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Thread: Amber Michelle Haigh, 17yrs, Suspected Murder, Harden, NSW, 2002.

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    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    Amber Michelle Haigh, 17yrs, Suspected Murder, Harden, NSW, 2002.

    From the Australian Missing Person's Register. The description of Stephen King-esque scarecrows & mysterious giant spiders made the NSW town of Harden sound like a dry, inland Aussie version of Haven.


    From the land of fear, loss and dark secrets

    Author: Eamonn Duff eduff@fairfaxmedia.com.au Date: 06/12/2009 Publication: Sun Herald

    Welcome to Harden, a shire shrouded in mystery. One woman is dead, another missing, and somehow they are linked, writes Eamonn Duff.

    Scarecrows stalk the main street, false eyes vacantly scanning this middle-of-nowhere town. They prop against power poles, signposts, almost anything in Harden that stands still long enough.

    As a symbolic connection to the local spring-time show, the scarecrows are silent sentinels for the town and all within. Old-timers assure they are temporary. Something to do with the children.

    An oddity, perhaps, but trivial in a country town where unanswered questions hang like dark clouds.

    One woman is dead and one woman is missing.

    Something bad - something awful - has happened here.

    Even the police are predicting "a story to unfold like no other".

    The story involves Janelle Goodwin, a pregnant 29-year-old who was shot in the head.

    Another central character is orchard worker Robert Geeves, who admits dumping her naked body in a wheelbarrow.

    Plot twists and turns bring us to teenager Amber Haigh who, like so many others, was lured to this pocket of south-west NSW by the promise of work as a fruit picker. It was her first stint away from mother Ros and their Sydney home. She made the 350-kilometre trek to stay with her great aunt at Kingsvale, a village on the fringes of Harden shire.

    Concern nagged at her mum.

    Amber was 17 years old but, developmentally delayed; she viewed life through the gaze of a prepubescent. Although she could manage day-to-day tasks, in her mother's words, she was vulnerable and easily led.

    Amber never grew up.

    "I always worried for my daughter's well-being," Ros explains. "When she left, I was comforted by the fact that she was able to stay with an aunty ... I felt safer knowing that."

    No one in the family feels safe any more. Not in Harden, not anywhere. Not since Amber disappeared from the shire seven years ago, leaving behind her baby son and a litany of loss.

    "I feel helpless, frustrated, angry, hurt and upset because I think someone has taken my daughter away," says Ros, who asks for her surname and suburb to be withheld.

    What she would give for a full night's sleep. "I am constantly thinking about Amber. Every day it goes over and over in my head.

    I always ask why."

    Amber never knew Janelle Goodwin. They met their fates almost a decade apart, but they do have place and one person in common -the bed of Harden shire orchard worker Robert Geeves.

    Ms Goodwin was first. At the age of 29, and pregnant to Mr Geeves, her body was discovered in a barrow beneath a tarp inside a shearing shed behind his Kingsvale farmhouse on June 21, 1993.

    She was naked, tied from ankles to throat, wrapped in bed sheets with a shopping bag over her head. She had been shot through the nose at close range with a .22 rifle.

    Police were called a day after the shooting. Mr Geeves confessed to putting her body in the shed. They had been drinking. They argued, then struggled. The gun went off. He panicked. He cleaned the scene.

    It was a terrible accident.

    Mr Geeves was charged with murder, pleading not guilty. A magistrate discharged him in Cootamundra Local Court due to insufficient evidence. The ruling meant the case could be prosecuted in the future.

    And it was. Police reapplied the heat after Mr Geeves and wife Anne contacted police on June 19, 2002, to report that Amber Haigh -another of his live-in lovers - had vanished in the night.

    The resurrected investigation led to Mr Geeves being tried in the NSW Supreme Court over Ms Goodwin's death. Prosecutors were confident: they had ballistics advice and fresh witness statements. The trial took more than three years. Mr Geeves was found not guilty of murder. The jury members agreed: it was a terrible accident.

    Ms Goodwin's death was not the first time Mr Geeves, now 49, had been acquitted of serious charges.

    In 1986, two 13-year-old girls from nearby Young failed to return home from school. They were missing for more than a fortnight.

    When they finally resurfaced, one filed a police statement alleging she had been kept prisoner in a wheat silo and was sexually assaulted by Mr Geeves. The other teenager contradicted the claims.

    Again, he was cleared.

    Mr Geeves maintains his innocence in all matters, and The Sun-Herald does not suggest otherwise.

