WE DID ALL WE COULD
Body found in heartbreaking search for Ruben
A POLICE veteran has spoken of the harrowing conversation in which he told mother Natasha Scott her missing two-year-old son, Ruben, would never come home.
Ruben’s body was discovered late yesterday three days after he went missing on a Cape York station and almost a day after family had been told there was no more hope.
Police inspector Mark Henderson said delivering such heartbreaking news had never gotten easier after 37 years in the service.
THE body of toddler Ruben Scott will be brought to Cairns after a desperate search ended with a grim discovery yesterday.
Two-year-old Ruben had last been seen on Koolatah Station east of Kowanyama, late on Tuesday afternoon.
Yesterday, police divers found a body in a dam, at about 3.30pm.
Far North police Chief Superintendent Brian Huxley said it was not clear how the toddler got to the dam but that was expected to form part of the coroner’s investigation.
“The family, as you can appreciate, are absolutely devastated,” he said.
“The whole community is devastated and you can see the impact in a very modern sense on social media. At least we can bring closure to the family, and Ruben is not lost to the wilderness forever.”
Although it has not yet been determined how Ruben came to be in the dam or how he died, Supt Huxley said they were also considering the dangers of him being exposed to wild animals.
“The area is home to a range of predators including crocodiles, wild pigs, wild dogs,” he said. “It’s a remote part of the state.”
The happy little boy had been his young mum Natasha’s “lifeline”. They had lived together, just the two of them, on Koolatah Station since late last year after she took up the job as station hand.
On Thursday night, Inspector Mark Henderson sat down with the traumatised mum and grandfather Noel Scott and told them Ruben was never coming home.
“You always try and hold on to hope until the end … Everyone wonders if they’ve done enough, they have those thoughts and feelings,” he said.
“They’ve got to have faith that they’ve done their best.”
Emotionally shattered, the 18-year-old said on Wednesday she was “trying to hold myself together” and clung to her father Noel for support after he flew in from Normanton to join the search.
Police divers began the grisly search of the lake nearest the homestead yesterday after the search changed from a hope of rescue to a hope of recovery.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Insp Henderson said, speaking to the Cairns Post from the station where he has spearheaded the search for three days.
“They put their trust in you to hope you can deliver their son back to them and when you can’t it’s so hard.”
Up to 50 people a day were involved in sweeping through the 1700 sq km property.
They included family, friends, neighbours, SES volunteers, indigenous rangers and others who camped out in the property’s various buildings trying to occasionally nap and regroup.
Yesterday Noel reached out with a message of thanks.
“As a family we’d just like to thank a few people who have helped us out along the way with the search for Ruben,” he said.