Media release – Grass Roots Action Network Tasmania, 17 February 2025
Westbrook Siblings Lead Public to Doorstep of Corrupt State Amidst 10 Year Fight for Justice
The family of deceased St Helens teenager Eden Westbrook will lead the members of the public before Tasmanian authorities in vigils across the state this Tuesday 18th Feb to mark a decade of botched and corrupted investigations into the 15 year old’s untimely death.
Eden’s siblings Sky and Dontay will speak to the public and long-term supporters at Hobart’s Parliament Lawns from 7.30 AM, while parents Jason and Amanda Westbrook will hold a concurrent vigil at Fishermens Memorial Park in St Helens – where Eden’s body was found hanging from a tree on 18 February 2015. Both intend to honour Eden’s life and renew calls for an inquest to be opened into the much-publicised case.
In the eyes of supporters, the handling of the investigation has been marred by woeful inadequacy, neglect and failure to perform proper due diligence. From the ruling of the death as a suicide despite the inconsistencies that emerged prior to the ruling to the mishandling of evidence by police; the removal of autopsy photos from the coronial file to the Coroner’s Office’s refusal to release these photos to an independent expert with over 50 years’ experience; the ongoing failure to question the witness who was last to see Eden alive to the withholding of ‘missing’ CCTV footage from the family.
Perhaps most worryingly, however, was the overseeing of the case by local serial paedophile policeman, Paul Reynolds – who was found to have sexually abused young people in the area for over 30 years while on duty in an independent investigation by former war crimes prosecutor Regina Weiss.
Despite this, Coroner Olivia McTaggart delivered a verdict concluding “no suspicious circumstances” the September following Eden’s death – refusing to hold an inquest, with request to reopen the investigation continuously denied in the wake of compelling new evidence and witnesses.
The handling of this investigation has garnered criticism from millions globally tuning into popular podcast Our Little Edey; private investigation by high-profile Sydney Lawyer Peter Lavac; special investigation by 9News’ Liz Hayes, For the Love of Eden; and, most recently, Senator Jacqui Lambie’s address to Federal Parliament.
Lavac, initially believing the investigation was ‘badly bungled by the cops’ now believes that it was ‘something more sinister’ after a number of witnesses came forward following the release of his podcast Garden of Eden.
“It is impossible that Eden, who was 156cm and weighed a mere 45kg could have dragged the heavy fishing rope from the wharf she used to publicly hang herself and get to the top of the tree.” Mr Lavac said in relation to Coroner Olivia Mactaggert’s report detailing “no available evidence” regarding the route taken by Eden to the location of her death.
Last year, Mr Lavac said a whistleblower approached with more damning evidence the teenager was murdered – including information passed on by a psychologist that suggests that a man in a position of power was sexually grooming Eden before her death, and another witness claiming that Eden was the ‘victim of paedophile sexual abuse’.
Further, witnesses interviewed by Mr Lavac alleged that her hands were tied, and that Eden’s siblings found that she had suffered shattered teeth and facial bruising while applying makeup for her funeral. Forensic evidence in Eden’s case was also sparse and inadequate due to police cremating her body, phone, and the rope without proper forensic evidence taking.
Mr Lavac has accused Tasmanian police of a ‘cover up’ – claiming that he believes Reynolds might have been motivated to promptly shut down the investigation into Eden’s death to steer investigators away from the St Helens area, where Reynolds was an active paedophile.
Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie has similarly taken aim at the Tasmanian Police, issuing a damning speech to federal Parliament in June last year claiming that she believed Eden was ‘probably murdered’, and that the Tasmanian Police had made a “hasty decision to treat what should have been the highly suspicious death of a vulnerable child as a suicide.”
Eden’s family are now calling for an open and transparent public inquiry into Eden’s death and the investigation that took place.
“Today marks ten years since the day my older sister’s life was taken far too young,” says Eden’s younger sibling Sky Westbrook.
“Since this day my family have been plagued with grief while fighting an unrested battle with a system that is supposed to instill justice, a police force which is supposed to protect its community. During this time of fighting, I have seen beautiful acts of courage and bravery by the people who are willing to fight an unjust system rather than stand idly and watch as it neglects members of our community. But I have also seen acts of cowardice from the systems that were meant to stand as a pillar of strength for their people. I see this in the institutions that have withheld information from my family for ten years, in the evidence connected to Eden’s case that disappeared, in the state funeral they held for a known paedophile, senior sergeant Paul Reynolds who signed off Eden’s case, and in the fact they cannot bring themselves to take accountability even when they have done unspeakable damage.”
Younger sibling Dontay Westbrook, who will also be speaking to the vigil at Hobart’s Parliament Lawns on Tuesday, echoed Sky’s calls for justice, dignity, and respect in death for all Tasmanians.
“This right was stripped from Eden and it can never be returned. To this day my parents are still plagued by the image of their daughter, their little girl hanging in that tree,” said Dontay.
“Eden was so delicate and innocent. She was a child and at the very least a child deserves to be treated not as a hindrance for the police to deal with, but as a personand in Eden’s case as a young girl who had just died in suspicions and tragic circumstances.”
“Eden wherever you are if anywhere at all… please let the world after your death be filled with the warmth and light you didn’t have that night. I can’t change the past but I, with others, can make sure the truth is finally revealed and people are held accountable for their omissions and wrongdoings.
“Eden will never truly rest until she has justice and nor will we.”
Our Little Edey – The Eden Westbrook Story – Podcast – Podtail