    We arrive in Harden on a steaming day full of small, sticky flies.

    Driving through the scarecrow honour guard, we run head-first into another Stephen King-style moment: giant spiders have invaded the town's only motel. They are monsters, like tennis balls even in curls of death, and we're told that no one, including the local pest control man, have seen their kind before.

    Admittedly, as we check in, it is tempting to chase riddles of spiders and scarecrows, but somewhere within the shire boundaries are clues to a far more sinister mystery.

    "We believe something bad has happened to Amber Haigh," says local area police commander Keith Price, appealing for any assistance that may lead to a breakthrough. "Someone in this community has information that can end this once and for all."

    About 3500 live in Harden shire, although the population swells considerably in this corner of the "Golden Triangle" - so called due to its favourable conditions for growing wheat - from October to December. That's when students, backpackers and other transients flock to the harvest. (A cherry grower in Young this season fielded 5000 inquiries from potential pickers.)

    The town of Harden itself is a twin, joined at the hyphenated hip to bordering Murrumburrah, settled in the 1850s.

    One face of that twin shines with the rural charm of a bygone era.

    A private museum salutes the birth of the Australian Light Horse while the historical society hails glory days of gold rushes, faster trains and bumper crops. The second-hand bookshop boasts almost as many titles as the council does ratepayers. Imposing churches from three denominations offer a reminder why it could have been confused with God's country. A new medical centre and nursing home point to a forgiving future.

    But turn the other cheek, and this shire is masked in shadow.

    Beyond isolation, drought and the desperation of such a combination, there's an unhealthy mix of the unknown, unbelievable and uncertain. The community's collective expression contorts whenever someone, usually an outsider, mentions Amber Haigh or Janelle Goodwin. What once was the talk of the town is now whispered behind hands.

    "We wondered when the big media would finally arrive," one businessman tells us. "We don't want our names mentioned but we want people to hear what has happened around here."

    Big media will follow in droves when an inquest - to be announced tomorrow - is held next year into Amber's disappearance. They will focus on her last-known steps.

    The Geeveses, described as her "carers" in early reports, told police they had dropped her at Campbelltown railway station at 8.30 one winter night, having driven about four hours from the shire.

    They said Amber wanted to make a surprise visit to her critically ill father in Mount Druitt Hospital. She left her son Royce with them, farewelling the five-month-old with a kiss and a hug.

    The couple went to the police when she failed to return home after a fortnight. They appealed publicly for help finding her.

    "Amber, come home, Roycey needs you," Mr Geeves said at the time. "He's growing at the moment - what you miss today you don't get back tomorrow."

    Police set up a strike force. They searched the ramshackle weatherboard house where she had been living with the Geeveses. They also checked abandoned mineshafts littering the 160-hectare property. Nothing was found. Even a $100,000 reward for information yielded nought.

    But the extra police attention did make Harden more protective of its own, and others. Regulars at the town's Commercial Hotel tell of how patrons pulled on the machismo one evening when someone they no longer trusted tried chatting up a barmaid: "All the guys in the bar stopped what they were doing and stood to attention with their chests all puffed out."

    The troublemaker hightailed it.

    Amber has not touched her bank accounts since she went missing. She has never contacted relatives or friends. Not her parents. Not her baby boy.

    Turns out Amber had also fallen pregnant to Mr Geeves. Royce was his son, although the boy is now in the custody of Amber's relatives.
    continued

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    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    We approached the Geeveses at their property on what would have been her 27th birthday. Amber, if she was around, would have wanted to blow out the candles on her favourite cake: sponge with jam and icing.

    At least that's the sort of cake her aunt used to make before the girl struck up a relationship with the older couple down the road.

    Mr Geeves acknowledged the mystery of Amber's disappearance still had an effect on him. "Of course it does, but I have nothing to say." His wife Anne added: "We'd love to know what happened."

    So too would her long-suffering family, the authorities and the good folk of Harden who, like the name suggests, are a resilient lot.

    Younger sister Melissa thinks about her every day. "I miss and love her so much. She will be in my heart forever ... I was a cheeky kid but Amber would always say: 'Melissa,

    I love you no matter what'."

    Everyone is steeling themselves for this inquest. The proceedings promise rage and resentment. Fingers crossed, relief too.

    Mr Geeves and his wife will take legal advice before deciding to give evidence.


    From left to right ... dead, Janelle Goodwin; missing, Amber Haigh; acquitted, Robert Geeves; the wife, Anne. Photo: Lee Besford


    While they are deciding, Harden locals recommend we chat to a youngish lady in town about him. She tells us: "He's a good man ... what's it got to do with you?"

