Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will read now a letter which I have received from Zena and Andrew Cattermole, parents of Adam Coleman, who was killed in Mexico in late 2015:

On 21st November 2015 our lives changed in the most unimaginable way when our son, Adam Coleman was killed in Mexico.

Adam was 33 years old and had spent half of his life traveling the world and surfing. He, along with his childhood friend, Dean Lucas, was murdered by robbers on a highway in Sinaloa. Their murders were brutal and that is something we will struggle with for the rest of our lives. The section of road where they died is notorious for crime but is a toll road and they probably felt safe enough. They were fluent in Spanish and were experienced travellers who felt comfortable in almost any surroundings. They were killed by men posing as police officers. I can only imagine they felt they were targets for bribery. They have paid bribes to police in several countries and they quite often expect it. We became aware of their disappearance and through the assistance of the boys girlfriends, the car with the boys remains were found. We were informed of this on 28th November.

We were visited by the Australian Federal Police on 1st December and the investigation into the boys deaths started. DNA samples were taken for comparison. The Australian Federal Police came back twice more on the 2nd and 3rd. Both sets of parents then travelled to the USA on the night of the 3rd December and then onto Mexico.

Whilst in the USA we were under the care of the AFP in Los Angeles and Australian Consular Officials. When we were in Los Angeles we were informed that individuals had been arrested in relation to the boys deaths.

We tried to contact our families in Australia but it was already in news stories there and some family members had already seen it.

We flew the next day to Puerto Vallarta in Mexico and were under the guidance of DFAT officials in Mexico City. We were determined not to leave Mexico without knowing that our sons were on their way back to Australia. This was problematic due to the identification being hard to establish due to the brutality of the assault.

After five days we moved to Sayulita which is a surfing community and more in keeping with what our sons enjoyed.

After two weeks the identification of the boys was complete and the suspects were charged with murder.

The repatriation process of the boys bodies was started and we could plan our trip home. We arrived home on the 29th December and Adam arrived on the 1st January 2016.

Throughout this ordeal we have been treated with the utmost respect and kindness by almost everyone we have come into contact with. We would like to thank the Australian Federal Police and the forensic team that came to our house. They are such a professional group and we always felt we were in good hands. Special thanks to Zoe Kyte of the Australian Federal Police who was constantly on the case and took great care of us.

We would like to thank the WA coroners office for taking carriage of the case and putting our minds at ease.

We would like to thank all Australian Consular Officials in Canberra, Los Angeles and Mexico City. They were always available to talk to us and were very professional in all aspects of the job.

We would like to thank Virgin Airlines for the care and privacy they afforded us at the worst time of our lives. The staff were beautiful and very sincere.

We would like to thank the Mexican government who helped to resolve this dreadful situation and aided us to get our children home.

They were very cooperative and never shied away from the horror of this incident. We understand that they are trying hard to make Mexico safe and although we were gutted by this incident we have an affection for Mexico and it's people. We were constantly asked for forgiveness by individuals who had nothing to do with this crime. We know it was five people who were responsible for Adam's death and we bear no grudge against anybody else. We will visit Mexico in the future as tourists and not grieving parents.

We would like to thank Storm and Courtney Richardson for their help and especially the Hasburgh family of Patrick, Cheri, Jensen and Wheeler. They took us under their wings and made us part of their family. They would not let us be alone on Christmas Day and we are forever thankful for their friendship.

Lastly we would like to thank over a thousand people who gave their money so we could travel to Mexico and bring our sons home. The boys employer in Canada, GS Holdings gave us $8000. It is very humbling when people help you in this circumstance. It shows us that the world is overwhelmingly good.

We don't want people to remember Adam as a victim of crime, but as a World citizen who loved life and everyone he met.

Sincerely

Zena and Andrew Cattermole