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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any
00:03:05
time you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
00:03:12
please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website the sun was just beginning to rise on
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tuesday january 27 2009 when timothy arrived at the sandy bay rowing club to drop his daughter off for her early
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morning rowing training located immediately south of hobart's central business district the affluent
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waterfront suburb was home to some of tasmania's most expensive real estate and was a hot spot for sailing
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timothy parked his car and stepped outside to admire the views of the city and nearby mount wellington
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as he looked outwards towards the rowing shed he noticed something bobbing in the
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water against the rocks he moved closer and realized it was an inflatable dinghy
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the blue and white vessel had the brand name quicksilver printed on it assuming the dinghy must have come
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undone from its mooring point timothy peered inside and noticed that the dinghy's rope was sitting within
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this was odd had the rope accidentally come undone he expected it would be trailing in the
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water regardless timothy used the rope to secure the vessel to a rock he pointed it out to his daughter's
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rowing coach daryl but they didn't give it much more thought [Music] timothy joined daryl in his aluminium
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speedboat and followed the rowers out for their training session just before 7am the two men were
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approximately 200 meters from shore when they passed the 53-foot double-mastered
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yacht named the four winds it was sitting unusually low in the water especially at its bear
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worried that the yacht might be sinking the men called the police two officers arrived at the shore 15
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minutes later to assess the situation daryl took one of them out on his speedboat and pulled up alongside the
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four winds the officer stepped aboard the upper deck leading out from the wheelhouse the
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small enclosure that housed the boat steering wheel he noticed small splatters of blood
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there were also drops of blood on the wheelhouse floor and a small carving knife and blood-stained torch near the
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door the officer entered the cabin and found it flooded with shin deep water the yacht was fitted with water pumps
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that should have kicked in automatically but nothing was happening to drain the rapidly filling water
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at this rate it was inevitable that the four winds would sink the police marine and rescue services
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were called by the time they arrived the wheelhouse was significantly flooded and the bow
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was only one foot above water the tasmanian fire service and a salvage agent were called in to try to pump some
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of the water out to stop the four winds from sinking authorities phoned the yacht's owners
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55 year old sunil fraser was at home when she received the call about the situation unfolding in sandy bay
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she was shocked her de facto partner 65 year old bob chapel had spent the night on their
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beloved yacht and sue hadn't heard from him since [Music] [Music] the four wins had been nothing but
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trouble for sue and bob since they purchased it two months prior both experienced sailors they intended
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to use it to go travelling when bob retired in about a year's time he was the chief physicist of radiology
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at the wp holman clinic in the royal hobart hospital a career he'd proudly spent decades
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building while bob loved his job he was looking forward to his golden years and the many
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trips he and sue planned to take at sea at the recommendation of their yacht broker the couple had traveled to
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queensland in december to take a look at the four winds they'd immediately fallen in love
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priced at two hundred and three thousand dollars it was a bargain for a yacht of
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its type a dignified and majestic vessel it featured a double mastered catch construction that was perfectly suited
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to tasmania's varied weather conditions it had a white hull with dark timber accents navy blue sails and the name
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four winds written along the rear and left hand side in navy cursive font at 53 feet long with approximately 50
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square meters of walking space above deck the yacht was much larger than bob and sue were used to sailing
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the interior cabin was split into two levels four steps below deck led to the wheelhouse which held the steering wheel
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and control panels three further steps led to the lower saloon level complete with three
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bedrooms a bathroom kitchen laundry and engine room the bargain price reflected the fact
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that restorations were needed but sue and bob were ready for the challenge they hired two crew members to help them
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sail it down from queensland to hobart this allowed them to familiarize themselves with the boat and test its
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performance while having professional guidance along the way however the voyage was tainted from the
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start the day after they set sail the engine failed as they neared the gold coast and
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they had to be towed to a nearby marina it turned out that an oyster fungus known as black death had clogged the
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engine's filters while repairs were underway bob was plagued by increasingly severe
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nosebleeds he was admitted to a local hospital where doctors determined that the
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nosebleeds were caused by bob's regular consumption of aspirin which acts as a blood thinner
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after some deliberation it was decided that sue would continue on with the hired crew members while bob flew back
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to hobart once the engine was fixed sue and the crew recommenced their journey numerous other mechanical problems
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forced them to stop at various ports for repairs along the way after 16 days at sea the four winds
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finally arrived in hobart bob met the crew at sandy bay where the yacht would be permanently moored
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despite the complicated journey sue was excited by the trip and looked forward to many more in the future
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over the following weeks the couple continued to work on the yacht in their spare time
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bob was somewhat jealous of how well sue had gotten to know the four winds during
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the trip from queensland and was eager to spend more time on board to gain a better understanding of how it worked
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monday january 26 was the australia day public holiday and the couple spent the morning on the yacht
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bob tinkered about in the engine room while sue tidied up at around midday she used their blue and
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white quicksilver dinghy to travel back to shore to have lunch with bob's sister
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anne who was visiting from sydney when sue returned to the yacht at around 2 30 bob was in a bad mood
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he had isolated an engine leak and wanted to stay on board overnight to continue working on it
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sue didn't think this was a good idea it was a windy overcast afternoon and the water was choppy
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furthermore she would have to take their dinghy to get back to shore meaning bob
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wouldn't have access to it overnight she urged bob to reconsider but he checked the charts and was confident
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that the wind would subside sue eventually agreed after all the yacht was stocked with
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food and emergency supplies so surely bob would be okay if something unforeseen arose
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he was also a strong swimmer who would have no trouble swimming to safety in case of an emergency
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bob didn't have a mobile phone so sue gave him hers in case he needed to contact her on their landline
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throughout the evening she then took the dinghy back to shore tying it to a ladder at the royal yacht
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club just after seven the following morning sue called her mobile to check on bob
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there was no answer moments later she received a call from police to inform her that the four winds
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was sinking sue immediately drove down to maryville esplanade which overlooked sandy bay and
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met the police on the shore she was soon joined by her two daughters and bob's son
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they watched on as emergency crews worked for over an hour to determine the source of the yacht's leak
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it turned out that a 75 millimeter pipe near the toilet had been cut allowing water to flow freely into the vessel
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the seacock was also open this is a valve that permits water to flow in and out of the boat
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it's typically left closed when not in use whoever had cut the pipe and opened the
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seacock likely had intimate knowledge of the yacht as these items were hidden away and their function wouldn't be
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clear to a novice with these problems finally identified the four winds was successfully salvaged
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the question remained where was bob chapel police conducted a full search of the
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yacht and quickly determined bob was not on board a grid search of the surrounding waters
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also failed to uncover any signs of the 65 year old [Music] while examining the four winds police
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noticed more blood splatters on the lounge suite in the saloon at the lowest point of the hull
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the automatic bilge pump had also been deactivated this pump is designed to empty any
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excess water into the ocean to prevent a vessel from sinking the four winds bilge pump was fitted
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with an alarm which was supposed to sound if water reached a certain level this too had been deactivated
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with all these factors combined it was clear that the yacht had been deliberately tampered with
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[Music] a local man was walking his dog along maryville esplanade when he noticed a
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red yachting jacket with grey trim it was hanging on a low brick fence outside a residential property on the
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corner of margaret street aware of the chaos on the waterfront he left the jacket untouched and walked to
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the beach to inform the police an officer went to question the occupants of the property who said the
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red jacket wasn't theirs they'd arrived home at around six the previous evening and hadn't noticed the
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jacket then so it must have been placed there recently when sue returned to the scene she was
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shown the jacket and asked whether it belonged to her she said she'd never seen it before
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stating it wasn't from the yacht officers began door knocking homes along maryville esplanade for information
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they also checked records of nearby pay phones and contacted local bus and taxi companies but no useful leads emerged
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bob's whereabouts remained unknown just before midday an officer visited sue at home to take an official
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statement sue described her relationship with bob as healthy with no major problems
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the couple had met in 1989 through mutual france and had immediately hit it off they had a lot in common
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both had migrated to australia from the uk and grown up in victoria before eventually moving to tasmania
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they were both divorced with adult children from their previous marriages both intellectuals they shared a love of
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books gourmet food and the outdoors as well as an interest in current affairs they enjoyed having deep conversations
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and to like to debate their differing opinions although they had contrasting personalities sue's extraversion
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complemented bob's reserved nature sue told the officer about bob's recent ill health and recurring noseblades
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she explained that bob didn't have access to their dinghy if he needed it to leave the yacht in the night but due
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to his age he was unable to get in and out of the dinghy on his own anyway as for the seacock and bilge pump sue
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wasn't aware of any problems she and bob checked them both often to ensure everything was in working order
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if anyone had deliberately tampered with them in an effort to harm bob sue couldn't think of any likely culprits
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bob had no known enemies and there was no one who would want to hurt him when asked about her movements the
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previous afternoon sue said she arrived back to shore sometime between 3 and 3 30.