    The inquest aims to determine what it has to do with anyone.

    Amber's mother hopes for justice. She wants to make sure another young life is not wasted: "We do not want to see another family grieve a loss such as ours."
    I've been to Harden. My first high school was an Agricultural College, consisting of half day students from Sydney & half boarders from regional NSW. It had an almost 100 yr history of taking Yr 9 students to camp on Griffith's town oval for a week of touring the irrigation systems, fruit canning factories & wineries of the Murray Irrigation Area (MIA). We always stopped at Harden because there were usually a few boarders from the town.

    The author has an amazing imagination & I'm sure the locals either laughed or raged at his colourful description. Harden is no Haven.



    Last edited by blighted star; 10-28-2013 at 02:35 PM.

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    Moderator bowieluva's Avatar
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    Looks like someone's trying to jump start a writing career.

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    These articles are from the archive at the Australian Missing Person's register. Weirdly enough this case also has links to the little town of Tahmoor that pops up somewhere in so many NSW murder cases. It's mentioned in several here on MDS. I can't figure out why- it really is a tiny little place & it makes no sense for so many murders & serious assaults to be linked to either Tahmoor or neighbouring, but even smaller Bargo. I think I'll start adding tags to all the cases that have links to that area.

    Fears of foul play for Amber Haigh

    MEG PIGRAM - The Young Witness 14 Jul, 2010 10:32 AM

    THE inquest into the disappearance of missing local girl Amber Michelle Haigh was heard in Glebe’s Coroners Court last Friday.

    Cootamundra Local Area Command, crime co-ordinator Sergeant David Cockram said police applied for adjournment for a further four to six weeks to allow for the investigation to continue.

    “This matter is still under investigation, with two Detectives full time on this matter, one being myself and another from Young,” Sergeant Cockram said.

    “Police remind members of the community there is a $100,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of persons involved in Amber's disappearance.

    “Anyone with information can contact me directly on 6942 0025 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000,” he said.

    Miss Haigh was last seen on June 5, 2002 in Campbelltown, Sydney.

    The then 19-year-old was about 160 centimetres tall, had a fair complexion and was a thin build with green/hazel eyes.

    Ms Haigh was reported missing on June 19, 2002 by a married couple who she had been living with in Kingsvale.

    The couple told police that they dropped Ms Haigh off at the Campbelltown railway station on June 5, where they never heard from her again.

    Police believe that Ms Haigh met with foul play, but they have been unable to find enough evidence to prosecute anyone over her disappearance.

    Despite extensive searches of the Kingsvale area, she is yet to be found but police believe someone within the tight-knit community of Kingsvale could hold the key to solving the mysterious disappearance.

    The smallest piece of information may allow police to close this case.

    Strike Force Villamar was set up to investigate the case, but police say they have exhausted all avenues of enquiry.

    There are still many unanswered questions in the Amber Haigh case and it is only with help from the public that police can expect a breakthrough.

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    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    Uggh, this poor kid. I missed a decade of news when I had my kids & didn't realise the inquest had even been held. I meant to follow her case because I have links to some of the places mentioned, like C'town & Parramatta, but life kind of got in the way & now I feel bad for forgetting her, even though I never knew her.

    Her story is a horrible one. I assumed it was going to be a "standard" domestic violence murder, but this was something far, far worse. If the inquest evidence was correct, she was a captive & disposable breeder for this husband & wife.



    Inquest hears how drunk man called 'Podge' claimed bikies killed teen mum Amber

    June 22, 2011 - SMH

    A missing teenager may have been killed by her much older lover so he could keep their baby, an inquest into her presumed death has heard.

    Amber Haigh, who was born with a mild intellectual disability, was 19 when she gave birth to a baby boy in January 2002.

    Robert Geeves was 22 years Ms Haigh's senior when he fathered the child born in the southern NSW town of Young.

    The inquest before Deputy State Coroner Scott Mitchell has heard Mr Geeves's wife Anne knew about the relationship and that the couple reported Ms Haigh missing in June 2002.

    Some years later a teenager from Young heard rumours that Ms Haigh had been murdered by bikies, the inquest at Parramatta Local Court heard today.

    Joel McCorkindale, 17, says a drunk man, known as 'Podge', told him about the cause of Ms Haigh's death.

    In a statement given to detectives in June 2010, Mr McCorkindale said he spoke to a man at a football oval, who told him Ms Haigh had been abducted by bikies before being killed.

