August 21, 2023 • 24 mins
Tina Greer was a much loved mother, sister and daughter. She was also a victim of coercive control and domestic violence. Tina's last known location was the property of her abusive ex-partner, a Finks Outlaw Motorcycle Gang member. In this episode, I'm joined by Lili, Tina's daughter.
Lili has been on a relentless quest for justice and we walk through the initial response from authorities, the convoluted legal challenges, and the seemingly endless roadblocks.
As we shine a light on the heartbreaking case of Tina Greer, Lili continues the search for her mother through The Tina Greer Project while simultaneously advocating for positive and systemic change to prevent other women meeting the same fate as Tina.
You can connect with Lili @thetinagreerproject on Insta or TikTok or Facebook or through The Tina Greer Project Website
www.thetinagreerproject.com
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Music is Forest Lullaby by LESFM Oleksii Kaplunskyi
Missing Persons Organisations:
The Missed Foundation
Leave a Light On Inc
Australian Missing Persons Register
For Support Helplines in Australia go to:
https://www.whiteribbon.org.au/Find-Help/Help-Lines
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carla (00:00):
It's been over 10 years since Tina was taken, leaving
her only daughter, Lili, withouta mum at age 13.
Tina was 32 when she wentmissing.
She was young, vibrant and fullof life, but she had also
suffered greatly at the hands ofher ex-partner.
From bikie cover-ups to initialfumbled police investigations,
(00:26):
the case of Tina Greer isheart-breaking.
It has taken her courageousdaughter, relentlessly searching
for her mother, to bring thereal story to light.
This episode contains contentrelated to domestic and family
violence, assault and homicide.
Please listen with caution.
(00:46):
It's not suitable for children.
Today, I'm delving into themissing person's case of Tina
Greer.
Last scene in Canungra, drivingtowards Clumber, located inland
of the Gold Coast, Wueensland,on January 18, 2012.
I'm Carla Morgan and this isBOLO, a podcast covering cold
(01:11):
and active missing person'scases with the aim of helping
families bring their loved oneshome.
Tina was youthful, energeticand adventurous, and she loved
her family, her father and threebrothers and, of course, her
daughter.
Lili (01:40):
She was very fiery and enthusiastic.
I say this a lot, but it's likea big part of our relationship
I think.
She was a young mum, so she hadme when she was 19.
So that comes with a lot ofpositives and negatives, but we
were always just doing thingslike very active.
She's always keen to jump onthe trampoline with me and get
(02:01):
her hands dirty, so that waslike an amazing part of our
relationship.
She definitely had her ups anddowns as a parent.
I guess every young parent goesthrough all of those things,
especially when you're goingthrough custody battles.
But she was super, as I said,energetic, and very bubbly and
just very honest and upfront aswell.
(02:21):
So I was treated probably olderthan my age, but it's been a
benefit.
Carla (02:28):
It was known by those close to Tina that the man she
had been dating on and off forthe last four years or so, was
violent.
He was a bikie, he was 22 yearsolder than her and he was
physically and verbally abusive.
So abusive in fact thatneighbours had reported to
police that they had witnessedhim trying to run Tina over in
(02:51):
his car and had seen Tinarunning down the road covered in
blood.
Lili also reports some of hermother's injuries as including a
broken arm, broken nose, brokencheekbone.
Tina managed a feat manyvictims of domestic violence,
struggle long and hard toachieve she had got away from
(03:14):
him.
Lili (03:16):
So probably three years leading up to this.
It was a very violentrelationship Her and Les.
He was very abusive soessentially we moved to go to
where I was closer to the school, so I never actually lived with
him and he obviously didn'tlike the separation.
So she had left him and it wasthis kind of like push and pull
(03:40):
they were together, they weren'ttogether, making threats, all
the typical things you see whenpeople are trying to leave a
relationship.
Carla (03:48):
She found a place just for her and for Lily.
They were all set to begin thenext chapter of their lives
together and they were happy.
Lurking beneath the surface andthe happiness was a shadow.
Tina was being stalked.
Her car had been vandalised,someone had been watching them.
(04:10):
Tina was afraid and, as aresult, she was turning to her
ex for help.
Lili believes with certaintythat this stalker was Tina's ex,
that he was the one causingTina to be fearful, whether it
was because he wanted Tina tocome back to him or he just
(04:30):
wanted Tina to continue to livein fear.