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she then drove to the local bunnings warehouse hardware store where she browsed the isles for several hours
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before leaving without buying anything by the time she got home it was already dark
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it was a relatively uneventful evening until just after 10 when the phone rang [Music]
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on the other line was richard king a friend of one of bob's daughters for the sake of clarity case file will
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refer to her as lisa richard was worried lisa suffered from mental health issues
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that included paranoia and delusions although she hadn't seen her father in a year she had recently become
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increasingly concerned about his health as well as the safety of his yacht richard told sue that lisa was convinced
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something bad was going to happen to bob she wanted to go down to the bay to check that his yacht was safe
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lisa had also threatened to take her own life and richard was worried she would go through with it
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although sue took his concerns seriously she remained calm lisa had threatened suicide in the past
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but had never acted on it she also didn't know the name of the four winds or where it was moored so it
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was unlikely she would go out on her own to try and find it after speaking for around half an hour
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richard and sue were satisfied that lisa would be okay still sue laid awake that night worried about
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what richard had told her she eventually dozed off and when she woke up she discovered that lisa's
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concerns about bob were right detectives took sue on board the four winds which had been towed to a dock in
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hobart to see if she could identify anything out of the ordinary she started noticing things right away
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the switches on the fuse board were in the incorrect position a green rope on the deck was in disarray
00:21:14
and not in its usual spot significant lengths of rope were also missing especially from the main mast
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a red winch handle which is used to adjust rope tension and was usually stored in a locker at the back of the
00:21:30
boat had been inserted into the winch on the main mast a rope around the winch had also been
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cut and another was lying out of place in a pile on the deck the wood around the yacht's rear entry
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hatch was marked with rope burn there were also some loose carpet panels in the main saloon
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sue explained these couldn't come loose by accident they could only be lifted by
00:21:59
removing mini screws entering the main cabin sue saw that a heavy fire extinguisher was missing from
00:22:08
its bracket outside the wheelhouse the emergency position indicating radio beacon known
00:22:15
as an epirb was also missing part of its bracket had been snapped off and fallen to the ground
00:22:24
bob knew the epirb was easily removed from the bracket by simply pulling it up so it was unlikely he was the one who
00:22:31
broke it the device was found hours later by a passerby walking along the beach several latent fingerprints were
00:22:42
identified on it and ran through the national database but there was no match and the item revealed nothing else of
00:22:49
significance although sue had been advised not to touch anything she began playing with
00:22:57
switches on the electrical panel until the bilge pump alarm sounded she pointed out that the alarm was so
00:23:04
loud residents of the neighbouring suburb would have woken up if it had gone off the previous evening
00:23:11
she also pointed out a torch and empty juice container which didn't belong on the yacht
00:23:17
but these were confirmed to have been absent-mindedly left behind by police police divers searched sandy bay where
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the yacht was initially moored covering a circular space approximately 100 metres in diameter
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although visibility was good they still didn't find any sign of bob chapel the search continued the following day
00:23:45
january 28th police divers re-entered the waters but they lost a visibility upon reaching a
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depth of 23 metres unable to see the ocean floor they abandoned the search [Music]
00:24:04
confirmed the blood on the wheelhouse floor steps torch and lounge suite had come from bob
00:24:12
although it couldn't be determined how long the blood had been there the two crew members who had helped sail the
00:24:18
yacht from queensland had cleaned the boat thoroughly upon their arrival to hobart
00:24:25
they didn't recall seeing any bloodstains at the time deeming it unlikely that the blood was
00:24:31
left over from bob's nosebleeds fingerprints were also uncovered throughout the yacht
00:24:39
most belonged to recent passengers including the two crewmates who traveled with sue down from queensland and bob's
00:24:47
son timothy there were also several other unidentified fingerprints a strand of female hair was found near
00:24:57
the skylight hatch and another at the bottom of the wheelhouse steps then there was a dinner plate sized
00:25:05
stain found on the yacht believed to have been vomit urine or saliva it tested positive for female dna
00:25:17
neither the stain nor the hairs were found to have originated from sue or her daughters
00:25:24
whoever the source was she was unknown to police a small blue face washer and two wet
00:25:32
rags covered in brown stains that appeared to be vomit were also recovered and taken for further analysis
00:25:44
the possibility that bob took his own life was ultimately ruled out he hadn't undergone any behavioral
00:25:52
changes recently including showing signs of depression it was the opposite he'd been overseeing a major project at
00:26:01
work that he wanted to complete and was excited about his plans for the future based on the evidence so far uncovered
00:26:10
it was much more likely that bob had met with foul play the most likely scenario was that the
00:26:17
assailant had used the quicksilver dinghy sue had tied up at the royal yacht club to get to and from the four
00:26:23
winds once on board they might have torn the heavy fire extinguisher from its bracket
00:26:30
and used it to bludgeon bob to death in the saloon several carpet squares were missing and
00:26:37
it was possible these had been removed from the boat to destroy evidence bob's body which weighed 64 kilograms
00:26:46
might have then been tied with rope and dragged up the stairs using the winch before being dumped overboard
00:26:54
the killer then used the dinghy to return to shore dumping it on the beach without tying it up
00:27:03
investigators conducted various experiments to test their theory although their approach wasn't very
00:27:10
scientific they confirmed that the winch was capable of hoisting a man of bob's weight from the side of the missing
00:27:17
carpet squares based on the yacht's specifications and the volume of water flowing in when it
00:27:25
was discovered sinking a naval engineer determined it would take approximately 9
00:27:30
to 12 hours for the boat to sink had both the pipe and seacock been cut at the same time
00:27:36
[Music] given that the yacht was at its lowest point in the water at around eight
00:27:42
o'clock on the morning of january 27 it was estimated that the four winds had likely been sabotaged around midnight
00:27:51
[Music] investigators were left to determine who would want to hurt bob chapel and why
00:28:00
outside of work bob mostly kept to himself a typical evening for bob involved a relaxing drink cooking a nice meal and
00:28:09
settling in with a good book this was not the routine of a man who sought trouble
00:28:16
[Music] sue was of the opinion that trouble had instead found bob just 13 days before bob went missing sue
00:28:27
believed someone had tried to break into the four winds she had boarded the yacht to find that
00:28:34
the electrical switchboard and freshwater pump cover were open and the chart table had been accessed
00:28:42
it wasn't the first time [Music] while the four winds was being repaired in queensland the mechanic had advised
00:28:50
sue that the yacht had been broken into and several panels had been opened and moved about
00:28:58
sue had noted that a similar looking yacht had recently been used to smuggle drugs into australia
00:29:05
consequently she wondered whether someone might have planted drugs in the four winds during the journey down from
00:29:12
queensland when the smuggler or their cohorts went to collect the goods in tasmania they
00:29:19
would have unexpectedly found bob on board and could have killed him to cover their tracks
00:29:27
sue seems convinced this was the likely outcome and had been urging police to follow up on this line of investigation
00:29:34
from the very beginning within minutes of arriving on the scene to find the yacht sinking she'd
00:29:41
mentioned this possibility to a constable she told police that several other boats
00:29:47
in the sandy bay area had recently been broken into or tampered with prior to bob's disappearance she noticed
00:29:56
a vessel on the water with the license plate beginning with pv sue immediately noted this as suspicious
00:30:05
she believed this indicated that the boat was from port villa a harbourside city in vanuatu that was a known hot
00:30:13
spot for drug smuggling sniffer dogs taken on board the four winds were unable to detect traces of
00:30:21
drugs due to severe water damage to the yacht's interior police were also unable to confirm
00:30:29
whether a boat from port villa had recently been in the sandy bay area weeks passed without any sign of bob
00:30:40
chapel he didn't access his bank accounts or make contact with any of his loved ones
00:30:46
leading to the conclusion he was likely deceased the limited forensic evidence recovered
00:30:52
on board the four winds had led nowhere the red yachting jacket found on the corner of margaret street and maryville
00:31:00
esplanade wasn't thought to be relevant to bob's case as sue said she had never seen it before
00:31:08
investigators had it tested anyway if anything they hoped forensics might point towards its owner and give them a
00:31:17
solid lead as to who might have been in the area on the night bob went missing swabs taken from the inner surfaces of
00:31:26
the cuffs and collar were tested for dna and returned a match the jacket had been worn by none other
