Family of murdered Queensland mother Tina Greer denied an inquest into her death

A coroner will deny the family of a young woman murdered by her bikie boyfriend an inquest into her death despite her daughter’s pleas for justice. 

Tina Greer, 32, dropped her daughter Lili at a friend’s place before continuing on to see her on-and-off boyfriend Les ‘Grumpy’ Sharman in January of 2012. 

She was due back on the Gold Coast the following day to pick up her now 23-year-old daughter but failed to turn up and hasn’t been seen for over a decade. 

Ms Greer’s car was found three days after she disappeared at the end of a dirt track near the Moogerah dam with all of her personal belongings inside. 

A coroner earlier this year concluded she died at the hands of Mr Sharman on or about January 18, somewhere in Clumber in Queensland’s Scenic Rim region. 

However, coroner Christine Roney has rejected her daughter’s request that an inquest be launched into her death after more than 10 years of mystery. 

Ms Roney ruled there would be ‘no public benefit’ and there wasn’t enough evidence that Ms Greer’s death could have been prevented.

She acknowledged the mother-of-one was not adequately supported by authorities as a known domestic violence victim but said even if she had been provided ‘more support’ she wouldn’t have stopped seeing Sharman. 

‘I am always obliged to consider the public benefit of an inquest proceeding and I am unable to see one here based upon the current state of the evidence,’ Ms Roney wrote in a letter to Lili. 

Her daughter argues that by examining the ways her mother was failed by others, the deaths of other domestic violence victims could be prevented. 

‘It’s in everyone’s interest to try to prevent domestic violence,’ she told Nine. 

‘There’s a lot of issues that could be brought to light with this case… there’s so many things that could change.

‘We need an inquest to help guide the police and other authorities on how they can prevent future deaths in similar circumstances.’

Lili recalls seeing Sharman drag her mother down a hallway and the black eyes she sported following suspected beatings from her on-and-off boyfriend. 

About 17 months before her mother’s death, police responded to a witness report that Sharman tried to run her over with his ute. 

Three months later, officers responded to another report Ms Greer was running down a street screaming and bleeding. 

However, when questioned by police, Ms Greer denied Sharman assaulted her and said her bruised and swollen face was from a lawn-mowing accident. 

The report also noted Sharman threatened to kill her if she tried to leave him. 

In her letter to Lili, Ms Roney wrote that even if ‘more support’ had been provided to her mother she may not have left Sharman and his abuse. 

‘While it might seem logical to have done so, matters of emotion and attachment are rarely rational,’ she wrote.

However, Lili refused to give up hope and launched a petition with over 18,000 signatures to help secure her family ‘the justice we deserve’. 

‘I was only 13 when I lost my mother and I’ve been looking for answers for a decade now. We need an inquest to explain the cause of death and throw light on the unresolved suspicious circumstances,’ she wrote. 

‘It is no secret that Australia is facing a domestic violence crisis. The institutions that are meant to protect us are unable to ensure our safety. 

‘The Domestic and Family Violence Death Review and Advisory Board had found that a key issue with the police response was the lack of a thorough investigation and lack of initiative to take additional steps to protect my mother even though the officer had assessed she would likely experience violence in the relationship.

‘Not only could holding an inquest for Tina help prevent future deaths from occurring, but it can also raise awareness and educate the public and the coroner’s oourt about the complexities of domestic violence.

‘Without coronial support, the state sets a poor precedent for past, present and future victims of domestic violence.’

Sharman was a patched Finks bikie member and always considered a person of interest but was never arrested and died in a car crash in 2018. 

Lili said she cried when she heard of his death because Sharman was the last person to see her mother alive.

‘I cried but not for him. I was angry. I just wanted to know what happened to my mum,’ she said in January 2020. 

In the same month, a $250,000 reward was announced for anyone who had information that could lead to a conviction of a person for her mother’s murder. 

Homicide squad detectives searched a property on the Gold Coast hinterland in August 2020 with cadaver dogs and State Emergency Service volunteers. 

However, no trace of the young mother was found. 

Earlier this year, Ms Roney found there were ‘shortcomings’ in the police response to the reports of domestic violence by Mr Sharman against Ms Greer. 

The police reward for information about Greer’s disappearance is still active. 

The $250,000 reward has been widened to include any information which could assist in locating her remains or which leads to the conviction of a person or persons who acted as an accessory to her murder.