If it was true, and it was him,it was one of his final acts of
control over her.
Lili (04:40):
During that time there was a lot of threatening.
He would just come to the house, rock up and we were being
stalked.
At the time we didn't know whoit was, but looking back it is
likely and I believe it was him.
Every night, between maybe 10and 2 am, someone was outside
the house like rattling thewindows and it got like
(05:02):
progressively more aggressiveand, I guess, violent.
So it got to the point whereher car was vandalised and, yeah
, we weren't leaving the house,we were sleeping in the daytime.
This is a very fearful time inboth of our lives, paired with
him threatening her, saying likeI'll ruin your life, you won't
get a job anywhere, all of thosetypes of things, as well as
(05:24):
physical violence.
It was very explicit hismotives and the police were
called, but they didn't believethat it was happening.
Carla (05:37):
On the day Tina disappeared, she and Lili had
been shopping for school things.
Lili was about to start grade 8in a few weeks time.
After this outing, she droppedLili off to have a sleepover
with some friends.
Tina kissed Lili goodbye andsaid she'd be back the following
day to pick her up.
But when Tina was too late tocome and get her the next day,
(06:00):
Lili knew something was verywrong.
Her mum was never late.
Lili (06:05):
Even if she was going to be five minutes late, she would
always call.
She dropped me off about 2 pmin Canungra so she went to his
property.
The plan was to fix the carbecause it had been vandalised,
so she didn't want it to rustand we didn't have much, so car
was very important and to do ourwashing the next day.
(06:25):
She was supposed to come around5-ish and that just never
happened.
Carla (06:31):
What we know is that after Tina dropped off Lili, she
continued driving towardsClumber, which is roughly 100
kilometres west.
She arrived at herex-boyfriend's place, Les
Sharman, who was a patchedmember of the Fink's Outlaw
Motorcycle Gang.
Tina stayed the night while shedid some washing as her and
(06:56):
Lili didn't yet have a washingmachine in their new place and
she left the following day.
Tina's family reported hermissing to police a few days
later, when she never returned.
Lili (07:08):
I didn't know that she was dead or I didn't want to
believe that she was deadstraight away or had been
murdered.
Technically we don't know if hemurdered her, but the Coroner
believes that and the policebelieve that.
Probably three days, four days,up to a week.
I thought maybe she's like gotaway and she's hiding in the
bushlands near his property andit was raining a lot at the time
(07:29):
.
So I thought I'm gonna hopeshe's like dry and safe.
Those were like my kid thoughtsabout it at the time and I like
was holding on to all of herclothes and things like that in
case she came back.
But it was pretty naive tothink that I guess at that point
in time you're hoping foranything.
I immediately had like this gutfeeling.
I was like this is very bad.
Carla (07:55):
Here's a timeline of what occurred next.
Three days after Tina wentmissing, her car was found on a
dirt road near Governor's ChairLookout, near Cunningham's Gap.
This is about six kilometres orso from Sharman's property.
It was locked and abandoned,but all of her possessions were
inside.
The discovery of the carimmediately sparked police
(08:17):
searches in the vicinity.
Sharman denied knowing herwhereabouts, saying he was
unable to shed any light onwhere she was.
This guy had multiple drugoffence charges and in 2002 was
convicted for possessingdangerous drugs and restricted
items.
He was fined $500.
(08:37):
He also stood trial again in2004 for the same charges.
So we have someone who has asignificant criminal history,
reports of domestic violence, isa member of a bikie gang who is
now the closest person to awoman and mother who was missing
.
It goes without question to saythis would make him a very good
(08:59):
suspect.
As we know, when someone goesmissing, the first person who is
looked at is their intimatepartner because statistically
they are the most likely to beculpable.
Then the investigation movesslowly outwards to other people
in the inner circle, includingfamily.
When all those people arecleared, it moves out wider, as
(09:21):
the last person to see Tina anda recent ex Sharman was the
logical place to start theinvestigation.
Lili (09:30):
He also goes and buys a new queen-size mattress the next
day after she goes missing andthat mattress is taken to a dump
.
His friend dumps that.
There's a lot of suspiciousbehaviour.
Her phone goes off within hisproperty lines.
He says that she leaves at 9ambut she was supposed to come
back at 5, it's only a two-hourdrive.
(09:50):
She was supposed to turn rightout of his property, which is
the way back to where I was, butthe car goes left to a dead end
.
