The brothers of Cheryl Grimmer have called for a second inquest into the toddler's death, claiming new evidence has emerged since the inquiry eight years ago.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
NSW State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan confirmed on Monday she will review the original coronial file and advise the family of her decision.
Cheryl's brother Ricki Nash formally sought a new inquest, saying the 2011 earlier inquest did not call as a witness the man who confessed in 1971 to abducting and killing her.
It was told that police could not find the man at the time, however former Wollongong detectives Frank Sanvitale and Damian Loone located the man in a matter of hours when they reinvestigated the case in the last two years.
Mr Sanvitale supports the family's call for a new inquest.
In his letter to the coroner, Cheryl's brother Ricki Nash said the family knows Cheryl was murdered within a few hours of her abduction from Fairy Meadow beach on January 12, 1970.
"A 17 year confessed in 1971 to abducting and murdering Cheryl," Mr Nash wrote.
"An inquest was held in 2011 in regards to my sister's matter. Subsequent to this inquest a male was charged with her murder in 2017.
"This male was never placed in front of a coronial court or criminal court and is currently a free man due to a technicality involving ...retrospective law.
"This male who has confessed to my sister Cheryl's murder in 1971 actually adopted his seven-page statement in 2017 when he was arrested by detectives Loone and Sanvitale at Frankston Police Station Victoria.
"In the last two years since Detectives Loone and Sanvitale have reinvestigated Cheryl's murder, our family has become aware that there was a confession and numerous other evidence which was never divulged to me or my family."
The family believes the first inquest was conducted in a "half-hearted manner".
"The coroner at the time was informed by the investigating police that the suspect which police eventually charged could not be located.
Therefore never placed in front of a coroners court.
"Your Honour, our family believes if a second inquest is granted and the suspect is questioned by the coroner this might lead to fresh evidence to be placed in front of the courts."
Cheryl was at the beach with her mother and three older brothers when she vanished from a shower block. Her body was never found.
The 2011, coroner Sharon Freund ruled Cheryl was dead but the cause of her death was unknown.
In the court proceedings against the suspect, Justice Robert Allan Hulme ruled his 1971 police interview was inadmissable because there was no parent, adult or lawyer accompanying the then 17-year-old.
Justice Hulme found the laws applied retrospectively.
On Monday a spokesman for the Coroner's court confirmed to the Mercury an email from Cheryl Grimmer's family had been received.