    Counsel assisting the coroner Peter Hamill SC read excerpts of Mr McCorkindale's statement in court.

    "They got one of the people in the car to cut her throat," he read from the statement.

    "One of the bikies grabbed her, cut her and put her in the freezer.

    "Robert Geeves paid money to kill her so he could keep the son."

    In the statement, Mr McCorkindale says that Ms Haigh was buried under a lemon tree on Mr Geeves's property.

    Under questioning from Mr Hamill, Mr McCorkindale said relatives had encouraged him to go to police about the information.

    "It's not something you want to hear," he told the inquest about the revelations.

    Mr McCorkindale described 'Podge' as being slurry when he told him about the rumours of Ms Haigh's murder.

    Meanwhile, Catrina Richens, a social worker from the Young Community Health Centre, told the inquest of meeting with Ms Haigh in late 2001 when she was still pregnant.

    She said Ms Haigh, who had epilepsy, was worried about dying during child birth and had concerns about Robert and Anne Geeves having custody of the baby.

    "She didn't want the baby to be living with Robert and Anne Geeves," Ms Richens said.

    The inquest continues.

    AAP

    'Robert Geeves buried Amber Haigh's body'

    by: Mitchell Nadin From: The Australian June 22, 2011 12:00AM

    THE body of 19-year-old Amber Haigh was buried under a lemon tree somewhere in Kingsvale in southern NSW after she was murdered by her 40-year-old lover in June 2002, an inquest has heard.

    Cindy Brown yesterday told Parramatta Local Court her nephew, Joel McCorkindale, had told her of rumours that Robert Geeves disposed of the woman's body only six months after she gave birth to his child.

    Ms Brown also told the court Haigh confided in her and said she was "scared" of Mr Geeves in the months before her disappearance after he "tied her up with handcuffs and filmed himself having sex with her".

    Mr Geeves lived with the teenager, who was intellectually impaired, and his wife, Anne, who approved of the union, in a farmhouse near Young, a small town in southern NSW.

    Mr and Mrs Geeves reported Haigh missing on June 19, 2002, saying they had dropped her off at Campbelltown railway station in Sydney's southwest earlier that month. She has not been seen since.

    It is the belief of the Haigh family and the police that the Geeveses used Haigh as a surrogate mother.

    Paul Harding, who was Haigh's third cousin and ex-lover, told the court Mr Geeves "often had sex" with Haigh, and made a recording of it before watching the footage with his wife.

    Mr Harding also said the conditions his cousin lived in on the farm were appalling and the Geeveses treated her badly.

    "They wouldn't let her out of the house," Mr Harding said.

    "She said that he had video cameras on her. When they finished, him and Anne used to watch the video."

    Mr Harding said he had also impregnated Haigh but the pregnancy had been terminated.

    His mother, Jacqueline Cash, earlier told the court that Haigh was scared of Mr Geeves and

    his wife. "They were very nasty to her; she was very scared of them," said Ms Cash, who added that Haigh had told her she thought the couple would hurt her.

    Haigh's uncle, Michael Haigh, told the court she always "had a cheeky smile on her face", and was a "caring, loving little girl turning into a nice young lady".

    The inquest before Deputy State Coroner Scott Mitchell continues this week.

    On Monday, the court was told Mr Geeves had been acquitted of the murder of another girlfriend.

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    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    These are all from the same archive, there's lots more there so I'll link it for anyone who's interested in reading more -

    Missing woman 'feared baby's father'

    June 22, 2011 - SMH

    A TEENAGER was scared of the married man who fathered her baby, an inquest into her presumed death has heard.

    Born with a mild intellectual disability, Amber Haigh became a ward of the state at 12, when her mother abandoned her.

    Her father was a volatile alcoholic who had served time in jail.

    The Deputy State Coroner Scott Mitchell was told Ms Haigh formed a troubled relationship with Robert Geeves, an older married man, while living in the southern NSW town of Young.

    She gave birth to a baby boy in January 2002, when she was 19, and vanished five months later.

    ''She did say she was a bit scared of Robert and didn't want to have a baby with him,'' Ms Haigh's third cousin, Paul Harding, told the inquest at Parramatta Local Court yesterday.

    Mr Harding said Mr Geeves's wife, Anne, knew about the relationship and was unable to have any more children. ''She wanted the baby and they wanted to get rid of the mum. Amber actually told me that,'' Mr Harding said.

    ''Amber told me Anne couldn't have any more babies.''