So there's a lot of thingswhere for me, just reading it
all, you just think what, as aninvestigating officer, you think
surely you can hold him forsomething?
He was never interviewed, eventhat never even happened.
So I don't think they did theirdue diligence in the early days
(10:14):
.
Carla (10:15):
He was not formally interviewed, he was never
investigated, he was nevercharged, and police determined
that they couldn't really getanywhere with him, so they
turned to the public forassistance.
A mobile van was established onthe Cunningham Highway in an
(10:36):
attempt to glean moreinformation.
Water ways and dams on theprivate property off Spicer's
Gap Road, which is where her carwas found, were also searched,
and an aerial search wasconducted.
In 2013, just one year afterTina's disappearance.
All leads had been exhaustedand the case went cold.
(10:58):
In 2014, police received amysterious phone call saying
that there were two peopleinvolved in Tina's murder and in
disposing of her remains, butagain, despite this lead, no
arrests were made.
Then, in 2018, Sharman died ina car accident on the Gold Coast
(11:24):
hinterland.
He was aged 60 and all hope offinding answers from this man
were dashed.
Fast forward to 2020, and Lili,now 21 years old, wanted
answers.
Lili (11:38):
Yeah.
So I had it reached out to thehomicide police officer saying
like I need to give anotherinterview, like I was the
closest person to my mum I knowboth of these people and I was
there.
Like it just blew my mind how Icouldn't have been interviewed
more because I know the case sowell I suppose.
(11:58):
So I reached out, I had asecond interview, and then they
put out the reward, which iswhen I started getting involved.
But at the time I was hopefuland I didn't know the extent of
the I'm going to say allegednegligence of the police in the
early days.
So I wasn't aware of that.
And then obviously they do yourproperty search or that kind of
(12:23):
leads to nowhere.
We still haven't found her.
So then it goes to theCoroner's Court.
In the Coroner's Court I getthe report and then I'm reading
all of these things and I'm justseeing like all of the it
literally says like missedopportunities, in black and
white.
Carla (12:40):
So just one day before the eight year anniversary of
Tina's disappearance, Lilifronted the media with police.
She joined with police toappeal to the public for fresh
information, and a reward of$250,000 was offered.
In August of the same year,police raided and searched a
(13:02):
property looking for Tina's bodyin the Gold Coast hinterland.
Chief Inspector Damien Hansenannounced publicly for the first
time that Les Sharman was notjust a person of interest but
was now the prime suspect.
They believed he murdered Tinaand that he had helped to
dispose of her remains and coverup what happened.
(13:24):
They were trying to track downany information about the
identities of anyone whoallegedly helped him.
He said the $250,000 reward hadan indemnity from prosecution
for those involved.
With Sharman being a bikiemember and a feared man, people
were understandably reluctant tocome forward, but now that he
(13:46):
had died, police were hopingthat more people would talk, but
no one did.
No fresh leads came through.
Nothing was found after theproperty was searched and the
case was basically closed andpassed on to the Coroner's Court
.
In 2022, Queensland CoronerChristine Roney determined that
(14:08):
Tina had died, that Sharman wasinvolved or had caused her death
, and it was also revealed thatthere were 20 lethality risk
factors in their relationship.
Some of these risk factorsincluded previously assaulting
Tina with a weapon, holding herhostage, controlling her
(14:30):
activities and isolating her.
The other piece of informationthat came out was that a person,
who is described as Mr X, haddisposed of items belonging to
Tina, as well as a mattress, onSharman's request, just days
after she went missing.
Despite these determinations,the Coroner ruled that there
(14:51):
would be no inquest into Tina'sdeath because quote 'it was not
in the public interest and therewas no evidence her death could
have been prevented'.
Lili continued her relentlesspursuit for justice for her
mother, and she did not acceptthis ruling.
She organised a change.
org petition to hold the inquest, which was signed by over
(15:15):
22,000 people, agreeing that,indeed, Tina's death was a
matter of public interest.
She also applied to have theCoroner's decision reviewed.
She did it.
Lili (15:28):
I was feeling very hopeful when I got the inquest and
slowly we'd been going throughthe pre-inquest meetings and
I've looked through all theevidence and just getting that
lots of pushback.
I think personally that it isjust a ticking of the boxes and
(15:49):
they said in court three weeksago that finding her body is not
a priority of this inquest andthat, paired with the literal
Coroner's Act, is to find outwho, what, when, where, how.
