading to an arrest or conviction.
February, 2005:
Parents Bruce and Denise Morcombe launch the Daniel
Morcombe Foundation to continue their message on child safety.
December 1, 2008:
A record $1 million private reward is offered for
new information about the disappearance.
April, 2010:
The State Coroner receives an extensive
investigation report, containing thousands of pages, from police
regarding the suspected death.
October 13, 2010:
A coronial inquest led by State Coroner Michael
Barnes begins. The inquest is held in Maroochydore and Brisbane. It
adjourns on April 6, 2011.
August 13, 2011:
Brett Peter Cowan, 41, is arrested and charged.
Police and State Emergency Service volunteers search bushland in the
Sunshine Coast hinterland as part of the investigation. Over the next
two months, a pair of shoes and human bones are discovered. DNA
results confirm they belong to Daniel Morcombe.
November 26, 2012:
Cowan's committal hearing begins in the Brisbane
Magistrates Court.
December 7, 2012:
A funeral is held for Daniel Morcombe at St
Catherine of Siena Church at Sippy Downs on the Sunshine Coast, nine
years to the day since he disappeared. He was laid to rest at Woombye
Cemetery.
February 7, 2013:
Cowan ordered to stand trial in the Supreme Court
of Queensland. He is charged with murder, indecent treatment of a
child and interfering with a corpse.
February 10, 2014:
Cowan's trial begins. It is expected to take six
weeks. A pool of about 100 potential witnesses may be called to give
evidence.
March 13, 2014:
The Supreme Court jury finds Cowan guilty on all
charges. It is revealed that Cowan is a serial paedophile with a long
history of preying on children.
March 14, 2014:
Cowan is sentenced to life in jail with a minimum
non-parole period of 20 years for the murder of Daniel Morcombe.
Supreme Court Judge Roslyn Atkinson says Cowan's crimes were "horrific
and disgraceful" and that he "tragically and pointlessly snuffed out a
young life".
