RETURNING to the Coroners Court one year after bringing an inquest into her sister’s disappearance to a halt, Lyn Ireland is hoping for closure.
A coronial inquest will resume today to try to determine what happened to Bendigo teenagers Maureen Braddy and Allan Whyte, who were last seen in 1968.
The case was brought before the coroner in March 2012 but ended abruptly when Lyn Ireland said she saw her father and another man holding a bloodied body the night her sister Maureen disappeared.
A homicide investigation was launched before the matter was directed to return to the Coroner’s Court for a five-day inquiry this week.
Ms Ireland claimed at the inquest last year to have seen her father Stanley Braddy and his friend Ted Beasley “holding something’’ on the evening of November 23, 1968.
“As they got closer (I saw) what they were holding,” she said.
“(It was) a young person. I could not tell who it was because it was covered with blood... what I believe to be blood now.”
Since the inquest was brought to a halt, Ms Ireland said it had been a long and difficult period that’s put her life on hold.
She said she was still working hard to raise funds for a barrister but was hopeful of a “positive outcome”.
“I’m looking forward to putting it all out there instead of locking up this stuff after all these years,” she said.
“It has been extremely tough. It’s pretty much divided the family. But I’m not going to give up now... To me the truth will come out. If the truth is told in that courtroom it will be a positive outcome.”
Ms Ireland said she had received strong support from close family and a number friends of her sister Maureen who will travel from interstate to attend the inquest in Bendigo. The hearing will continue from March 18 to 22 under deputy state coroner Iain West.