    He also described the way in which Mr Geeves videotaped himself having sex with Ms Haigh, before showing his wife.

    ''They wouldn't let her out of the house,'' Mr Harding said.

    ''She said that he had video cameras on her. When they finished, him and Anne used to watch the video. She told me a couple of weeks after the baby was born.'' The inquest also heard Amber became pregnant at age 17 while in a relationship with Mr Harding but it was terminated.

    His girlfriend, Cindy Brown, who lived in the same block of flats as Ms Haigh, said her nephew, Joel McCorkindale, had told her about rumours Mr Geeves had killed Ms Haigh and buried her under a lemon tree at Kingsvale in southern NSW.

    Another resident in the unit complex, Leon Henry, said Mr Geeves often tied Ms Haigh's hands together during sex.

    ''Amber came and said she didn't want anything to do with Robert,'' he said. ''She was going to … get her locks changed.''

    Mr and Mrs Geeves reported Ms Haigh missing on June 19, 2002, saying they had dropped her off at Campbelltown railway station earlier that month.

    The hearing continues today.

    AAP Amber not buried in vineyard, inquest told

    Malcolm Brown - SMH

    June 23, 2011

    A man who gave evidence on the disappearance of teenager Amber Haigh in southern NSW nine years ago agreed today to take police to a vineyard where it has been reported that she might be buried.

    The inquest, being conducted by Deputy State Coroner Scott Mitchell at Parramatta Coroners Court, heard evidence that there had been a lot of talk about the disappearance of Ms Haigh on June 5, 2002, including a story that she had been pack raped and killed and that her body had been buried in a vineyard at Anville.

    Adam Blundell, an apiarist, agreed in evidence today that he had been involved in drunken discussion about the disappearance and that he had once given a description on how to get to a particular vineyard.

    He said he had once worked at the vineyard and that Robert Geeves, who had fathered Ms Haigh's child prior to her disappearance, had also worked at the vineyard.

    Peter Hamill SC, counsel assisting the coroner, asked Mr Blundell whether he believed that Ms Haigh was buried at the vineyard.

    Mr Blundell said: "No."

    Ms Haigh, who was 19 when she disappeared, had lived with Mr Geeves and his wife Anne.

    According to Mr Geeves, he and his wife had dropped the girl off at Campbelltown Station the day she disappeared to visit her sick father.

    Ms Haigh has not been seen since.

    Mr Blundell said today he was only joking when he used words attributed to him that the girl's body had been put through a shredding machine.

    He said that Mr Geeves had used a blood and bone mixer and he also said that Mr Geeves had also borrowed his trailer from time to time.

    But he denied that he had said in conversation that a video had been made of the girl being pack raped and he had said: "We got the bitch, banged her on the head with a brick."

    David John Williams, known as "Sheepdog", agreed that he had been part of drunken conversation and that he had said that Amber Haigh's body had been "in the grapevines" but he said at the time that he had been both "drunk and stoned".

    He denied saying anything in another conversation about "gangbang" and torture of Ms Haigh or about her having been hit with a brick and having her throat cut.

    The inquiry continues.

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    Social workers tell of fear for pregnant teen

    Malcolm Brown - SMH

    June 23, 2011

    SOCIAL and community health workers who dealt with teenager Amber Haigh in the months before her disappearance had become worried about her relationship with Robert Geeves, 22 years older than her, who had made her pregnant, Parramatta Coroners Court heard yesterday.

    Mr Geeves had appeared to be caring for her at all times he was seen with her, driving her to appointments with community health workers, paying the bond for her flat, managing her bank account and getting things for the baby, born on January 21, 2002.

    Deputy State Coroner Scott Mitchell, who had heard hearsay evidence that she had been tied up and raped by Mr Geeves while his wife, Anne, videoed it, said he was yet to hear actual evidence that there were safety issues.

    According to yesterday's evidence, Ms Haigh had a flat in Young, in southern NSW, but Mr Geeves used a spare key to get in and take the baby's bassinet.

    Social workers had responded by getting Ms Haigh another bassinet and changing the locks.

    A virtual battle had developed between Mr Geeves and some of the social and health workers and, on one occasion, he had complained about Susan Powell, a clinical nurse specialist in Child and Community Health at Young Hospital, and her involvement in the case.

    Ms Powell said her superior had told her to ''back off''.

    Ms Powell said she had become concerned because MsHaigh, who had the mind of a child, was being manipulated by Mr Geeves into letting them have the baby. Ms Haigh had said the couple had wanted ''custody'' of the child but Ms Haigh had not known what the word meant.

