A new podcast investigation by 60 Minutes journalist Adam Hegarty examines on the fatal events of a single night in 2018 where a backyard party in Alva Beach North Queensland ended in tragedy with the stabbing deaths of two men: 37-year-old father of three Corey Christensen and 27-year-old Tom Davy.
Alva Beach: Death At The Door is an eight-part exclusive series. Both families, heartbroken and seeking answers, saw the teenager responsible never charged.
Hegarty covered the coronial inquest and has now travelled to North Queensland to delve back into this case; dissecting an inexcusable failure by first responders; troves of contradicting testimony; why lawyers stormed out of the inquest; and speaking with families feeling let down by what they consider a flawed investigation.
He said:
“I was shocked by the botched response and failures of police and paramedics that night and the inadequacy of the court to get to the truth of this tragedy even years later.
Tom and Corey’s families believe the system failed them from the very start and have been chasing answers for years. There are critical details of this case that demand public scrutiny, and this podcast is about putting that full, unvarnished record out there.”
Tom Davy’s father, Neil Davy said:
“It’s been a domino effect of failures right from the start. The ambulance, the police, then the inquest. We’re here because we need the law to work.”
The podcast looks deeper at the extraordinary amount of evidence, much of which has never been released to the public, including police bodycam footage, emergency phone calls, suspect interviews and internal investigation recordings. Hegarty tracks down people linked to this case who have never spoken before. Among them, former police officer Justin Luke, who was on the scene that night.
Luke said:
“I’m not a police officer anymore, so I feel like I can speak a little bit more freely. There’s unanswered questions, and I think what I’ve had to say hopefully will answer some of them(sic) questions.”
Alva Beach: Death At The Door asks was this a tragic and unfortunate chain of events, or is it an egregious failure of justice and due process in this country?
The Davy family’s lawyer, Julia Jasper, whose is continuing the legal fight, perfectly summed it up:
“We have a system that’s set up to protect rights but also, as far as the evidence allows, gets to the truth… it hasn’t worked. We should know more than we know.”
Alva Beach: Death At The Door, from 60 Minutes and 9Podcasts, is available now wherever you get your podcasts.