That's hard to do without abody, but they refuse to make
that a priority.
The most traumatic experience,it will be the most traumatic
(16:11):
experience of my life.
It's going to be verytraumatising and I'm putting in
a lot of time and effort,obviously because I want to find
my mum.
It feels like that if her bodyis not a priority, it's not
pointless, but it feels like awaste of time in the sense that
(16:32):
the only things that will mostlikely come out of it will be
future recommendations inregards to domestic violence and
the way the police conductthemselves, the way different
rehabilitation centres conductthemselves in terms of
recommendations and advice topeople that are going through
domestic violence, and childservices is also involved, so
(16:54):
there's a lot of big playersinvolved.
I was very hopeful, as I saidbefore, with the inquest, and
then you just see like we're allreading the same evidence and
you see how differently peoplelook at it and the priorities
and it just makes you very, veryjaded towards it all.
It's very unjust and it's notvictim focused, it's not trauma
(17:16):
informed, it's none of thosethings.
So it's very hard to hope foranything positive, excluding
those recommendations that willhelp prevent future deaths.
Carla (17:29):
So we'll release an update once we know more from
the inquest.
Lili has made it her life'swork to help people like her mum
.
She started an organisationcalled the Tina Greer Project,
which, from the website says,'is a space where educational
and productive conversationstake place that provoke change
concerning domestic violence,homicide and missing persons'.
Lili (17:55):
So I started the Tina Greer Project after reading the
coroner's report and readingthat it is not in the public
interest to hold an inquest,reading that her death could not
have been prevented, justreading so many incorrect and
non-factual statements about mymum and about these broader
(18:16):
topics, and I found that youneed public interest to get an
inquest.
So I thought the best way to getpublic interest is to start the
Tina Greer Project, start asocial media advocacy,
essentially on all of that, togain traction and public
awareness and to get thosesignatures was obviously my
(18:38):
first priority, so I could getan inquest.
And then, broadly speaking, thegoal of it is to provoke
conversations, or soconversations that provoke
change concerning domesticviolence, missing persons and
homicide, because I've hadlived experience with all of
those three things and they'reall very far reaching and so
(18:59):
many people do experience them.
But it's such a negativeexperience and there's not a lot
of help or even just onlineawareness about a lot of those
things.
It's also about education.
So that's the purpose and themission of the .
So it's kind of those threethings in tandem with my mum's
case.
Carla (19:27):
Queensland has one of the highest rates of intimate
partner homicide out of everystate in Australia.
Queensland Police attend adomestic violence incident every
five minutes.
We know that it's unfathomablydifficult and risky for a woman
to leave an abuser because shefears for her life and that of
(19:49):
her children.
Figuring out how to supportoneself and any dependents and
start over is another hurdlethat victims must overcome.
It's made more challengingbecause most violent
perpetrators will almost alwayshave control over finances as
well.
We know that the most dangeroustime for women who are in
domestic violent situations isafter they have left the
(20:11):
relationship.
This statistic is from anarticle in the Guardian in 2014
and I'll leave a link in theshow notes for you.
75% of domestic violencehomicides happen at the point of
separation or after the victimhas left the abuser.
Tina was at her most vulnerablebecause she had just left.
(20:31):
She left a violent man and anabusive relationship, so it's
questionable that the coronercould determine that her death
was not avoidable.
What could she have done toavoid her own death?
Why is the onus on her toprotect her life?
Why isn't it on theperpetrators of domestic
violence and coercive control tostop their abuse.
(20:54):
In all of the reporting aboutTina's case from the early years
, there was no mention ofdomestic violence or that
Sharman was violent towards her.
Now, thanks to Lili, it's partof the narrative, and it needs
to be, because it providescontext to Tina's unique
circumstances at the time.
According to missionaustralia.
(21:15):
com.
au, today's stats are that onein six women suffer physical or
sexual violence by a current orformer partner and on average,
one woman every nine days iskilled by a current or former
partner, and the numbers arehigher in Aboriginal communities
or for people living withdisability.
The police say they know who isresponsible and what happened
(21:39):
to Tina.
We just need to find her andthe $250,000 reward is still on
offer for anyone who can helplocate her or her remains.
If you or anyone you know knowanything at all that can help
(22:01):
Lili find her mum, pleasecontact Police Link on 131-444
or call Crime Stoppers on1800-333-000.
Thanks for listening to BOLO.
