Beach night of f ear lives on
A SCENE from Romper Stomper visited this idyllic beachside hamlet in North Queensland and nearly one year on, there’s only one fact everyone will agree on – no one’s life will be the same.
The truth in Alva Beach is so extraordinary, it would scarcely have been believed. Except it was captured in a frantic Triple 0-call made by a scared young man in a darkened house.
Family and friends believe without the audio of that call, this wisp of a lad, Dean Webber, would almost certainly be in jail, accused of double murder.
When dawn broke after NRL Grand Final night, two men were dead and a town was suffering wounds that locals say will take decades to heal. Loved ones of Mr Webber, a 20-year-old diesel fitter, have said they fear he’d be in jail without the 50-minute tape.
In one of the nation’s most bizarre double fatalities, the former Air Force cadet is ruled to have acted in self-defence to protect himself and an injured young woman, Candice Locke – a stranger to Mr Webber – who had banged on his door, crying in pain, in the dead of the night.
No charges have been laid against Mr Webber and there is no suggestion he will be charged.
Families of the two victims, Ms Locke’s boyfriend, Tom Davy, 27, and Alva Beach father-of-three Corey Christensen, 37, are demanding answers.
A News Corp Australia special investigation has found police are yet to hand up a final brief of evidence and forensic reports to the coroner on the two stabbing deaths on September 30 last year.
Detectives have provided the Triple-0 recording to the victims’ families and interviewed scores of revellers who attended a booze-fuelled post-grand Final party, to piece together the final moments of the stabbings.
Dean’s father, Brett Webber, a well-respected builder and former Ayr surf club president, said there was still “a lot of raw emotion”.
He spoke publicly for the first time to express his family’s support for those affected as his son grapples with the night’s horror.
“Everyone’s still on edge,’’ the father said. “it’ll all come up again on NRL Grand Final night.”
Dean Webber has been in therapy since the ordeal.
Queensland Police and the Queensland Ambulance Service are likely to face criticism over the response and 50minute delay to attend the violent home invasion before the two stabbing victims bled to death in the street.
Ms Locke, 30, an animal rescue volunteer, had banged on Mr Webber’s door before midnight begging for help after breaking her shoulder in a high-speed fall off a fourwheel buggy on the beach.
A drunk Ms Locke, crying and screaming in pain, reportedly told him, “don’t let them get me, they are bad people” as a group of men twice turned up at the house rattling the windows and yelling at her to come out. Mr Webber made two desperate calls for help and was first told to “see how it goes” by a solo officer at the closest police station – in Ayr, 15 minutes away – before he called the Triple-0 hotline.
In the unexplained violent home invasion, three men ripped the front door off its hinges and stormed the house, reportedly saying, “we’ve got you now, you little prick” as they throttled and punched Mr Webber.
Police have alleged Mr Webber picked up a 15cm knife in the melee, but told investigators he was unaware he’d stabbed anyone until he saw “blood on his hands”.
According to police, NSW aircraft mechanic Mr Davy and Mr Christensen were stabbed inside before both staggered outside.
Burdekin MP Dale Last said delays were only fuelling anger between families and “rumour and innuendo”.
Mr Last demanded police investigation and quest be fast-tracked.
“It has destroyed four families, shattered the tiny coastal hamlet of 250 people in Alva Beach, and rocked the entire community of the Burdekin district to its soul,’’ he said.
Queensland’s Department of Justice and Attorney-general said the deaths were first reported to northern coroner Nerida Wilson on October 2, 2018.
“The coroner is awaiting the provision of forensic reports and the police brief of evidence before considering any date for the inquest,’’ a spokeswoman said. the in