Morant v Terry Ryan (The State Coroner)

Case [2022] QDC 134

DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

Morant v Terry Ryan (The State Coroner) [2022] QDC 134

PARTIES:

ANGUS MORANT

(applicant)

v

TERRY RYAN (THE STATE CORONER)

(respondent)

FILE NO:

BD 3189/21

DIVISION:

Civil

PROCEEDING:

Application – s 30(6) Coroners Act 2003 (Qld)

ORIGINATING COURT:

District Court of Queensland, Brisbane

DELIVERED ON:

10 June 2022

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

16 May 2022

JUDGE:

Loury QC DCJ

ORDER:

The application is refused

CATCHWORDS:

CORONER – INQUESTS AND INQUIRIES – where an application to hold an inquest in circumstances where the State Coroner has refused to do so – whether inquest would be in the public interest

LEGISLATION:

Coroners Act 2003 (Qld) s 28, s 30(6)

CASES:

R v Morant [2018] QSC 251

R v Morant (2020) 286 A Crim R 148
COUNSEL:

D Wells and M Thomas for the applicant

E Cooper for the Attorney-General of Queensland as amicus curiae
SOLICITORS:

Tamborine Mountain Law & Canungra Law for the applicant

Crown Solicitor for the Attorney-General of Queensland as amicus curiae

Introduction

  1. Jennifer Morant died of carbon monoxide poisoning on 30 November 2014, suffered in her car. Her husband, Graham Morant was convicted by a jury of counselling and aiding her suicide. Mr Graham Morant’s conviction and sentence were the subject of an appeal to the Court of Appeal. On 19 June 2020 the appeals were dismissed. On 30 July 2020 the Deputy State Coroner issued her formal findings pursuant to s 45 of the Coroners Act 2003 (Qld) (‘the Act’) following a coronial investigation. She did not order that an inquest be held.

  2. On 13 August 2020 the applicant (the son of Graham Morant and step-son of Jennifer Morant) applied to the State Coroner pursuant to s 30(4)(a) of the Act for an order that an inquest be held. On 24 November 2021 the State Coroner informed the applicant’s solicitor that he was not persuaded that it was in the public interest for an inquest to be held and declined to hold an inquest.

  3. The applicant, Angus Morant now applies to this Court pursuant to s 30(6) of the Act for an order that an inquest be held.

    The statutory framework

  4. Section 30(6) of the Act provides for an application to be made to the District Court when the State Coroner has refused an application for an inquest. Such an order can only be made if the Court is satisfied that it is in the public interest to hold the inquest.[1]

    [1] Coroners Act 2003 (Qld) s 30(8) (‘Coroners Act’).

  5. Section 28 of the Act provides that for a coroner determining whether to hold an inquest, he/she similarly must be satisfied that it is in the public interest to hold the inquest. Section 28(2) provides for what the coroner must have regard to in deciding whether it is in the public interest to hold an inquest. It provides –

    (2)In deciding whether it is in the public interest to hold an inquest, the coroner may consider –

    (a)the extent to…

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Morant v Terry Ryan (The State Coroner) [2022] QDC 134
Case
[2022] QDC 134
Decision Date

CaseChat Overview and Summary

The case of Morant v Terry Ryan (The State Coroner) involves an application for an inquest by the applicant, who believes that someone other than or in addition to Graham Morant was involved in Jennifer Morant's suicide. The application was refused by the State Coroner, and the applicant sought review of that decision. The court had to determine whether the application for an inquest was in the public interest. The applicant argued that new evidence from Peter Batten, a real estate agent, indicated that Lynette Lucas, the sister of Mrs Morant, had lied in her trial evidence out of a consciousness of guilt. This evidence, the applicant contended, warranted an inquest. However, the court found that Mr Batten's affidavit did not establish that Ms Lucas was deliberately dishonest. The court noted that Ms Lucas was likely seeking information after her sister's death, especially given the suspicious circumstances surrounding Mrs Morant's death and Graham Morant's alleged involvement.

The court considered the evidence presented and concluded that the applicant had not demonstrated that it was more probable than not that someone else was present when Mrs Morant died. The court also took into account the findings of the Court of Appeal in R v Morant, which summarised the evidence at the trial and the issues that arose. The court found that the evidence did not support the applicant's claim that an inquest was in the public interest. The court held that the application for an inquest was refused. The court's reasoning was based on the lack of new evidence that would warrant an inquest and the absence of a demonstration that it was more probable than not that someone other than Graham Morant was involved in Mrs Morant's death. The orders of the court were that the application for an inquest was refused.

