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A former senior police officer who responded to a bloody double homicide that followed a night of confusion and drunkenness on a North Queensland beach has criticised the investigation and coronial inquest as inadequate.
The then-acting sergeant, Justin Luke, has thrown his support behind the families of two men killed at Alva Beach in 2018, and a four-year legal fight to have the case re-examined.
“I think they’ve been ripped off,” he says.
“I think certain police didn’t want me to say what I had to say. I’m not trying to tarnish the police … but there are unanswered questions.”
Luke’s comments are part of a joint 60 Minutes and Nine Podcasts investigation, in which the parents of Thomas Davy and Corey Christensen demand a second inquest into their sons’ deaths.
Davy, 27, and father-of-three Christensen, 37, were stabbed by then-19-year-old Dean Webber at his Alva Beach property after a series of confusing and drunken events.
It is now alleged Webber’s genuine and frightened account was believed without proper consideration of forensic evidence that appeared to contradict parts of his story of self-defence.
There is no suggestion Webber’s account was untruthful, rather that the evidence has never been tested.
The families of Corey Christensen, 37, and Thomas Davy, 27, are demanding a second inquest.Credit: Facebook
One former magistrate and coroner has derided the first inquest in 2020 as an “injustice”.
The inquest controversially excused Webber from being cross-examined about inconsistencies, due to his trauma from the night.
“It’s very unusual, and I’ve never seen circumstances like this before,” says David Heilpern, a retired magistrate of 22 years and now dean of law at Southern Cross University.
“The inability to test the evidence of the knife wielder has left a big gap.
“The coronial inquest is designed to ensure that as much light as possible is shone on these dark places and without testing the evidence, it’s hard to see how that primary function has been fulfilled.”
Getting to the bottom of exactly what happened on the night of September 30, 2018, has been hindered by lies, drunken confusion and possible embellishment.
David Heilpern, a retired magistrate and now dean of law at Southern Cross University.Credit: 60 Minutes
It began with Davy travelling to Alva Beach with his new girlfriend of just a few weeks, 29-year-old Candice Locke.
After they met Christensen and his local mate, Louis Bengoa, by chance, they were invited to an outdoor NRL grand final party.
During the party, Locke became drunk and fought with a frustrated Davy, who left to sleep it off in his car.
She then went on a buggy ride with the also intoxicated Bengoa, during which she was either pushed off or fell off, breaking her arm in three places.
Locke then hid from Bengoa, before he found Christensen to help. She got back on the buggy with both of them before running away because, she says, they were not taking her injuries seriously.
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She banged on the door of Webber – a complete stranger – before telling him bad people were out to hurt her.
By the time Bengoa and Christensen found Davy to try to get Locke out of Webber’s residence, tensions were so heightened that Webber armed himself with a knife, called Triple Zero on three occasions, and claimed the men were yelling menacing threats.
When they forced open his door, a confrontation ended with Webber stabbing both Christensen and Davy.
The scenario was made worse by the fact police took almost an hour to respond because they were not taking Webber’s concerns seriously enough.
Police ultimately ruled the actions to be self-defence and did not press charges. But central to the doubts being raised now is that Webber’s claim that three men burst inside and attacked him is contradicted by the forensic blood evidence, which only places Davy inside with certainty.
Dean Webber was 19 on the night of the deaths at his Alva Beach property.
Not only that, but Webber is the only person who says he heard threats.
The argument from the Davy and Christensen families and their lawyers is that Webber might have stabbed Christensen first, just outside his door, and then Davy may have retaliated.
Speculation aside, Luke – one of the first police on scene that night, who also helped conduct Webber’s police station interview – believed the investigation failed to get to the whole truth.
“I didn’t feel like we were asking all the right questions,” the former acting sergeant said.
“I think whilst you have an opportunity to interview a suspect, some hard questions should be asked.”
He said Webber’s account was not sufficiently challenged.
“Forensics hadn’t been through the house,” Luke said.
Justin Luke retired from Queensland Police.Credit: 60 Minutes
“We hadn’t considered the blood outside. There are so many things that I think as police should have been considered before any decisions were made.
“Two people have lost their lives, and it seems like an opinion was formed very quickly, and it just seems like everything had to fit into that opinion.”
There was no suggestion Webber was lying, only that his story was not tested to the point one would expect from an investigation into two deaths, let alone a coronial inquest.
Gavin Neal, the lead detective on the case, insisted there was nothing more to learn. Now retired, he said Webber’s story checked out.
“We can’t just go, ‘well, this may have happened or this may have happened’,” he says. “We’ve got to be able to prove these things beyond reasonable doubt.
“The evidence wasn’t there. I think when you roll it all out, he had a pristine case of self-defence.”
Davy’s parents, Neil and Heather, said they never had a fair day in court.
“It’s been like a domino effect of failures right from the start,” Neil Davy says.
“We need the law to work. We need this to come to a proper outcome. It needs to go to court, and the people in that court need to study what happened.”
Heather Davy said that was what the family wanted from the beginning.
“We grow up in Australia thinking the justice system will work for you if something tragic happens,” she says. “Well, it doesn’t.”
Listen to Death At The Door, a joint 60 Minutes and Nine Podcasts investigation, on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or watch the episode on 9Now.
