It’s time Dad was set free
CAIRNS woman Christine Greer vividly remembers the shame she felt when she pleaded with her dad to “fess up” to the 1983 Perth murder of Sharon Mason.
Arthur “Paddy” Greer had been in prison for more than two decades after a contentious 1994 retrial convicted him of murdering the 15-yearold schoolgirl, cutting her in two and burying her behind his Mosman Park dress shop.
“I remember saying, ‘Dad, just tell them that you did it, just say you’re remorseful. You have done your time. Then you’re out of here’,” she told Perth newspaper The Sunday Times from Cairns, where she works in the security business.
“I’ll never forget his reaction. He then said, ‘I can’t believe you would say that to me’.
“I felt ashamed I had asked him to admit to something he didn’t do. That was hard to take, coming from Dad.
“But I knew exactly what he meant. He brought me up like that: if you believe in something strongly, then you have to hold your head up, walk tall and stand by it.”
The Prisoners Review Board will soon consider whether to recommend Greer for release after more than 25 years behind bars.
In October, distinguished QC Malcolm McCusker wrote to Greer saying it appeared “significant evidence” was withheld from his retrial and offered to work pro bono.
Ms Greer admits he can be a difficult man whose earlier record for sexual assaults in Ireland and attempted murder in NSW cannot be ignored.
But she says her family was subtly manipulated into giving evidence against him.
“Police said things to the family, like, well, if it wasn’t Paddy it must have been (my brother) John (who was also questioned over the murder), we never realised then that there was another option – perhaps it was neither of them,” Christine said.
“Looking back on it now, it was very subtly done, so before my family knew it, they were in positions that were not really the choice of their own.”
The Crown’s case was entirely circumstantial.
Her mother Joan, sister Sue and brother John gave Crown evidence in the retrial. Christine testified for the defence.
Much testimony focused on a rubber mask found with the remains and whether family members had seen masks in the shop. John Greer told police he sometimes wore masks in pranks.
Arthur is now aged 81, in Acacia Prison and in poor health, which adds urgency to Ms Greer’s hopes the truth will soon come out.
“They just picked Dad and built a case. They could portray him as a killer because of his past,” she said.
“Because he didn’t admit guilt and show remorse, they can’t give him parole. Why doesn’t he have the right to say, ‘I am innocent’?”
She understands the anger Sharon’s mum, April Fawcett, feels towards her father.
“But remember, this could happen to anyone,” she said.
“It could be your brother, your father, your son, your daughter. We just need to get to the bottom of it, not only so Dad can be free, but for Sharon to rest in peace.”
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