    ''I had a fear that she would sign some papers and not understand what she was signing,'' Ms Powell said.

    Ms Haigh, 19, disappeared on June 6, 2002. According to Mr and Mrs Geeves, they took her that day to Campbelltown station, without her baby, to travel to Mt Druitt to visit her seriously ill father, Geoffrey. Ms Haigh has never been seen again.

    Katrina Richens, a social worker with the Young Community Health Centre, said yesterday that Ms Haigh had told her that she wanted Mr Geeves to be a part of the baby's life but did not have a good relationship with him. On the other hand, Ms Haigh had thought it would be good to have the father involved.

    Jacqueline Anne Thompson, a Department of Family and Community Services case worker, was concerned that the Geeves' home in Kingsvale, near Young, was very isolated and that it was an ''atypical'' situation to have the child's father, the girl herself and the wife living together.

    The inquest resumes today.
    This whole story is awful. If the Geeves were my parents I think I might insist on a maternity test. & wtf was going on in Amber's family? I felt bad for them a few articles back, now I feel bad for Amber & her younger sister - I hope it's her sister who got custody of Amber's baby

    Son feared father's violence, court told

    Malcolm Brown - SMH

    June 24, 2011

    A MAN who made a teenage girl pregnant became so furious when his son refused to accept the newborn baby that he screamed abuse and threw a chair through his son's window, causing the younger man to take out an apprehended violence order against his father, the Parramatta Coroner's Court heard yesterday.

    Robert ''Robbie'' Geeves, a truck driver, said he had not approved of his father getting the girl, Amber Haigh, 18, pregnant. He had refused to accept the baby as his brother or hold the baby, driving both his father, Robert Geeves, and his mother, Anne, into a fury.

    Mr Geeves said in 2001 he had been living with his parents at Kingsvale, near Young in southern NSW, with his girlfriend, Natasha Cross.

    When Ms Haigh had come to live with them, he and Natasha had moved into a rented house in Young. He had later seen Ms Haigh was pregnant. In January 2002, when the baby was born, he had not wanted to see it.

    His mother had told him the baby was ''your dad's and Amber's''. Mr Geeves said he did not think his father would have been stupid enough to do that.

    ''I thought it was all wrong. I did not want anything to do with the baby,'' he said.

    The Deputy State Coroner Scott Mitchell is inquiring into the disappearance of Ms Haigh, who was last seen on June 5, 2002. Robert and Anne Geeves told police they took Ms Haigh to Campbelltown station to go to visit her sick father at Mount Druitt.

    Mr Geeves said when he was growing up his father had said some ''odd'' things to him, such as putting bodies into barrels of concrete and covering one's tracks after committing a crime. His father had spoken about a river near Jugiong whose banks made it easy to roll things into the water.

    In February 2002, after the baby was born, Mr Geeves had rung his mother to tell her to ''leave me alone for a while'' and she had ''carried on like crazy'' and said ''don't do this to me''.

    Natasha Geeves (formerly Ms Cross) said when Robert and Anne Geeves visited their home, Anne Geeves had tried to get them to hold the baby and had said: ''Have you heard of a surrogate mum?''

    When the parents' entreaties were rejected, Robert Geeves had thrown a bench chair through a window and said he would kill her parents, Mr Geeves told the inquest.

    The hearing resumes today. The sad, short life of a mother who would never grow up

    June 25, 2011 - SMH

    Long before she disappeared, Amber Haigh was a victim of people who took advantage of her innocence, writes Malcolm Brown.

    Amber Michelle Haigh, born on November 18, 1982, was destined for a hard life. She was to be intellectually retarded. Her relationship with her mother, Rosalind, would be difficult, and her father, Geoffrey, would be either in jail or drinking "24/7". Amber drifted between relatives, near Young in southern NSW, Lismore in the north and Mt Isa in Queensland.

    An uncle, Michael Haigh, who gave evidence this week at an inquest in Parramatta Coroner's Court into her disappearance and presumed death nine years ago, said he was never much help. ''I was incarcerated a fair bit and I was hardly around,'' he said.

    The evidence before Deputy State Coroner Scott Mitchell presented a tragic snapshot of isolated rural communities and areas of social need and crime.

    Amber, who went to the Young district at the age of 14 to pick cherries, was never to develop intellectually beyond the level of a 13-year-old. She was happy enough, attractive, but lacked skills to handle herself.

