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Perth, |
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Judge orders new probe on mystery death
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A rare decision this week to overturn a suicide verdict in the Supreme Court is a victory for the parents of Romuald Zak (25). "When we heard the decision we were overwhelmed," said his relieved father Jan. "We have always thought he was the victim of foul play." The suspicions of Mr Zak's parents were aroused when they looked critically at pathology reports and photographs. "Something was not right about it all," Mr Zak said. Supreme Court Justice Michael Murray this week made an order quashing the suicide finding at the original inquest. He ordered State Coroner Alistair Hope to re-open the inquest or re-assign the inquiry to the extent necessary to re-examine the original findings. Romuald Zak, a fit triathlete, had been a patient at Graylands for only a few weeks when he disappeared from the hospital one Tuesday in May 1997. A week later his body was found under a casuarina tree in a grove off John XXIII Avenue, outside the fence of the maximum-security Franklin centre. "We were told he had taken a drug overdose, hanged himself from a tree, then had fallen to the ground," Mr Zak said. "We were in a fog. We had lost our son. Our minds were spinning. It was not until months after the inquest that we looked at it in a different way. "There was bruising on his body. And the chemistry tests said there were no unusual drugs found in his system. "They told us the traces of drugs disappear after three or four days. "So we said, 'how come 3000-year-old Egyptian mummies still have traces of drugs in them?' It was not true. "We asked the police: 'how could he bruise after he was dead, if his heart had stopped?' "I said, 'you must be bloody joking'. "But they said the case had already closed. "We talked about it every day, tried to work everything out. "We thought, 'this is impossible. He couldn't have died that way'. "On the Sunday before he went missing I had dinner with him in Claremont. He was a bit slow because of the tranquilizers he had taken, but he was just normal. "I was shocked when they told us he had killed himself soon afterwards." A rope was found tied to a tree branch. Mr Zac was not dressed in his own clothes - the owner of the clothing has not been identified. His credit card had been used. The original inquest found that his death was by suicide. The Zac family wrote to and personally bothered everyone they could think of, including the federal attorney-general. The family engaged international forensic experts, and lawyers working unpaid prepared a file for the Supreme Court. In a rare move last week, they convinced the Supreme Court to re-open the investigation. Romauld's mother Danuta has been tireless in her search for answers. But she was in Poland visiting a sick relative when the breakthrough Supreme Court decision came through on Tuesday. "When I told her she was very excited - she opened a bottle of champagne," Mr Zac said. "If not for her it would not be happening - I have been very busy running my painting and decorating business, but we talked about it together all the time." Romauld was a clerk at a city law firm before leaving to study and work as a house painter. His farewell card from the legal firm was signed by Ciara Glennon (a victim of the Claremont serial killer).
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