00:31:35
than sunil fraser this wasn't the only lie that sue had been caught in as investigators spoke with people who
00:31:46
had been at sandy bay on january 26 it became clear that something wasn't adding up
00:31:54
just before four that afternoon a group of men arrived at the royal yacht club marina
00:32:00
they noticed the four winds offshore and recalled a grey mid-sized dinghy tied to
00:32:06
the vessel it was bobbing up and down in the choppy sea taking in some water they recalled the dinghy as worn and
00:32:16
faded with scuff marks and a grey leaf cloth a piece of fabric that acts as a safety net
00:32:24
another witness who had been sitting on a nearby jetty at around 5pm also recalled the dinghy alongside the four
00:32:32
winds they saw an elderly man pottering about on the yacht which struck them as odd
00:32:39
they wondered why someone would choose to be on a moored boat in such turbulent waters
00:32:46
these recollections contradicted the statement provided by sunil fraser she had told police that she had
00:32:54
traveled from the four winds to the beach arriving at the shore between 3 and 3 30 pm
00:33:01
according to witnesses the dinghy was still floating alongside the four winds between 4 and 5
00:33:08
pm furthermore according to his son bob was very safety conscious it was therefore strange that he would
00:33:18
choose to stay on the yacht without the dinghy in case of an emergency sue had told police that bob was unable
00:33:26
to get in and out of the dinghy without assistance anyway so there was no issue in leaving him without access to it
00:33:35
bob's son disputed this he'd seen his father operate the dinghy before without any problems
00:33:45
following up on sue's claims that she'd visited bunning's warehouse after reaching land police checked the store's
00:33:52
cctv footage at no point was sue or her car captured on the premises sue claimed to have arrived at bunnings
00:34:03
around 4 40 pm and spent several hours browsing the aisles but this wasn't possible
00:34:10
given that january 26 had been the australia day public holiday the store had shut early at 6 00 pm rather than
00:34:19
its usual closing time of 9 pm sue maintained she'd been home all night police checked her phone records and
00:34:29
confirmed she had received a call from richard the man who voiced his concerns about bob's daughter lisa at 10 05 pm as
00:34:38
stated richard told police that sue sounded relaxed and normal during their phone
00:34:45
conversation not like she had anything to hide sue said she went to bed after her call
00:34:52
with richard at 11 30 pm a man was observing the ocean from his parked car near the sandy
00:35:02
bay royal yacht club sheds he'd stopped by the bay to unwind and found the area completely deserted
00:35:12
all of a sudden his attention was drawn to the sound of an outboard motor out on the water was an inflatable
00:35:20
dinghy it was too dark to confirm the colour but the man could make the outline of a
00:35:27
person piloting the vessel based on their silhouette it looked to be a woman the dinghy was heading in the direction
00:35:37
of the four winds and the man soon lost sight of it almost an hour later at 12 15 a.m
00:35:46
cctv footage from an atm surveillance camera 800 meters from the royal yacht club captured a grey ford falcon station
00:35:54
wagon driving past the area this was the same kind of car that sue neil fraser drove
00:36:03
when shown the footage even sue's daughters conceded that it looked like their mother's car
00:36:10
the vehicle's number plate wasn't captured in the footage so it couldn't be said with certainty who the car
00:36:16
belonged to then at 308 am another call appeared on sue's home phone records it had been placed to star 10 hash an
00:36:29
automated service that identifies the last unanswered call received by a landline
00:36:36
not only had sue lied about not making any further phone calls after speaking to richard
00:36:42
the star 10 hash call raised a more important question why was sue wanting to know if anyone
00:36:50
had called her in the middle of the night was it because she had left the house and wanted to make sure that
00:36:58
nobody had called and discovered she was out during this time frame at 704 on the morning of january 27
00:37:08
sue had called her mobile phone which she had left on board with bob when questioned sue said she was calling
00:37:17
the yacht to check in on bob as for the star 10 hash she had no recollection of ever placing the call
00:37:32
sue had been very quick to push the drug smuggling theory claiming that several boats in the area had recently been
00:37:39
broken into police checked their records from the previous three months and couldn't find
00:37:45
any evidence to support this no other break-ins had been reported including the one that allegedly took
00:37:53
place on board the four winds furthermore when an officer had first gone to sue's house to take down an
00:38:01
official statement on the day bob was discovered missing they noticed something odd
00:38:08
sue's left wrist was strapped up and there was a band-aid on her thumb sue explained the wrist injury was from
00:38:16
an old boating incident which fled up occasionally the officer asked sue to remove her
00:38:23
band-aid she complied revealing a laceration approximately one to two centimeters
00:38:30
long sue claimed she'd accidentally cut herself but didn't elaborate further at the time the interviewing officer
00:38:41
hadn't thought too much of it that was until several weeks later when he happened to catch a glimpse of
00:38:48
something that stirred his memory on january 26 sue had left the four winds around midday to have lunch with
00:38:58
bob's sister and during the meal anne had taken some photos the officer chanced upon them
00:39:09
he took a closer look at sue's rest there was no bandage nor was there any sign of a cut or
00:39:17
band-aid on her thumb this meant sue had sustained the injuries sometime between having lunch
00:39:24
with anne and when the officer interviewed her in the wake of bob's disappearance less than 24 hours later
00:39:32
could it have been during the course of an attack or an attempt to dispose of bob's body
00:39:40
the truth was police had been viewing sue with suspicion from the outset of the investigation
00:39:47
when she first arrived at sandy bay on january 27 after being informed that her yacht was sinking she didn't appear
00:39:55
overly distressed about the situation at no point did she ask about bob's well-being
00:40:04
when speaking about bob in subsequent police interviews she kept referring to him in the past tense as though she
00:40:11
already knew he was no longer alive sue apologized for this explaining she'd already come to terms with the fact that
00:40:20
bob was most likely deceased investigators weren't convinced with all this in mind they pieced
00:40:33
together a possible scenario based on sue's guilt after her call with richard sue drove
00:40:40
her forward to sandy bay donned the red yachting jacket and took the quicksilver
00:40:46
dinghy out to the yard she either bludgeoned or stabbed bob to death before using ropes and a winch to
00:40:53
transport his body out of the saloon onto the deck and into the dinghy from there she used a heavy object most
00:41:03
likely the yacht's fire extinguisher to weigh bob's body down and throw him overboard
00:41:10
it was some time during this process that she injured her wrist and cut her thumb
00:41:17
using her knowledge of the four winds inner workings sue then cut the pipe turned on the seacock and deactivated
00:41:24
the bilge pump and alarms in a bid to sink the yacht and destroy evidence [Music]
00:41:31
a mechanic who had worked on the boat in early january confirmed that he and sue
00:41:36
had specifically discussed the seacock's pipes and valves on board so there was no doubt she was aware of their
00:41:44
functions upon returning home sue called star 10 hash to make sure there hadn't been any
00:41:52
unanswered calls that could discredit her alibi at 7 04 am she called her mobile phone
00:42:01
which she'd intentionally left on board the four winds if the phone failed to ring it would
00:42:08
tell her that the yacht was submerged although this was all circumstantial the pieces began to fit together
00:42:18
all that was missing was a motive case file will be back shortly thank you for supporting us by listening to this
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subject to change terms apply a little over two weeks before bob chapel went missing sunil fraser spoke
00:45:45
with the yacht broker who sold them the four winds and said that she and bob had
00:45:50
separated when he expressed his sympathy sue said something along the lines of being quote
00:45:58
tired of having to do everything the two hired crew members who escorted bob and sue to tasmania noticed there
00:46:06
was no affection between the couple at one point sue remarked that her relationship with bob had been strained
00:46:14
for some time and was coming to an end she was thinking about borrowing one hundred thousand dollars from her mother
00:46:23
to pay for bob's share of their yacht when the couple were reunited in hobart sue stood back and ignored bob when he
00:46:32
tried to approach her when he went missing sue told one of her yacht mechanics that she and bob had
00:46:39
broken up bob's children weren't aware that the couple had intentions of splitting but
00:46:47
his son timothy had noticed some obvious tension between them in the weeks leading up to his father's
00:46:54
disappearance he attributed it to them wanting different things from the yacht sue hoped to go on long overseas voyages
00:47:04
while bob wanted to set sail on smaller trips it was clear that purchasing the four
00:47:11
wins had introduced some conflict into the couple's relationship but this didn't explain why sue would want to
00:47:17
kill her partner of 20 years five years before he disappeared bob amended his will to ensure that sue
00:47:27
would be well taken care of in the event of his death she was set to inherit his west hobart
00:47:34
home car personal possessions and 50 of the residue of his 1.3 million dollar estate
00:47:43
sue hadn't been present when bob made these changes and his lawyer couldn't confirm whether sue knew what she stood
00:47:50
to inherit yet sue had spoken to one of bob's daughters about the will previously
00:47:57
remarking that bob had designated a fair amount to everyone sue had since visited bob's lawyer to
00:48:06
discuss what needed to happen to release bob's estate if the couple were on the brink of
00:48:12
separation as several witnesses had described it stood to reason that sue would lose what she was owed from bob's
00:48:20
will in addition to the generous inheritance bob's death also meant sue would acquire
00:48:27
his half of the four wins without having to buy him out philip triffid had helped work on sunil
00:48:38
fraser's previous yacht during the 1990s philip claimed that sue had once mentioned she was feuding with her
00:48:46
mother she was worried that her brother patrick would therefore inherit all of her
00:48:52
mother's money when she passed away according to phillip sue said she wanted to get rid of patrick by throwing him