If this episode has brought upfeelings for you and you need
support, please reach out toLifeline on 1311-14 or RESPECT
(22:29):
on 1800 RESPECT.
You can connect with me onInsta or TikTok at Bolo.
pod or email me Bolo.
pod@ icloud.
com If you're experiencingabuse or violence it's not your
fault.
There are support services thatcan help you If your life is in
(22:51):
danger call 000.
The 24-7 Domestic ViolenceCounselling call the National
Sexual Assault, family andDomestic Violence Counselling
Line on 1800.
Respect that's 1800 737 732.
Thank you.
It's been over 10 years since Tina was taken, leaving
her only daughter, Lili, withouta mum at age 13.
Tina was 32 when she wentmissing.
She was young, vibrant and fullof life, but she had also
suffered greatly at the hands ofher ex-partner.
From bikie cover-ups to initialfumbled police investigations,
(00:26):
the case of Tina Greer isheart-breaking.
It has taken her courageousdaughter, relentlessly searching
for her mother, to bring thereal story to light.
This episode contains contentrelated to domestic and family
violence, assault and homicide.
Please listen with caution.
(00:46):
It's not suitable for children.
Today, I'm delving into themissing person's case of Tina
Greer.
Last scene in Canungra, drivingtowards Clumber, located inland
of the Gold Coast, Wueensland,on January 18, 2012.
I'm Carla Morgan and this isBOLO, a podcast covering cold
(01:11):
and active missing person'scases with the aim of helping
families bring their loved oneshome.
Tina was youthful, energeticand adventurous, and she loved
her family, her father and threebrothers and, of course, her
daughter.
Lili (01:40):
She was very fiery and enthusiastic.
I say this a lot, but it's likea big part of our relationship
I think.
She was a young mum, so she hadme when she was 19.
So that comes with a lot ofpositives and negatives, but we
were always just doing thingslike very active.
She's always keen to jump onthe trampoline with me and get
(02:01):
her hands dirty, so that waslike an amazing part of our
relationship.
She definitely had her ups anddowns as a parent.
I guess every young parent goesthrough all of those things,
especially when you're goingthrough custody battles.
But she was super, as I said,energetic, and very bubbly and
just very honest and upfront aswell.
(02:21):
So I was treated probably olderthan my age, but it's been a
benefit.
Carla (02:28):
It was known by those close to Tina that the man she
had been dating on and off forthe last four years or so, was
violent.
He was a bikie, he was 22 yearsolder than her and he was
physically and verbally abusive.
So abusive in fact thatneighbours had reported to
police that they had witnessedhim trying to run Tina over in
(02:51):
his car and had seen Tinarunning down the road covered in
blood.
Lili also reports some of hermother's injuries as including a
broken arm, broken nose, brokencheekbone.
Tina managed a feat manyvictims of domestic violence,
struggle long and hard toachieve she had got away from
(03:14):
him.
Lili (03:16):
So probably three years leading up to this.
It was a very violentrelationship Her and Les.
He was very abusive soessentially we moved to go to
where I was closer to the school, so I never actually lived with
him and he obviously didn'tlike the separation.
So she had left him and it wasthis kind of like push and pull
(03:40):
they were together, they weren'ttogether, making threats, all
the typical things you see whenpeople are trying to leave a
relationship.
Carla (03:48):
She found a place just for her and for Lily.
They were all set to begin thenext chapter of their lives
together and they were happy.
Lurking beneath the surface andthe happiness was a shadow.
Tina was being stalked.
Her car had been vandalised,someone had been watching them.
(04:10):
Tina was afraid and, as aresult, she was turning to her
ex for help.
Lili believes with certaintythat this stalker was Tina's ex,
that he was the one causingTina to be fearful, whether it
was because he wanted Tina tocome back to him or he just
(04:30):
wanted Tina to continue to livein fear.
If it was true, and it was him,it was one of his final acts of
control over her.
Lili (04:40):
During that time there was a lot of threatening.
He would just come to the house, rock up and we were being
stalked.
At the time we didn't know whoit was, but looking back it is
likely and I believe it was him.
Every night, between maybe 10and 2 am, someone was outside
the house like rattling thewindows and it got like
(05:02):
progressively more aggressiveand, I guess, violent.
So it got to the point whereher car was vandalised and, yeah
, we weren't leaving the house,we were sleeping in the daytime.