Orders

Orders of the court

The application is refused

Background

Background to the litigation

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Evidence

Evidence Before The Court

There is nothing in the evidence that the applicant points to that makes it more probable than not that Mrs Morant did not have the strength to start the generator, and thus another person must have been present when she died.New evidence of Peter Batten The applicant contends that the new evidence of Mr Peter Batten, a real estate agent at Tamborine Mountain, demonstrates that Ms Lynette Lucas lied in her evidence in the trial of Graham Morant and that she did so out of a consciousness of guilt. This is said to be a matter that requires an inquest. This was material which was before the State Coroner. Mr Batten had previously had some engagement with Graham and Jennifer Morant, having showed them, in his capacity as a real estate agent, the property, Flame Tree on 20 February 2012. Ms Lucas was the sister of Mrs Morant. She gave extensive evidence in the trial as to things that Mrs Morant had said to her about Graham Morant,[30] which was evidence of his encouragement of her to commit suicide. Mrs Morant told Ms Lucas that she had become a born-again Christian in Graham Morant’s religion. He had strong views about the forthcoming end of the world which he referred to as “the raptures and Armageddon”. The raptures were a:“…prelude to the end of the world and they could come in different forms and they could be rats and fireballs and things coming out of the heavens and they are attacking people and you’re running away.”[31] [30] See ibid [28]-[37] and R v Morant (n 9) [143]-[161].[31] R v Morant (n 9) [144]. Relevant to the applicant’s argument, is evidence that Ms Lucas gave that Mrs Morant had said to her that Graham Morant was going to buy a property called Flame Tree with the insurance moneys (that he would receive upon her death), which was going to be a communal environment he could use as a place of safety on the coming of the raptures and Armageddon. Ms Lucas’ statement to police dated 5 May 2015 contains detail that, in addition to being told about Graham Morant’s intended purchase of Flame Tree, that Mrs Morant drove her past the property during one of their meetings. Ms Lucas described it as a “two story bungalow type house set on a few acres”. Mr Batten has sworn an affidavit dated 18 November 2020 in which he says that, on an unknown date “not that many months since Mrs Morant died” Mrs Morant’s sister, (who introduced herself as Lyn) and a man got out of a car in front of Mr Batten’s house. Lyn introduced herself and said that Mrs Morant had mentioned a place called Flame Tree. Lyn started asking him questions about Flame Tree which he considered was her “fishing for information”. Mr Batten thought from this conversation that Lyn did not know where Flame Tree was, contrary to her statement to police of 5 May 2015. Mr Batten’s account does not evidence in my view, that Ms Lucas was lying in her evidence at the trial. His bare opinion that Ms Lucas did not know where Flame Tree was could not establish deliberate dishonesty on her part. Mr Batten thought Ms Lucas was fishing for information which is likely what she was doing. She sought out a real estate agent who had some engagement with Mrs Morant and Graham Morant about the property, Flame Tree and who was a reputed agent in Tamborine Mountain. Ms Lucas was likely searching for answers or attempting to elicit information in the period of time after her own sister’s death, particularly given the comments that Mrs Morant had made about Graham Morant’s pressuring of her to suicide. It appears from the evidence before me that the Lucas’ were suspicious of Graham Morant’s involvement in Mrs Morant’s death as it was Mr Paul Lucas (Ms Lucas’ husband) who initially contacted police three days after Mrs Morant’s death informing them that he believed that Graham Morant was involved in or had encouraged Mrs Morant’s suicide.[32] [32] Affidavit of Biljana Stojanovic affirmed 21 January 2022, exhibit BS-5 Supplementary Form 1 at page 21. See also exhibit BS-3 page 16.

Decision

Reasons for decision

The submissions made by the applicant demonstrate that he believes that somebody other than or in addition to Graham Morant aided Jennifer Morant’s suicide at the scene of her death, or that somebody caused her death. That is the basis for his argument that it is in the public interest for there to be an inquest. The State Coroner’s Decision The State Coroner had regard to the decision of the Court of Appeal in R v Morant[9] which extensively summarised the evidence at trial and the issues which arose. That decision relevantly revealed the following facts. [9] (2020) 286 A Crim R 148 (‘R v Morant’). On 30 November 2014 Mrs Morant was found dead in her car by police at 9.50 pm. It was parked in a street more than 10 kilometres from her home. The doors and windows of the car were all closed. The engine was not running. Mrs Morant was seated in the drivers seat. She was wearing sunglasses. A “stick it” note with the words “do not resuscitate me” written on it was found stuck next to the automatic gear lever. Her husband, Graham Morant had contacted police at 8.02 pm to advise that he had returned home from church to find a note from his wife which indicated that she intended to do herself some harm. When a police officer, Senior Constable Edwards attended the scene he opened the car door and smelt a strong odour of carbon monoxide. The back seat of the car was folded down. There was a Ryobi brand petrol generator in the boot of the car. It was not running. It was cold to the touch. There was a “little bit of petrol”[10] still in the bottom of the generator. [10] Ibid [100]. The forensic examination of the scene revealed that the generator switch was in the “on” position.[11] A tape lift sample of DNA was taken from the handle of the generator. The analysis of that DNA sample revealed a mixed DNA profile, with more than one contributor present. The DNA profile was greater than 100 billion times more likely to have occurred if Mrs Morant contributed DNA rather than if she had not and approximately four times more likely to have occurred if Graham Morant had not contributed rather than if he did. The scientist, Ms Josie Entwistle, accepted that there was a possibility the tape had picked up two separate pieces of DNA on the handle of the generator. It was possible that Mrs Morant had placed her hand on the handle of the generator but that her hand already contained mixed DNA through coming into contact with some other object or a person.[12] [11] Ibid [103]. [12] Ibid [104]. An autopsy confirmed that Mrs Morant had died of acute carbon monoxide poisoning. The autopsy report also refers to there being seven blue coloured bruises on the medial aspect of the mid-right upper arm measuring up to 10 millimetres in diameter. That finding is recorded under the heading “Signs of recent injury”.[13] [13]Affidavit of Biljana Stojanovic affirmed 21 January 2022, exhibit BS-7 page 27. The medical records accessed by the pathologist indicated that Mrs Morant had chronic thoracic spine pain which was not assisted by surgery. She had a T8 compression fracture for which she had a fusion and vertebroplasty in 2011. She had been prescribed large doses of opioids since May 2013. She had a history of depression and anxiety.

Ratio Decidendi

Legal Principle Established

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