00:49:01
overboard and had asked for phillips assistance in doing so her plan was to weigh patrick down with
00:49:09
the toolbox and then sink the yacht by tempering with the bilge pump later sue told philip about some
00:49:17
problems she was having in her relationship with bob chapel she claimed that bob was unkind with
00:49:24
money and had been exhibiting some troubling behavior after drinking one night bob apparently
00:49:32
became convinced there was an intruder in their house and started running around with a knife
00:49:38
this worried sue she was concerned that bob was dangerous and wanted him gone she suggested to philip that they do to
00:49:49
bob what she had earlier proposed they'd do to her brother only this time they would also wrap a
00:49:56
bob in chicken wire before throwing him overboard philip had been taken aback by sue's
00:50:04
plan and tried to alert bob but sue denied his allegations consequently it marked the end of their
00:50:12
friendship although investigators had been suspicious of sue from the get-go they
00:50:21
withheld this information from her they wanted to rule out other possibilities when no other suspects immediately came
00:50:31
to light they narrowed in on sue and with the circumstantial evidence mounting against her it was time to act
00:50:40
just over a month after bob vanished covert listening devices were planted in sue's home and on her phone
00:50:48
investigators discovered that she had hired a lawyer who advised her not to speak to the police
00:50:55
regardless the next day sue voluntarily agreed to her first video interview at this point the police were still
00:51:05
gathering information for their investigation and didn't caution sue that she was considered a suspect
00:51:13
therefore she didn't ask to bring her lawyer they asked sue how things had been between her and bob when she left him on
00:51:22
the yacht she said they'd been squabbling bob was frustrated about the ongoing work that needed to be done to the boat
00:51:33
he'd given sue a lecture about how awful it was to work full time while dedicating his spare time to the repairs
00:51:42
sue repeated her story about visiting bunnings after she got back to shore adding that she had felt guilty at the
00:51:49
time because bob wouldn't be able to reach her if he called their landline this was the big chance for
00:51:57
investigators to catch sue in her own life they made the big reveal sue hadn't been caught on any cctv
00:52:07
footage and the store's opening hours that day didn't align with her timeline sue replied that she was pretty sure she
00:52:16
had been at bunnings on the afternoon in question she maintained that she didn't leave the
00:52:22
house again after returning home when asked why she didn't report the alleged break-ins on the four winds sue
00:52:32
said bob was reluctant to do so because he didn't want to give their boat a bad reputation
00:52:39
she claimed to have called the drug squad at the time to inquire about having sniffer dogs search the vessel
00:52:46
but bob had requested she didn't pursue the matter after the interview detectives called
00:52:53
every drug investigation unit in tasmania no one recalled receiving an inquiry of
00:53:00
this nature over a month after bob vanished sue sat down with radio journalist felicity
00:53:10
ogilvy having agreed to be interviewed about the case as they chatted prior to the interview
00:53:17
officially starting sue made a revelation she spoke about the phone call she'd received from richard on the night of
00:53:26
january 26 regarding bob's estranged daughter lisa as lisa had expressed concerns for bob
00:53:35
and his yacht sue wanted to check on them both to see if all was okay sue then admitted to felicity that she
00:53:44
didn't stay home the entire night of january 26th she drove to maryville esplanade
00:53:54
there were a few homeless people gathered around a fire on the beach but there didn't appear to be anything
00:54:00
suspicious going on on the four winds out at sea having put her mind at ease sue returned
00:54:08
home assuming this was a detail police were already aware of felicity ogilvy mentioned it in passing
00:54:18
during a subsequent interview with detectives it was the first they'd heard of it
00:54:26
given that sue had staunchly maintained to them that she'd never left their house on the night of january 26 her
00:54:33
comments placing her at the scene were huge investigators would soon discover that
00:54:40
felicity wasn't the only person sue had made this admission to in a phone call with bob's sister ran
00:54:48
over two months after he disappeared sue once again spoke of having driven down to maryville esplanade
00:54:56
in this account she added that she had left her car there so she could walk home for exercise
00:55:05
by mid-april almost three months had passed with no sign of bob chapel police divers once again entered the
00:55:14
waters of sandy bay using advanced sonar equipment they searched an area measuring one nautical
00:55:22
mile long and half a nautical mile wide from where the four winds had been moored
00:55:28
they found various items including old dinghies moorings discarded wheelie bins and concrete blocks
00:55:37
but nothing relevant to the chapel case investigators remained certain that bob's body had been dumped in the bay
00:55:46
and was hidden in the murky depths or had since drifted outside of their search zone
00:55:56
on may 5 2009 sunil fraser once again participated in a video interview with police
00:56:05
this time she was cautioned that she was officially being treated as a suspect in
00:56:10
bob's disappearance [Music] sue admitted she must have been mistaken when she initially said she'd been at
00:56:17
bunnings on the afternoon of january 26th she explained she must have gotten her
00:56:23
days mixed up due to being in a state of shock after bob went missing sue and bob visited bunnings frequently
00:56:32
to buy items for the boat and she simply had trouble differentiating one day from
00:56:37
the next when told about the witness reports that placed a dinghy at the four winds
00:56:44
between 4 and 5 pm sue completely changed her story she claimed she must have stayed aboard
00:56:52
the yacht later than she initially thought after returning to shore and tying the
00:56:59
dinghy up at the royal yacht club she left her car at either maryville esplanade or around the corner on
00:57:06
margaret street she couldn't be sure exactly she then walked the 2.7 kilometer route
00:57:13
home which took about 40 minutes later that night after receiving the call from richard about lisa she became
00:57:22
concerned she didn't want to call bob in case she woke him instead sue decided to walk down to
00:57:31
collect her car in case bob later called her from the yacht wanting to be picked
00:57:35
up when sue reached her car she realised she'd brought the wrong set of keys she walked home got the right set and
00:57:46
walked back once she returned to her vehicle she drove along the rowing sheds on
00:57:52
maryville esplanade parked the car and walked onto the beach it was pitch black and too dark to see
00:58:01
the four winds in the distance but she noticed that there were some homeless people sitting around a fire
00:58:08
this made her feel better so she drove home sue said she'd initially lied about going to the esplanade because she
00:58:18
didn't want to upset bob's other children if they found out about the phone call concerning their sister's
00:58:24
welfare the police told sue that the red yachting jacket she denied owning had tested positive for her dna
00:58:35
she conceded that the jacket belonged to her it was a spare kept on board for guests
00:58:43
however she had no idea how it ended up on the street for investigators sue was only digging
00:58:52
herself into a deeper hole they believed she had a conveniently selective memory wherein she changed her
00:59:00
story whenever she was presented with evidence that disproved her previous statements
00:59:07
she had denied the jacket was hers until dna testing proved otherwise she'd stuck with her story about being
00:59:16
at bunnings until security footage showed she was never there she was adamant she had never left her
00:59:23
house on the night of january 26 until a car matching the description of the one
00:59:29
she drove was captured on cctv and after she'd slipped up by telling the radio journalist that she'd driven to the
00:59:36
beach in early august 2009 sue wrote an official letter to the commissioner of police and the officer in charge of
00:59:47
internal affairs to complain about the way she was being treated concerned that the police were targeting
00:59:55
her and not considering other possibilities she requested that an independent review be conducted into
01:00:02
bob's disappearance her request was denied instead investigators were confident they had enough circumstantial evidence
01:00:13
to warrant an arrest on august 20 sunil fraser was charged with the murder of bob
01:00:26
chapple seven months later in march 2010 a 15 year old homeless girl named megan
01:00:33
vass was arrested in tasmania as per standard procedure her dna was run through the police database
01:00:44
it returned a match that nobody was expecting megan's dna had been detected at another
01:00:52
unrelated crime scene on board the four winds a forensic examination of the yacht had
01:01:02
uncovered a dinner plate size dna profile thought to have come from such bodily fluid as vomit urine or saliva
01:01:12
testing confirmed it didn't belong to sunil fraser and its source had remained unknown until now
01:01:21
megan vass had no known connection to bob chapple sunil fraser or the four winds so there was no reasonable
01:01:29
explanation for the presence of her dna on the yacht her fingerprints were compared to those
01:01:36
found on board but none were a match police searched for any other evidence that placed the teen on the four winds
01:01:45
at any time but found nothing police set up an interview with megan vass so they could question her about
01:01:54
her whereabouts on january 26 the previous year she never showed up they scheduled a second interview but
01:02:05
she didn't attend that one either as she was a minor with no adult guardian they couldn't force her to
01:02:13
speak megan was free to go about her life while sunil fraser's legal team scrambled to prove her innocence
01:02:24
they believed that police had tunnel vision on sue which led them to carry out an inadequate investigation
01:02:32
the dinghy sided roped up to the four winds on the afternoon bob vanished was described as charcoal grey
01:02:40
bob and sue's quicksilver dinghy was blue and white one witness saw alone seemingly female
01:02:48
figure traveling on a dinghy towards bob's yacht at 11 30 pm police were quick to conclude that this
01:02:57
person was sue yet it could have been megan vass or it might not have been a woman at all
01:03:05
a man named grant had also been moored in the same area as the four winds on the night of january 26 2009
01:03:15
he was described as slim with delicate features and wavy shoulder-length hair it was possible that the witness had
01:03:23
seen grant and confused his silhouette for that of a female then there was the assertion that sue