This is a very fearful time inboth of our lives, paired with
him threatening her, saying likeI'll ruin your life, you won't
get a job anywhere, all of thosetypes of things, as well as
(05:24):
physical violence.
It was very explicit hismotives and the police were
called, but they didn't believethat it was happening.
Carla (05:37):
On the day Tina disappeared, she and Lili had
been shopping for school things.
Lili was about to start grade 8in a few weeks time.
After this outing, she droppedLili off to have a sleepover
with some friends.
Tina kissed Lili goodbye andsaid she'd be back the following
day to pick her up.
But when Tina was too late tocome and get her the next day,
(06:00):
Lili knew something was verywrong.
Her mum was never late.
Lili (06:05):
Even if she was going to be five minutes late, she would
always call.
She dropped me off about 2 pmin Canungra so she went to his
property.
The plan was to fix the carbecause it had been vandalised,
so she didn't want it to rustand we didn't have much, so car
was very important and to do ourwashing the next day.
(06:25):
She was supposed to come around5-ish and that just never
happened.
Carla (06:31):
What we know is that after Tina dropped off Lili, she
continued driving towardsClumber, which is roughly 100
kilometres west.
She arrived at herex-boyfriend's place, Les
Sharman, who was a patchedmember of the Fink's Outlaw
Motorcycle Gang.
Tina stayed the night while shedid some washing as her and
(06:56):
Lili didn't yet have a washingmachine in their new place and
she left the following day.
Tina's family reported hermissing to police a few days
later, when she never returned.
Lili (07:08):
I didn't know that she was dead or I didn't want to
believe that she was deadstraight away or had been
murdered.
Technically we don't know if hemurdered her, but the Coroner
believes that and the policebelieve that.
Probably three days, four days,up to a week.
I thought maybe she's like gotaway and she's hiding in the
bushlands near his property andit was raining a lot at the time
(07:29):
.
So I thought I'm gonna hopeshe's like dry and safe.
Those were like my kid thoughtsabout it at the time and I like
was holding on to all of herclothes and things like that in
case she came back.
But it was pretty naive tothink that I guess at that point
in time you're hoping foranything.
I immediately had like this gutfeeling.
I was like this is very bad.
Carla (07:55):
Here's a timeline of what occurred next.
Three days after Tina wentmissing, her car was found on a
dirt road near Governor's ChairLookout, near Cunningham's Gap.
This is about six kilometres orso from Sharman's property.
It was locked and abandoned,but all of her possessions were
inside.
The discovery of the carimmediately sparked police
(08:17):
searches in the vicinity.
Sharman denied knowing herwhereabouts, saying he was
unable to shed any light onwhere she was.
This guy had multiple drugoffence charges and in 2002 was
convicted for possessingdangerous drugs and restricted
items.
He was fined $500.
(08:37):
He also stood trial again in2004 for the same charges.
So we have someone who has asignificant criminal history,
reports of domestic violence, isa member of a bikie gang who is
now the closest person to awoman and mother who was missing
.
It goes without question to saythis would make him a very good
(08:59):
suspect.
As we know, when someone goesmissing, the first person who is
looked at is their intimatepartner because statistically
they are the most likely to beculpable.
Then the investigation movesslowly outwards to other people
in the inner circle, includingfamily.
When all those people arecleared, it moves out wider, as
(09:21):
the last person to see Tina anda recent ex Sharman was the
logical place to start theinvestigation.
Lili (09:30):
He also goes and buys a new queen-size mattress the next
day after she goes missing andthat mattress is taken to a dump
.
His friend dumps that.
There's a lot of suspiciousbehaviour.
Her phone goes off within hisproperty lines.
He says that she leaves at 9ambut she was supposed to come
back at 5, it's only a two-hourdrive.
(09:50):
She was supposed to turn rightout of his property, which is
the way back to where I was, butthe car goes left to a dead end
.
So there's a lot of thingswhere for me, just reading it
all, you just think what, as aninvestigating officer, you think
surely you can hold him forsomething?
He was never interviewed, eventhat never even happened.
So I don't think they did theirdue diligence in the early days
(10:14):
.
Carla (10:15):
He was not formally interviewed, he was never
investigated, he was nevercharged, and police determined
that they couldn't really getanywhere with him, so they
turned to the public forassistance.
A mobile van was established onthe Cunningham Highway in an
(10:36):
attempt to glean moreinformation.
