A Victorian man arrested over the disappearance and suspected murder of Cheryl Grimmer at Fairy Meadow Beach in January 1970 confessed to the killing 15 months later, a court has heard.
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Police claim the man gave investigating officers of the day intimate details of the crime that could only be known by the person responsible for her death.
They include a description of the bathing suit she was wearing, the white towel she was carrying at the time of her disappearance, lines of sight on the day and the route he’d taken from the beach to the approximate area in Balgownie where he claimed to have buried Cheryl’s body.
However, it was revealed in court on Wednesday that police ultimately dismissed the man’s confession at the time because some of the details he had provided were “inconsistent” with what police already knew about the case.
But prosecutor Andrew McMaster said Wollongong detectives who re-opened the case last year had carried out further investigations which had “dispelled” those apparent inconsistencies.
Cheryl Grimmer was just three years old when she went missing from the change room at Fairy Meadow Surf Club on January 12, 1970, after spending the day at the beach with her mother Carole and brothers Stephen, Paul and Ricki (father Vince was away on army duty).
A search of the area by bystanders uncovered nothing. Despite a high profile police investigation in the following months, no arrest were made and the case quickly went cold.
In 2011, attention was refocused on Cheryl’s disappearance when a coroner formally ruled she was dead and recommended the NSW Police Force’s cold case squad look into it.
In late 2016, police received further information that prompted them to turn their attention to the then-teenage boy who had confessed all those years ago.
The man, now in his 60s, was arrested in March. He cannot be publicly identified because he was 17 at the time
He has been in custody for the past two months, however sought bail in court on Wednesday.
Mr McMahon opposed the man’s application for release, claiming the man presented a flight risk given he was not an Australian citizen and still possessed a foreign passport.
He said the case against the man was strong.
“He said [in his 1971 confession] that he’d been staying at the time in a Sydney hostel and caught the train to Fairy Meadow that morning and hung out at the beach,” Mr McMahon said.
“He then provided significant details in relation to the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Cheryl….details of which are confirmed by eye witness accounts….and details which the prosecution says could only be known by the offender.”
The man even took police to an area near the corner of Brokers and Balgownie roads, claiming it was where Cheryl’s body was buried.
The court heard the area was being developed for housing at the time and the man told police “I think this is it but it’s all changed”.
Meantime, Legal Aid lawyer Laura Fennell said it would be argued at trial that her client was "significantly mentally unwell" at the time he made the alleged confession and that anything he said at the time was inadmissible in what was already a “troublingly weak” case.
“The prosecution case relies of the confession and that will be contested,” she said.
She claimed the man had also admitted to killing another person – a prison guard – around the same time, which was found to be untrue.
Ms Fennell said the man’s wife could put up a significant amount of money to secure his release and he would agree to any bail conditions imposed on him.
However, Magistrate Michael Stoddart refused bail, saying there were no bail conditions that could mitigate the risk posed if he was released.
“In my view, on the face of it, there’s a strong case against [the accused] in relation to the charge of murder,” he said.
The matter will return to court next month.