01:03:31
had lifted bob's body using a winch before placing it in the dinghy and dumping it at sea
01:03:39
several witnesses confirmed sue couldn't use the winch without assistance due to
01:03:44
a back injury the quicksilver dinghy was tested with luminol a chemical used to detect blood
01:03:52
and several areas had reacted positively however as luminol cannot be 100 relied
01:04:00
on another screening agent and microscopic examination were also used this time they returned negative results
01:04:12
there was no forensic evidence to conclusively prove there was or had been any blood in the dinghy at all
01:04:22
no other witnesses who had contact with sue the morning after bob's disappearance recalled seeing a bandage
01:04:28
on her wrist or band-aid on her thumb the interviewing officer who noticed the injury said he told the detective in
01:04:37
charge of the investigation about what he saw but he didn't take any photographs or
01:04:43
notes about the injury at the time nor did he request it to be examined an inverted latex glove uncovered on the
01:04:53
four winds led investigators to assume that sue had endeavoured to clean the yacht prior to sabotaging it
01:05:01
the glove contained fingerprints but they matched bob's son timothy who said he'd recently been on the yacht as a
01:05:09
guest although financial gain was a common motive for murder sue was not desperate
01:05:17
for money while she no longer worked full time she earned three investment properties and
01:05:24
bob had been providing her an allowance of 500 a fortnight for living expenses if she hoped to inherit bob's half of
01:05:33
the four wins it didn't make sense that she would then attempt to sink the vessel in the process
01:05:41
although her story changed sue willingly spoke with police and aided in their investigations
01:05:49
she even pointed out the things that were missing or out of place on the yacht were these the actions of someone who
01:05:57
had something to hide sue's trial commenced in tasmania's supreme court in september 2010
01:06:10
with no body no weapon no witnesses and nothing to conclusively prove that bob chapel was deceased the case against her
01:06:19
was built entirely on circumstantial evidence the prosecution called 60 witnesses to
01:06:27
the stand among them was peter one of the crew members who helped sail the four winds
01:06:33
from queensland to tasmania he was one of several people who claimed that sue told him her relationship with
01:06:42
bob was over in earlier police interviews sue claimed that peter drank heavily during the voyage implying that he might
01:06:51
have gotten things mixed up on the stand peter took offence to this he stated that the most he ever drank
01:07:00
was one or two glasses of wine during dinner and he was nowhere near intoxicated at any time on the journey
01:07:09
under cross-examination sue's lawyer put it to peter that someone with intimate knowledge of the
01:07:15
four winds would know there were easier ways to sink it than by cutting the 75 millimeter pipe near the toilet
01:07:24
peter agreed it would be quicker to sink the boat by opening the main engine inlet valve
01:07:31
however peter also noted that the slower method might be the best option if the person responsible wanted to get off the
01:07:39
yacht and out of sight before anyone noticed it was sinking sue's former friend philip triffit took
01:07:48
the stand to repeat his story about sue saying she wanted to kill both her brother and bob and throw them overboard
01:07:57
this had allegedly happened in the 90s when the defense asked philip why he didn't report either of these
01:08:04
conversations to police at the time he claimed he didn't think the threats would ever eventuate
01:08:12
the defense wasn't buying it they argued that if philip's claims were true it was absurd to think that sue
01:08:20
would have carried out the plan a decade after first mentioning it as the defense pointed out philip had
01:08:29
passed convictions for physical assault traffic infringement and unlawful possession of a firearm
01:08:36
at the time bob chapel went missing philip was on bail and had asked police whether providing information about bob
01:08:44
and sue's history would help with his current charges the defense urged the jury to reject
01:08:52
these claims on the basis that philip triffit was a dishonest man who was hoping to gain a personal advantage from
01:08:59
giving false evidence instead they criticized police for not seriously investigating sue's concerns
01:09:08
that someone might have used the four winds to smuggle drugs james a marine mechanic who had
01:09:15
conducted repairs on the yacht while it was birthed in queensland gave evidence that while working on the yacht he
01:09:22
raised concerns of a break-in james had noticed that on two or three occasions the boom cover which is a
01:09:30
tarpaulin that covers the cockpit to protect it from the elements was tied down differently to the way he had left
01:09:37
it several items on board had also been moved around as the four winds was kept on a locked
01:09:46
pier overnight james suspected someone was accessing the yacht from the sea rattled he had phoned sue to voice his
01:09:55
concerns including that he felt like someone was watching him however during cross-examination
01:10:03
james revealed he later found out that an electrician had been working on the boat after hours which accounted for
01:10:10
this suspicious activity he had informed sue of this this implied she knew the boat hadn't
01:10:19
been broken into yet had still used these incidents to bolster her drug smuggling theory
01:10:29
while there were compelling arguments both for and against sue's innocence one giant question loomed
01:10:37
how had megan vassa's dna got on board the four winds the case's dna profiler confirmed that
01:10:45
the dinner plate-sized dna profile belonged to megan vass at a probability of 1 in 100 million
01:10:54
although rare he said it was entirely possible that megan's dna ended up on the four winds through secondary
01:11:01
transfer without her ever having been on board speculatively speaking it was possible
01:11:08
that the dna had been walked onto the yacht from someone's shoe although he didn't recall an instance in
01:11:15
his career where such an incident had occurred there had actually been some other items
01:11:21
found on board that also appeared to have been covered in vomit a small blue face washer and two wet rags
01:11:29
these had been bagged as evidence and appeared on the forensic report tendered in court but they were never
01:11:35
forensically tested nor mentioned during the trial by this point megan vass had been
01:11:43
tracked down and was called to testify she told the jury that in late january of 2009 she was living in a complex in
01:11:53
lena valley a suburb six and a half kilometers north of sandy bay she had never been on board the four
01:12:01
winds and couldn't recall whether she was anywhere near sandy bay at the time of bob chapple's disappearance
01:12:09
explaining why she refused to be interviewed by the police when her dna was first linked to the case megan said
01:12:16
she was intimidated by law enforcement and by the magnitude of the situation after giving her testimony megan was
01:12:26
free to leave however something she said raised a red flag before the jury had been summoned in
01:12:36
megan told the court that she'd been living in a women's refuge in montrose at the time of bob chapple's
01:12:42
disappearance not lena valley like she told the jury the two suburbs were roughly six
01:12:50
kilometers apart and not easily confused furthermore one of the detectives who had looked into megan after her dna was
01:12:59
identified told a completely different story during his inquiries he discovered that
01:13:07
in late january 2009 megan was living at a woman's shelter called mara house in the inner northern
01:13:14
suburb of newtown shelter policy required anyone who intended to spend the night off grounds
01:13:22
tell the staff where they were going on the night of january 26 staff recalled that megan spent the night away
01:13:31
and had given them the address of a unit in mount nelson a suburb just above sandy bay
01:13:39
the detective looked into it and discovered it was a fake address this was the first time this information
01:13:48
had come to light but by this point megan vass had already been dismissed from court
01:13:55
the judge decided not to recall her and simply instructed the jury to ignore this information from the detective as
01:14:03
it was only hearsay as the trial progressed sunil fraser was called to the stand as the sole witness
01:14:14
for the defense for four days she was subject to intense questioning sue denied ever saying that her
01:14:23
relationship with bob was over on the contrary they had planned to get married on their upcoming 20th
01:14:30
anniversary she strongly denied ever telling her former friend phillip triffit that she
01:14:37
wanted her brother and bob dead she claimed the real reason her friendship with philip deteriorated was
01:14:45
because he was stockpiling weapons and it made her and bob very uncomfortable additionally philip's partner at the
01:14:54
time had told them that philip had burned her house down for insurance money and that he had once killed a man
01:15:03
sue stuck by the story that she sometimes strapped her wrist due to an old boating injury that often flared up
01:15:11
as for the band-aid the interviewing officer recalled seeing on her left thumb the morning of bob's disappearance
01:15:18
sue claimed to have no recollection of cutting herself she said she must have been scratched by
01:15:26
her cat she admitted it was quote very silly that she'd kept the word of her trip to
01:15:33
sandy bay on the night of january 26 a secret she said she hadn't been thinking clearly at the time
01:15:43
the prosecution accused sue of planting red herrings to direct the investigation
01:15:48
away from herself sue disputed this explaining that one of the reasons she withheld information
01:15:56
from police was that she began suffering acute mental blackouts a few days after
01:16:01
bob's disappearance she stated it was as if everything was receding and then i would basically not know where i
01:16:11
was just for a few seconds or a minute sue also claimed it was stress that it caused her to give incorrect
01:16:20
recollections of her trip to bunning's warehouse hindered further by the fact that her days blended into one because
01:16:27
she typically followed the same routine every day the prosecution labelled these as false
01:16:34
memories and suggested that sue told so many lies she was unable to keep track of them all
01:16:43
the prosecution also accused sue of exaggerating stories about the four winds being broken into to lead police
01:16:50
towards that line of investigation her 2009 diary in which she had made note of a break-in that occurred on
01:17:00
january 10 was presented to the chord this entry had been written using different colored ink to other entries
01:17:08
from the same day the prosecution alleged this was because sue had made the entry later on to give
01:17:16
her story about the break-ins more credence sue denied this allegation pointing out
01:17:24