Water ways and dams on theprivate property off Spicer's
Gap Road, which is where her carwas found, were also searched,
and an aerial search wasconducted.
In 2013, just one year afterTina's disappearance.
All leads had been exhaustedand the case went cold.
(10:58):
In 2014, police received amysterious phone call saying
that there were two peopleinvolved in Tina's murder and in
disposing of her remains, butagain, despite this lead, no
arrests were made.
Then, in 2018, Sharman died ina car accident on the Gold Coast
(11:24):
hinterland.
He was aged 60 and all hope offinding answers from this man
were dashed.
Fast forward to 2020, and Lili,now 21 years old, wanted
answers.
Lili (11:38):
Yeah.
So I had it reached out to thehomicide police officer saying
like I need to give anotherinterview, like I was the
closest person to my mum I knowboth of these people and I was
there.
Like it just blew my mind how Icouldn't have been interviewed
more because I know the case sowell I suppose.
(11:58):
So I reached out, I had asecond interview, and then they
put out the reward, which iswhen I started getting involved.
But at the time I was hopefuland I didn't know the extent of
the I'm going to say allegednegligence of the police in the
early days.
So I wasn't aware of that.
And then obviously they do yourproperty search or that kind of
(12:23):
leads to nowhere.
We still haven't found her.
So then it goes to theCoroner's Court.
In the Coroner's Court I getthe report and then I'm reading
all of these things and I'm justseeing like all of the it
literally says like missedopportunities, in black and
white.
Carla (12:40):
So just one day before the eight year anniversary of
Tina's disappearance, Lilifronted the media with police.
She joined with police toappeal to the public for fresh
information, and a reward of$250,000 was offered.
In August of the same year,police raided and searched a
(13:02):
property looking for Tina's bodyin the Gold Coast hinterland.
Chief Inspector Damien Hansenannounced publicly for the first
time that Les Sharman was notjust a person of interest but
was now the prime suspect.
They believed he murdered Tinaand that he had helped to
dispose of her remains and coverup what happened.
(13:24):
They were trying to track downany information about the
identities of anyone whoallegedly helped him.
He said the $250,000 reward hadan indemnity from prosecution
for those involved.
With Sharman being a bikiemember and a feared man, people
were understandably reluctant tocome forward, but now that he
(13:46):
had died, police were hopingthat more people would talk, but
no one did.
No fresh leads came through.
Nothing was found after theproperty was searched and the
case was basically closed andpassed on to the Coroner's Court
.
In 2022, Queensland CoronerChristine Roney determined that
(14:08):
Tina had died, that Sharman wasinvolved or had caused her death
, and it was also revealed thatthere were 20 lethality risk
factors in their relationship.
Some of these risk factorsincluded previously assaulting
Tina with a weapon, holding herhostage, controlling her
(14:30):
activities and isolating her.
The other piece of informationthat came out was that a person,
who is described as Mr X, haddisposed of items belonging to
Tina, as well as a mattress, onSharman's request, just days
after she went missing.
Despite these determinations,the Coroner ruled that there
(14:51):
would be no inquest into Tina'sdeath because quote 'it was not
in the public interest and therewas no evidence her death could
have been prevented'.
Lili continued her relentlesspursuit for justice for her
mother, and she did not acceptthis ruling.
She organised a change.
org petition to hold the inquest, which was signed by over
(15:15):
22,000 people, agreeing that,indeed, Tina's death was a
matter of public interest.
She also applied to have theCoroner's decision reviewed.
She did it.
Lili (15:28):
I was feeling very hopeful when I got the inquest and
slowly we'd been going throughthe pre-inquest meetings and
I've looked through all theevidence and just getting that
lots of pushback.
I think personally that it isjust a ticking of the boxes and
(15:49):
they said in court three weeksago that finding her body is not
a priority of this inquest andthat, paired with the literal
Coroner's Act, is to find outwho, what, when, where, how.
That's hard to do without abody, but they refuse to make
that a priority.
The most traumatic experience,it will be the most traumatic
(16:11):
experience of my life.
It's going to be verytraumatising and I'm putting in
a lot of time and effort,obviously because I want to find
my mum.
It feels like that if her bodyis not a priority, it's not
pointless, but it feels like awaste of time in the sense that
(16:32):
the only things that will mostlikely come out of it will be
future recommendations inregards to domestic violence and
the way the police conductthemselves, the way different
rehabilitation centres conductthemselves in terms of
recommendations and advice topeople that are going through
domestic violence, and childservices is also involved, so
(16:54):
there's a lot of big playersinvolved.