    Taken in by a great-aunt Stella, she became pregnant to Stella's adult grandson. The pregnancy was terminated because of the risks of inbreeding. At the age of 18, Amber took up with a couple, Robert and Anne Geeves, in a property called Huntley, in Kingsvale, an isolated rural pocket.

    Robert Geeves had a worrying track record. Though married, he had had a girlfriend, Janelle Patricia Goodwin, for a time in 1993. The two had had a fight, a firearm was produced and Janelle was shot dead. Robert Geeves was charged with murder and acquitted.

    He had also been acquitted of kidnapping two girls, aged 14 and 15, and sexually assaulting them.

    Geeves and Anne had had a son, Robbie. They then had another child but the baby, Emma, died at birth.

    Anne wanted more children but could not conceive.

    According to remarks attributed to Anne Geeves, the couple saw a chance to use Amber as a surrogate mother.

    Robert, aged 40, made her pregnant. He looked after her and handled her money, but there were reports that Amber had told people she had been tied up and raped at least once by Robert while Anne videotaped it. Police, when they searched the property, found no videotapes.

    On January 21, 2002, Amber gave birth to a boy at Young Hospital. According to evidence, Amber said she wanted to keep the baby and she feared it would be taken by the Geeves.

    Robbie told the inquest that the relationship between Robert Geeves and Amber disgusted him and that he refused point blank to accept the baby as his "brother".

    The situation was complex. Robert Geeves assisted Amber with parenting, looked after her finances and paid the bond for her flat in Young. But he picked her up there from time to time and sometimes stayed the night.

    Social and community health workers, at all times competent and caring, could never get enough evidence that Amber was being ill-treated by the Geeves, though Amber's own attitude towards the Geeves was ambivalent.

    Then Amber disappeared.

    The Geeves told police that on June 5, 2002, they had taken her to the railway station at Campbelltown, where she could get a train to Mt Druitt to see her seriously ill father, Geoffrey. A withdrawal was made from Amber's bank account at Campbelltown at 8.45 that night, but that was not conclusive that she had operated the account. Robert Geeves had her keycard.

    Amber was apparently never seen again.

    The Geeves, initially having custody of her baby, reported Amber missing on June 19. As to what happened to Amber, attention focused on Robert Geeves.

    As usual with such mysteries, there were apparent ''sightings''. The inquest has also heard evidence from several men known to have said things, usually while drunk, about what happened to Amber: that she was kidnapped by a group a bikies, that she was hit with a brick and had her throat cut, that she was put through a shredding machine, that she was buried in a vineyard. In the witness box, they all dismissed it as drunken babble.

    Police are now going to search a vineyard mentioned in evidence.

    The inquest is due to resume in Young on July 7.
    Last edited by blighted star; 10-28-2013 at 05:19 PM.

  8. #8
    Moderator bowieluva's Avatar
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    I don't want to be rude but all the attention directed towards one single missing girl who's been gone for over a decade makes me think absolutely nothing happens in Australia.


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    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    This is the link to Amber's entry in the Australian Missng Person's Register which is where you can find many of the article's for her case in one place

    http://www.australianmissingpersonsr....com/Haigh.htm


    & here's the detail that links yet another murder to Tahmoor/Bargo -

    Amber Haigh 'most likely murdered', says NSW coroner

    by: Jodie Minus From: The Australian July 08, 2011 11:45AM

    AMBER Haigh was most likely murdered and her body was possibly disposed of down a disused mine shaft by, a NSW coroner has found.

    Robert Samuel Geeves and his wife Anne Margaret Geeves, both 51, refused to give evidence at an inquest into Ms Haigh's death at Young Court House, in the state's southwest.

    Prior to delivering his findings today, Deputy State Coroner Scott Mitchell lifted a statutory prohibition order, which prevented the media from reporting on the couple's refusal to give evidence.

    The couple had exercised their right to remain silent on the basis that their evidence could incriminate them, and they told the court they did not care if the media reported this fact.

    Mr Mitchell said it was in the public interest to allow the media to report this as there was no immediate prospect of a trial and strong community interest in the inquest, so to leave the matter unanswered would erode public confidence in the system and leave the community at a disadvantage.

    Mr Mitchell found that Ms Haigh, 19, died as a result of homicide on or about June 5, 2002, when the Geeveses claim they dropped her at Campbelltown railway station in Sydney's southwest.

    Five months earlier Ms Haigh had given birth to Mr Geeves's baby and police believe the couple wanted to get rid of the teenager so they could raise the child as their own.

    There were many riddles in the case that remained unanswered, Mr Mitchell said.