that most of her diary entries were written in different coloured ink during her time on the stand sue
01:17:32
often gave vague non-committed responses the judge cautioned her against this but
01:17:39
sue ignored the caution and continued giving passive answers some perceived this as being uncertain
01:17:47
and deceitful when the prosecution blatantly accused sue of killing bob and dumping his body
01:17:55
at sea for financial gain sue responded there is not a grain of truth in any of this
01:18:14
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after three weeks sunil fraser's trial began wrapping up her lawyer reminded the jury that the
01:21:47
prosecution's case was entirely circumstantial and tasmanian law dictated that an individual couldn't be
01:21:54
convicted of a crime when the evidence lies purely on suspicion he said the prosecution's case ignored
01:22:02
the evidence that clearly proved sue was innocent telling the jury you hold ms nil fraser's future in your
01:22:10
hands today and you have a solemn duty to discharge in accordance with the oath that you took at the beginning of these
01:22:17
proceedings to decide the case according to the evidence that oath says nothing about suspicion
01:22:28
the judge reiterated to the jury that telling a lie mustn't be treated as evidence suggesting guilt
01:22:36
he clarified quote you may find miss nilfrazer guilty of murder if you're satisfied beyond
01:22:44
reasonable doubt of all the following things a she killed mr chapel b the physical acts or acts by which she
01:22:54
killed mr chapel were voluntary and intentional c at the time of the killing she intended
01:23:01
to cause mr chapel's death d her physical acts or acts were not justified under the provisions of the
01:23:10
criminal code the jury deliberated for 18 hours for the murder of bob chapel they found
01:23:20
su neil fraser guilty beyond reasonable doubt sue was noticeably shocked by the outcome
01:23:29
she had been so convinced that the jury would find her innocent that she'd barely considered the alternative
01:23:37
sentencing took place 12 days later bob's family chose not to provide victim impact statements in order to preserve
01:23:45
their privacy the judge stated he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that sue had murdered
01:23:53
bob on board the four winds and used the dinghy to dump his body at sea for the purpose of her own financial gain quote
01:24:04
she seems to me to be clever very cool-headed and well-able to control her emotions
01:24:11
this was not a killing that occurred because of a loss of self-control it was not a crime of
01:24:17
passion it was an intentional and purposeful killing acknowledging that sue had no prior
01:24:26
convictions the judge stated that her refusal to plead guilty or assist with locating bob's body coupled with her
01:24:34
lack of remorse warranted a heavier sentence than most murders he therefore sentenced sunil fraser to
01:24:43
26 years with a non-parole period of 18 years backdated to the date of her arrest
01:24:53
sue appealed against her conviction straight away and in august 2011 her case was heard in the court of criminal
01:25:01
appeal the appeal was quashed immediately but the appellate judges agreed that given
01:25:08
her age and previously good character her sentencing was excessive sue's sentence was reduced to 23 years
01:25:17
with a non-parole period of 13 years meaning she would be eligible for parole in 2022
01:25:26
sue wasn't satisfied with this outcome six months later she applied for special leave to appeal to the high court of
01:25:33
australia on the grounds that the case against her was purely circumstantial she argued that the dna
01:25:41
evidence belonging to megan vass found on board the four winds should be given further consideration
01:25:49
her application was rejected that same day writing to a friend about her experiences
01:25:58
sue said it has been a pretty horrific few years for us no one in our family had ever been
01:26:06
involved in the criminal justice system and we were therefore naive when it came
01:26:10
to interacting with police we had faith that if mistakes were made there were checks and balances to
01:26:18
address them now in hindsight our world view has changed and of necessity we find
01:26:26
ourselves tumbling about in the eye of a turbulent fight for justice as more time goes by since bob
01:26:34
disappeared the more clearly i see what has happened and to just how outrageous the claims made by police and
01:26:42
prosecution actually were for sue's appeal lawyer barbaretta one particular detail continued to play on
01:26:53
her mind in the weeks following bob's disappearance a man named steven gleason had gone to the hobart police station
01:27:02
wanting to report his sightings on the night of january 26 2009 gleason had been living in his car in
01:27:11
sandy bay at the time and knew bob and sue as he occasionally helped them with their dinghy
01:27:19
he expected that police would follow up with him to provide a statement but they never did
01:27:26
barbaretta wanted to know why she contacted the police and insisted they conduct a formal interview with
01:27:35
gleason the police reluctantly agreed stephen gleason told the interviewing officer that his friend paul roe should
01:27:46
be viewed with suspicion roe lived on a boat which had been moored alongside the four winds on the
01:27:53
night of bob chapple's disappearance and he was known to invite homeless people aboard
01:28:00
a month prior to the four winds incident roe had allegedly told gleason that bob
01:28:05
chapel was quote a condescending old [ __ ] and i'd like to rip his teeth out of his head with a
01:28:13
pair of old pliers gleason claimed that he'd been sleeping in his car overlooking sandy bay on the
01:28:20
night of january 26 2009 when a homeless teenage girl knocked on his window he suspected that she and her boyfriend
01:28:31
had boarded the four winds and might have something to do with bob's disappearance
01:28:38
it was curious that paul rowe had never been questioned after all his boat was the closest one
01:28:46
more to the four winds on the night in question rowe also had a long criminal history
01:28:52
which included serving prison time for stabbing a man at the persistence of sue's lawyer
01:29:00
police finally questioned him in 2012. roe denied knowing sunil fraser or bob chappell but remembered the four winds
01:29:09
because of its distinct double mast he admitted to having a violent temper that worsened when he was intoxicated
01:29:18
but denied having anything to do with bob's disappearance or assisting sue with the murder
01:29:26
he said he didn't know anyone named megan vass according to roe on the night of january
01:29:35
26 2009 he had been drinking with stephen gleason before returning to his boat roe claimed he kept his boat there until
01:29:45
around november 2010 however photographs taken during the investigation into bob chapple's
01:29:53
disappearance proved otherwise there was no sign of paul rose vessel in any of the images
01:30:02
in reality roe had up and left the day after bob's disappearance relocating his boat to constitution dock on the other
01:30:10
side of the city police never queried this inconsistency [Music] while the public remained divided about
01:30:25
whether or not sunil fraser was guilty her family and supporters continued to rally around her
01:30:32
they felt there were other possibilities that weren't explored due to investigators having cast their
01:30:38
suspicions on sue prematurely what about megan vassa's dna in the rare chance that megan's dna was
01:30:49
walked on board by somebody else it would have likely appeared in multiple places rather than in one single puddle
01:30:57
furthermore secondary transference of dna is extremely rare and it would have been nearly impossible in such a large
01:31:05
amount there were also some unidentified fingerprints and human hairs found on board the four winds that didn't belong
01:31:14
to sue then there was bob's daughter lisa who had spoken of her father coming to harm
01:31:21
on the four winds the very night he disappeared despite this lisa wasn't questioned by
01:31:28
police until four months into the investigation there was also the issue of a police log
01:31:36
recorded on january 27 2009 that had been withheld from sue's defense team and therefore not presented at her trial
01:31:47
the log stated that at some time between 7 45 and 8 30 on the night bob went missing a woman who lived in a large
01:31:55
house overlooking sandy bay had looked out over the water she'd seen an inflatable dinghy leaving
01:32:02
the area where the four winds was moored she believed the dinghy was being driven
01:32:09
by a male aged between 40 and 50 years old with thick wavy reddish brown hair and a quote
01:32:17
whether beaten sailor look underneath the woman's statement a detective had written person fits description of sunil
01:32:28
fraser witness was some distance from dinghy and presumed it was a male due to the
01:32:34
way the dinghy was sitting low in the water at the rear that comment was entirely subjective yet
01:32:43
investigators hadn't bothered looking into any other possibilities in actuality the woman might have in
01:32:51
fact seen a male as she told police there had also been a report from a woman who lived on the foreshore who
01:33:00
said she had heard a distressed male's voice in the middle of the night police had largely ignored this report
01:33:08
even though it could have been vital in identifying the timing of bob's attack then there was the ongoing argument
01:33:17
about sue's drug smuggling theory while sue's trial was taking place the australian federal police seized 464
01:33:28
kilograms of cocaine with a street value of 160 million dollars from a yacht in brisbane
01:33:36
three australian men were arrested after law enforcement agencies in the united states tipped off australian authorities
01:33:45
while the prosecution passed off sue's drug smuggling concerns as ludicrous and unfounded
01:33:51
some argue that this bust showed the possibility wasn't without merit during sue's trial the police had told
01:34:01
the court there were no known break-ins to yachts in the hobart area in the weeks leading up to bob's disappearance
01:34:09
however this wasn't true several locals had in fact had their dinghies stolen and boats broken into
01:34:18
but the police never followed up these reports in relation to bob's disappearance
01:34:24
instead placing the blame on the local homeless population on the night of bob's disappearance
01:34:32
another vessel north of sandy bay had been ransacked in a similar manner to the four winds with the power turned off
01:34:40
at the switchboard and the alarm system disengaged with mounting pressure from sue's
01:34:49
supporters and various media outlets the heat was on for the state coroner to announce a public inquest into bob
01:34:57
chapel's death but in january 2014 coroner glenn haye confirmed that there wouldn't be an
01:35:05
inquest as he supported the findings of sue's murder trial and didn't believe anyone else had been
01:35:12
involved corona hay believed a formal hearing would be a waste of court time and resources while subjecting bob and
01:35:20