I was very hopeful, as I saidbefore, with the inquest, and
then you just see like we're allreading the same evidence and
you see how differently peoplelook at it and the priorities
and it just makes you very, veryjaded towards it all.
It's very unjust and it's notvictim focused, it's not trauma
(17:16):
informed, it's none of thosethings.
So it's very hard to hope foranything positive, excluding
those recommendations that willhelp prevent future deaths.
Carla (17:29):
So we'll release an update once we know more from
the inquest.
Lili has made it her life'swork to help people like her mum
.
She started an organisationcalled the Tina Greer Project,
which, from the website says,'is a space where educational
and productive conversationstake place that provoke change
concerning domestic violence,homicide and missing persons'.
Lili (17:55):
So I started the Tina Greer Project after reading the
coroner's report and readingthat it is not in the public
interest to hold an inquest,reading that her death could not
have been prevented, justreading so many incorrect and
non-factual statements about mymum and about these broader
(18:16):
topics, and I found that youneed public interest to get an
inquest.
So I thought the best way to getpublic interest is to start the
Tina Greer Project, start asocial media advocacy,
essentially on all of that, togain traction and public
awareness and to get thosesignatures was obviously my
(18:38):
first priority, so I could getan inquest.
And then, broadly speaking, thegoal of it is to provoke
conversations, or soconversations that provoke
change concerning domesticviolence, missing persons and
homicide, because I've hadlived experience with all of
those three things and they'reall very far reaching and so
(18:59):
many people do experience them.
But it's such a negativeexperience and there's not a lot
of help or even just onlineawareness about a lot of those
things.
It's also about education.
So that's the purpose and themission of the .
So it's kind of those threethings in tandem with my mum's
case.
Carla (19:27):
Queensland has one of the highest rates of intimate
partner homicide out of everystate in Australia.
Queensland Police attend adomestic violence incident every
five minutes.
We know that it's unfathomablydifficult and risky for a woman
to leave an abuser because shefears for her life and that of
(19:49):
her children.
Figuring out how to supportoneself and any dependents and
start over is another hurdlethat victims must overcome.
It's made more challengingbecause most violent
perpetrators will almost alwayshave control over finances as
well.
We know that the most dangeroustime for women who are in
domestic violent situations isafter they have left the
(20:11):
relationship.
This statistic is from anarticle in the Guardian in 2014
and I'll leave a link in theshow notes for you.
75% of domestic violencehomicides happen at the point of
separation or after the victimhas left the abuser.
Tina was at her most vulnerablebecause she had just left.
(20:31):
She left a violent man and anabusive relationship, so it's
questionable that the coronercould determine that her death
was not avoidable.
What could she have done toavoid her own death?
Why is the onus on her toprotect her life?
Why isn't it on theperpetrators of domestic
violence and coercive control tostop their abuse.
(20:54):
In all of the reporting aboutTina's case from the early years
, there was no mention ofdomestic violence or that
Sharman was violent towards her.
Now, thanks to Lili, it's partof the narrative, and it needs
to be, because it providescontext to Tina's unique
circumstances at the time.
According to missionaustralia.
(21:15):
com.
au, today's stats are that onein six women suffer physical or
sexual violence by a current orformer partner and on average,
one woman every nine days iskilled by a current or former
partner, and the numbers arehigher in Aboriginal communities
or for people living withdisability.
The police say they know who isresponsible and what happened
(21:39):
to Tina.
We just need to find her andthe $250,000 reward is still on
offer for anyone who can helplocate her or her remains.
If you or anyone you know knowanything at all that can help
(22:01):
Lili find her mum, pleasecontact Police Link on 131-444
or call Crime Stoppers on1800-333-000.
Thanks for listening to BOLO.
If this episode has brought upfeelings for you and you need
support, please reach out toLifeline on 1311-14 or RESPECT
(22:29):
on 1800 RESPECT.
You can connect with me onInsta or TikTok at Bolo.
pod or email me Bolo.
pod@ icloud.
com If you're experiencingabuse or violence it's not your
fault.
There are support services thatcan help you If your life is in
(22:51):
danger call 000.
The 24-7 Domestic ViolenceCounselling call the National
Sexual Assault, family andDomestic Violence Counselling
Line on 1800.
Respect that's 1800 737 732.
Thank you.
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