Inquest for indigenous teenager’s death adjourned after emergence of new evidence

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A coronial inquest into the death of an indigenous teenager has been adjourned for six months after possible new evidence emerged. Almost four decades on from his death, the adjournment adds to the family's long wait for answers.

Transcript

00:00For 36 years, the family of Mark Haynes have questioned what happened to the Gomoroi teenager

00:06on the day he died.

00:08Now, their wait for answers has become even longer.

00:11I am disappointed, to say the least.

00:15Mark Haynes' body was discovered on train tracks south of Tamworth in January 1988.

00:21At the time, police concluded the 17-year-old was responsible for his own death, and a subsequent

00:27coronial inquest returned an open finding.

00:30This month, a fresh coronial inquest was launched, sparked by the ABC podcast Blood on the Tracks.

00:36Ten days in, it's now been adjourned for six months.

00:39There's a lot more evidence to go through, and it's quite important that all relevant

00:46issues are fully examined.

00:49Two witnesses at the inquest said one of Mark's close friends, Glenn Mannion, had made admissions

00:54about the circumstances of his death.

00:56Rodney Lavender told the court on the morning Mark's body was found, Mr Mannion told him

01:01Stoney is dead, and I think I killed him.

01:04Mr Mannion's former partner testified that in the mid-1990s, he told her about a white

01:10towel being placed under Mark's head, and a box being left on the tracks.

01:14I've never forgotten those things, ever.

01:17The towel and the box.

01:19It's something you just don't forget.

01:21Mr Mannion denied both allegations in court.

01:24The inquest is set to return to Tamworth for a further five days of hearings in late

01:29October, but Deputy Coroner Harriet Graham has warned the further dates may not be the

01:35last.

01:36Thank you very much for being with me and my family on this long and arduous journey.

01:45A journey with no clear end in sight.

01:47Max Tillman, ABC News, Tamworth.

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