sue's loved ones to unnecessary stress given that sue had exhausted her appeal options an inquest was her last chance
01:35:31
to have the case re-examined then almost two years later in november 2015 a new opportunity arose
01:35:43
an amendment was made to the tasmanian criminal code act that allowed the right to appeal to the courts in circumstances
01:35:51
where fresh and compelling evidence had become available this meant sue could launch another
01:35:58
appeal providing she could present evidence that was compelling enough to convince a judge for her appeal to be
01:36:04
heard sue's supporters erected billboards in the centre of hobart and along major
01:36:11
roads offering a forty thousand dollar reward for anyone with quote true facts that led to sue's release
01:36:24
in 2016 former detective turned true crime writer colin mclaren started investigating the bob chapel case
01:36:32
himself he was convinced that megan vass held a vital clue to solving the mystery of
01:36:39
what went down on the four winds that australia day while colin didn't think megan killed
01:36:46
bob perhaps she had been on the yacht that night and witnessed something terrible happen
01:36:53
by this point megan vass was 23 years old and running with the motorcycle gang colin mclaren managed to track her down
01:37:03
and she eventually agreed to speak to him in person they met at a hotel in hobart
01:37:11
megan was accompanied by her boyfriend with a counsellor on standby to provide support
01:37:18
megan was visibly apprehensive it was clear that she was highly stressed and on edge
01:37:26
she didn't want to talk saying the whole situation had haunted her for 11 years but her boyfriend urged her to
01:37:36
it wasn't your fault he told her somebody did the wrong thing by you you're the one carrying it all
01:37:45
megan paced nervously around the room unable to sit still she then begged her boyfriend to let her
01:37:52
leave colin mclaren urged her to think of sunil fraser who was spending her elderly years in prison in a wheelchair
01:38:04
he told megan how grateful sue would be if she just told the truth distraught with her head in her hands
01:38:13
megan responded i know this and i've tried so hard it's draining me for [ __ ] sake
01:38:22
i can't do it today megan said she thought about sue every single day and that if she could she
01:38:31
would go and unlock her cell door herself unable to cope with the pressure of the
01:38:38
situation megan ended the meeting however before leaving the hotel she was presented with the statutory declaration
01:38:48
that colin mclaren had prepared in advance it stated i was on the four winds yacht on the
01:38:57
night of australia day 2009 i was there with people that i won't name i don't want to give any details except
01:39:06
that i was on the yacht the lady sunil fraser was not on the yacht i have never met her i don't know her i
01:39:17
just know she is in prison i don't want to say why i was on the yacht and i don't want to say any more
01:39:27
megan signed the document the statutory declaration was given to the director of public prosecutions but
01:39:37
no further action was taken megan vassa's boyfriend was eventually charged with perverting the course of
01:39:45
justice after police argued that he pressured her to sign it against her will sue's lawyer barbara rata remained
01:39:55
committed to proving her client's innocence there was another detail that had been
01:40:01
bugging her it related to the red yachting jacket belonging to sue that was found on the
01:40:07
esplanade on the morning of bob chapple's disappearance when this item was forensically analyzed
01:40:14
a 26 centimeter long dark hair was found on it however the hair was never tested
01:40:24
barbara urged the director of public prosecutions to test it against the dna database and in april of 2017
01:40:33
they finally agreed the hair did not belong to sue instead it was linked to a woman who had
01:40:43
been taken into police custody at 8pm on january 27 2009. the night after bob chapple's disappearance
01:40:54
barbaretta discovered that when police first found the jacket it was thrown into the back of a police car without
01:41:00
being properly bagged as evidence the hair made its way onto the jacket when the woman was taken in the car for
01:41:08
reasons unrelated to the bob chapel investigation four days later when an officer went to
01:41:16
retrieve the jacket for forensic testing he found it laying in the dirt in the police car park
01:41:23
during that time the jacket had been exposed to both rain and sun with many people passing it by
01:41:32
the police log submitted at sue's trial had made no mention of this sue's legal team believed they'd amassed
01:41:45
enough new information to finally present their case to the supreme court of tasmania
01:41:51
they had the stat deck from megan vass the witness statement from stephen gleason that named paul rowe and various
01:41:59
experts who were willing to weigh in on the elements of the investigation they believed were handled incorrectly
01:42:07
in october 2017 sue began her leave to appeal with the aim of convincing the judge that there was enough new and
01:42:15
compelling evidence to warrant a retrial nineteen witnesses were expected to take
01:42:22
the stand over the course of the hearing the first being megan vass however when megan appeared in court she
01:42:31
retracted the statement made in her statutory declaration saying it was quote not [ __ ] true
01:42:40
she denied being on board the four winds on the night that bob chapel went missing and claimed that she had been
01:42:47
pressured into signing the stat deck and offered payment to do so megan became aggressive screaming
01:42:56
i had been made to sign that statement out of fear i was threatened to be put in the boot
01:43:02
of a car she eventually ran from the courtroom to avoid the media waiting outside
01:43:12
stephen gleason had since been convicted of causing grievous bodily harm after repeatedly bashing his neighbour over
01:43:19
the head with an iron and was currently serving nine years in prison a lawyer acting on behalf of colin
01:43:27
mclaren had visited gleason in prison and presented him with a photographic lineup to see if he could identify the
01:43:35
teenager who knocked on his window on the night of bob chapple's disappearance gleason had singled out a photo of megan
01:43:43
vass however because the lawyer had presented this lineup to gleason without permission from law enforcement police
01:43:53
claimed that both the lawyer and gleason were perverting the course of justice they also believed that the lawyer had
01:44:01
strongly influenced gleason to identify megan vass both men were charged with interfering
01:44:09
with sue's appeal beard regardless at the hearing gleason maintained his belief that paul rowe was
01:44:17
responsible for bob's disappearance and maintained his identification of megan vass as the teenager who knocked on his
01:44:25
car window on the night in question to complicate matters further gleason also admitted he would lie to help sue
01:44:35
prove her innocence the leave to appeal concluded on february 6 2019 with the verdict to be
01:44:46
delivered at a later date around this time colin mclaren published his findings in a book titled southern
01:44:56
justice a firm believer in sue's innocence the book sought to highlight the various
01:45:03
mistakes made throughout the course of the investigation mclaren also teamed up with filmmaker e
01:45:11
vash to present their case for sue's innocence in a six-part documentary series for the channel 7 network titled
01:45:20
undercurrent both the book and the series explained mclaren's theory as to how bob chappell
01:45:27
was really murdered he believed the more logical possibility was that two or more people broke into
01:45:35
the four winds not expecting to find bob on board caught off guard they killed him in the
01:45:42
saloon and then attempted to let water into the yacht to destroy as much evidence as possible
01:45:49
based on a length of rope that was found dangling from the rear entry hatch the drops of blood on the lounge suite
01:45:56
underneath and scuff marks above the lounge mclaren theorised that the attackers then tied a rope around bob's
01:46:04
body and pulled him out of the saloon via the skylight above as mclaren explained in southern justice
01:46:14
the rope is visible in police photographs its presence teases the astute investigator
01:46:22
this clue is vital to understanding the crime scene and cannot be ignored but it was
01:46:30
elongated vertical blood drops are evident on the lounge their shape indicating that at some
01:46:37
point his body was above where the drops fell this is detective 101 stuff logically i can see no other solution
01:46:52
with the release of southern justice and the undercurrent documentary series sunil fraser's case was back in the
01:46:59
spotlight channel 9's 60 minutes secured an exclusive interview with megan vass which promised viewers explosive
01:47:09
revelations the episode aired on march 10 2019 megan now aged 25 was still tormented
01:47:20
over a secret that had now haunted her for a decade she became incredibly emotional as she
01:47:27
began to reveal the whole truth of what happened on the night of january 26 2009 through tears megan claimed she and
01:47:38
two other men whom she didn't want to name had been in the sandy bay area breaking into boats to steal money to
01:47:45
buy alcohol they entered the four winds thinking it would be vacant and were caught off
01:47:52
guard when they found bob on board one of the men started arguing with bob and the confrontation escalated
01:48:02
the man launched an attack that lasted for around 20 minutes hitting bob over the head multiple times with an unknown
01:48:10
object megan said she urged the man to stop but he was much bigger than her and she was
01:48:18
helpless the sight of the blood eventually caused her to vomit likely accounting for the
01:48:25
dinner plate size the dna sample found on board as well as the vomit-stained rags and face washer
01:48:34
she refused to name either of the attackers or reveal what they did with bob's body
01:48:40
but stated quote whatever's happened it's been horrible megan explained it had taken her so long
01:48:51
to speak up because she had been living a hard life on the streets and was afraid to come forward
01:48:58
when interviewer liam bartlett asked why people should believe her now megan responded
01:49:05
i don't have a good reason really i'd like to see sue home with her family it's the right thing to do i suppose
01:49:15
as to whether she would retract her story when put in front of the court again megan said
01:49:22
i can't give a legitimate reason as to why anyone should believe me and given my track record yeah maybe they
01:49:30
shouldn't but i'm here now and i'm doing all i can i can't do anymore [Music] the episode was banned in tasmania due
01:49:41
to sue's pending application for appeal but on march 14 2019 megan signed an affidavit confirming
01:49:50
that she was on the four winds on the night of bob chapple's murder this carried more power than the
01:49:57
statutory declaration she had previously signed for colin mclaren in the affidavit megan named the two men
01:50:06