    The first of those questions was why the Geeveses spent the night at a motel in Tahmoor on July 12, 2002.

    Tahmoor is not on a route which one would normally take when traveling between Young/Harden and Sydney, Mr Mitchell said.

    It is on the edge of a rugged and mountainous state forest and there are abandoned mines shafts in the area an plenty of opportunities for the concealment of a body.

    Adding suspicion to this trip were conversations between the Geeveses, which were recorded on covert listening devices installed by police in their home and cars, in which they learn that detectives knew about their Tahmoor trip.

    ''What are we going to say our trip to Tahmoor was?'', Ms Geeves asks her husband.

    Later she says: ''I dont care if they got Tahmoor anyway, cause we've got an explanation for that, if they don't like it tough, they can't stop us going places.''

    Mr Mitchell acknowledged there still wasn't enough evidence to refer the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions and instead referred it to the Unsolved Homicide Squad.

    Outside court, Ms Haigh's mother, Rosiland Wright, said she was upset the Geeveses' refused to give evidence and said she just wanted to know where her daughter's body was. 'Murder or misadventure': Amber Haigh inquest

    Posted July 08, 2011 11:10:00 - ABC

    A coroner has found that missing teenager Amber Haigh probably died from murder or misadventure, soon after she disappeared nine years ago.

    An inquest into the 19-year-old's disappearance ended this morning at Young, in the south-west of New South Wales.

    Coroner Scott Mitchell found the young mother is dead and probably died soon after she was last seen in June 2002.

    Ms Haigh had a disability and the mental age of a 10-year-old.

    She had been living with Robert and Anne Geeves on their farm at Kingsvale, near Young.

    The couple reported Ms Haigh missing in 2002, telling police they had dropped her off at Sydney's Campbelltown Railway Station.

    Five months earlier she had given birth to a child fathered by Mr Geeves.

    In court this morning, the couple left immediately after the findings were handed down.

    In his findings the coroner has described a disturbing and sometimes forceful sexual relationship between Ms Haigh and Robert Geeves.

    Yesterday his wife denied a surrogacy pact had been made between the pair and Ms Haigh.

    The coroner has recommended the case be referred to the unsolved homicide squad.

    Speaking outside court, Sergeant Dave Cockram says he would like someone to be charged.

    "The people that have done something to Amber, they need to look over both shoulders each time they leave the house, because the matter won't sit," Sergeant Cockram said.
    Tahmoor is one of the smaller towns around Picton which is about 40mins south of Campbelltown, the last real suburban area in southwest Sydney. Picton isn't exactly big, but if you live in Tahmoor, & I did for a time, travelling to Picton is described as "going into town". This is Picton -

    This is the road outside the Tahmoor Inn where the Greeves stayed



    Tahmoor main drag. What you see is pretty much it. As I recall there is nothing on the opposite side but the Community Health Centre & the back fences of houses. Outside the pic there's a supermarket & school & a few smaller shops, then houses, then bush, creeks & gorges. There's also a massive turkey farm/processing plant just outside of town. If you've had turkey for xmas in Sydney in the last 50+ yrs, it probably began it's life in Tahmoor.


    (while I lived in Tahmoor back in 2001, a young relative went missing from the pub in neighbouring Bargo. She was found by a passing motorist at Gerroa the next morning. She'd been murdered then set on fire. Like Amber, there's a person of interest & there was an inquest but also like Amber, her killer has never been brought to trial)
    Last edited by blighted star; 10-28-2013 at 04:52 PM.

  10. #10
    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bowieluva View Post
    I don't want to be rude but all the attention directed towards one single missing girl who's been gone for over a decade makes me think absolutely nothing happens in Australia.

    Yup. When I first saw our missing persons register I thought it was glitching or still under construction because compared to other western nations it was pretty small. Turns out it was working just fine. Disappearances - the suspicious sort, aren't all that common. They're not unheard of, but they're sure not a weekly, or maybe even monthly event. Which is probably why a lot of people down here are open-mouthed with shock when they see the missing kid lists in other countries.

    & you're right about that journalist too. It first ran in the Sydney Morning Herald. Until fairly recently the SMH was one of our few broadsheets & was generally considered slightly more highbrow than the more commonly seen Daily Telegraph. The Herald would often have huge double page features that later morphed into books. That's probably exactly what this guy was intending. I just finished reading a similar one called "Who Killed Jodie" but I didn't mention it in the book thread in case some misread "Jodie" & got overexcited.
    Last edited by blighted star; 10-28-2013 at 05:11 PM.

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