she was with and said that they had accessed the four winds because there was no dinghy attached
01:50:12
leading them to believe it was unoccupied she said she couldn't recall the events
01:50:19
that transpired after the attack on bob or how she got back to shore one week later a judge ruled there was
01:50:29
enough fresh and compelling evidence to warrant sunil fraser's leave of appeal this was excellent news for sue
01:50:39
since her arrest she had missed the death of her mother and the births of four of her grandchildren
01:50:46
if her appeal was successful it was possible that she could face a retrial or that her conviction would be
01:50:52
overturned if it failed she would be able to apply for another leave of appeal only if
01:51:00
further fresh and compelling evidence came to light outside the courthouse sue's daughter
01:51:07
sarah commented this is just one step in what's going to be a very long journey for us as a
01:51:14
family she's an innocent woman and it's time she came home and was with her grandchildren for cuddles
01:51:22
i want my mum back [Music] sue's appeal was scheduled to commence at hobart's supreme court in late may
01:51:34
2020 however it was delayed due to the global covert 19 pandemic it finally took place at the start of
01:51:43
march 2021 by which point sue had been imprisoned for 11 and a half years megan vass was the star witness for the
01:51:53
defense while sue's lawyer acknowledged that megan had been an unreliable witness and
01:52:00
had changed her story several times over the years they explained that the issue of her
01:52:06
credibility was secondary to whether or not her dna had arrived on the yacht by her being present on board
01:52:16
lawyer said there is an anchor that is fixed and that is the finding of dna of megan vas
01:52:25
if that anchor holds it will produce a compelling case that there's been a miscarriage of justice
01:52:34
on day one megan appeared via video link explaining she had recently overcome her
01:52:40
drug addiction but remained mostly homeless once again it was clear the situation
01:52:47
caused her a great amount of stress she became visibly emotional as she admitted to being on the four winds when
01:52:54
bob chappell was murdered it was the first time she'd made this admission before the courts
01:53:04
in a similar story to the one she gave to 60 minutes megan said that she had been drinking in the suburb of goodwood
01:53:12
with her then boyfriend and two of his friends one of whom was stephen gleason this expanded on stephen gleason's
01:53:21
previous comments in which he said megan had just knocked on his car window at the beach
01:53:29
according to megan the men came up with a plan they'd go to sandy bay and rob boats for
01:53:35
more alcohol money megan hadn't been involved with the plan but went along with it because she was
01:53:42
drunk [Music] in sandy bay they found a dinghy on the beach and used it to enter the four
01:53:49
winds not expecting to find anyone on board when they encountered bob chappell megan
01:53:57
said her boyfriend started quote flipping he attacked bob and it was the sight of
01:54:04
blood that caused megan to she couldn't recall anything that happened after that
01:54:13
things were looking promising for sue until megan took the virtual witness stand again the following day for
01:54:20
cross-examination this time megan said she'd been mistaken when she said there were three men on
01:54:28
the yacht when in fact there were only two she then changed her story again saying
01:54:34
there was only one man having caught her in a lie the prosecutor asked megan you can't remember being on that boat
01:54:44
can you megan responded no she said she'd been harassed into giving evidence and that someone had threatened
01:54:55
to harm her if she didn't provide one of the men's names she had given it was a major blow for sue's defense
01:55:05
they requested that megan vass be relieved as a witness and her testimony abandoned
01:55:12
instead they focused on what they saw as issues with the original trial mainly the dna evidence linked to megan
01:55:22
a dna expert for the defense had contradictory findings to the prosecution to prove that megan's dna
01:55:30
couldn't have appeared on the four winds of liar's secondary transfer they argued that if the jury heard from
01:55:38
this expert there would likely be enough to exonerate sue on the basis of reasonable doubt
01:55:46
however the prosecution explained that on the day the four winds was found sinking it wasn't treated as a crime
01:55:53
scene it was eventually transferred to a marine facility in goodwood the same suburb where megan vass claimed to have
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been on january 26 2009 at least 21 other people including insurance assessors police officers and
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civilians had entered the yacht before forensic swabs were taken any one of these individuals could have
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transferred megan's dna on board the prosecution concluded that it was highly unlikely that megan vass was
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involved in bob's death while there was quote overwhelming evidence that sue neil
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fraser was after five years in the making the appeal came to an end after just two and
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a half days outside court sue's daughter sarah said she was optimistic that the judges would
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realize that a miscarriage of justice had been served sarah said mom is innocent and this needs to be
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rectified so that she can get out and be acquitted the true perpetrators of this crime need
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to be held to account and justice achieved for the sake of bob [Music] for seven months sue and her supporters
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waited anxiously as a panel of three judges reached their decision [Music] on november 30 2021 the judge's
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announcement was finally handed down while one judge accepted sue's appeal and welcomed a retrial the other two
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dismissed the appeal with two against one sue had lost [Music] bob chapel's family have remained
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tight-lipped about the case over the years while sunil fraser's supporters remain unwavering in their belief that
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she is innocent among them is stuart tipple the lawyer that helped exonerate lindy chamberlain
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whose wrongful conviction was covered in episode 136 of case file another lawyer has called the case
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against sue the greatest miscarriage of justice in this country since chamberlain
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sue's supporters have made numerous requests for a royal commission into bob's disappearance to no avail
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in january 2022 13 years after bob's presumed death sue lodged an application to appeal to the high court over the
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dismissal of her case [Music] it's unknown whether the court will consider her application
01:58:45
either way sue will be eligible for parole in august 2022 to sue and her family clearing her name
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is just as important as her freedom the question of what really happened to bob chapel continues to polarize the
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australian public some wonder if bob had faked his own death others question if it were an accident
01:59:14
perhaps the toilet water pipe broke and bob injured himself trying to fix it accounting for the blood on board
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he might have then attempted to use the epirb to call for help before falling overboard and drowning
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others remain convinced of sunil fraser's guilt noting her string of lies and a constantly changing story
01:59:39
sue's incarceration has been viewed critically not necessarily because people believe she is innocent but
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because she shouldn't have been convicted on circumstantial evidence alone whatever the case bob chapel's outcome
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remains unknown the four winds was sold at public auction to one of the salvage agents who
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helped stop it from sinking they plan to take its sailing once they retire just as bob and sue had planned to do
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[Music] in 2016 case file covered the disappearance of 22 year old shano callahan all you can see is headlights
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of a car flashing it's blatantly obvious that she got in that car whoever had taken her had done it for criminal
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purposes now hear firsthand from loved ones and lead investigator steve bulger as we
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unravel how the case unfolded and the minefield of legal and ethical dilemmas encountered along the way
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therefore there's only one way to do this it was at that point that steve fortune decided to take an extraordinary
02:01:12
gamble her life is my responsibility all i could do was plead with him for her life when a killer confesses
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do you listen he said you and i should have a chat the fact of his guilt was unequivocal
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but what if one interpretation of the law says you shouldn't accept the confession
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when he got taken to swindon he got a lawyer all that conversation those vital confessions
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disappeared of no value what they were doing what were they doing what happens to the cop who believes he's making the
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right choice the whole reason we were there was losing sight what was wrong in getting a confession
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from a murderer it obviously rehearsed this line that he ended with which was it was a pleasure to ruin your career
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you corrupt bastard if it had been your loved one steve bulger was looking for what would you have wanted him to do to
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crucify somebody for trying his best get closure for two families doesn't make a lot of sense
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case file presents the detective's dilemma available for free on march 14 only on spotify
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