THREE possible scenarios have been raised at an inquest into the mystery disappearance of Burnie woman Helen Munnings - murder, suicide or alive and living in the Northern Territory.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Ms Munnings was last seen on July 23, 2008 when she was 20 years old.
It is believed the last sighting of her alive was when she was dropped off near the paper mill on the Bass Highway in Burnie.
No one has seen or heard from her since.
She left behind a two-year-old son and was pregnant at the time of her disappearance.
Police and her family believe she is dead and the inquest into her suspected death has heard that the primary suspect was her son's father, Adam Taylor.
Coroner Robert Pearce is investigating the case and will return to the Burnie Magistrates Court next week, when Mr Taylor is expected to give evidence.
The inquest heard that he was twice her age when they began their relationship.
She was 16 and he was in his 30s.
Mr Taylor's then long-term partner Karalina Garwood gave evidence last week about not finding out about the relationship until Ms Munnings and Mr Taylor had a six-month-old son.
Police officers have given evidence about searching lakes, weirs and beaches in an attempt to find any relevant evidence.
The only thing of significance that was found was a yellow plastic bucket full of concrete with a rope tied to the handle.
That was found in 2009 during a search of a beach at Heybridge, where Mr Taylor had lived at the time of Ms Munnings's disappearance.
Ms Garwood said on the night Ms Munnings went missing, Mr Taylor had been down at the beach with a boat that they had at their house.
He had arrived home after 6pm that evening and told her he thought someone had tried to steal the dinghy, because it was down at the water's edge, instead of next to the house where it belonged.
Mr Taylor went to retrieve the boat, which was about seven or 10 metres from the house.
He was gone between 30 and 40 minutes before Ms Garwood called him to come in and say goodnight to the children.
The inquest heard he was wet up to his crotch.
The next day, he took the boat to Ms Garwood's brother's home because, he told her, he did not want it there if people were trying to steal it.
However, a few days later, he brought the dinghy back. He told Ms Garwood he needed to do some maintenance on it, she told the inquest.
Ms Munnings' grandmother, Julie Payne, said she and her granddaughter's mother, Karel Black, went to see Mr Taylor a few days after Helen's disappearance.
She said Mr Taylor asked her if she would like him to bring Ms Munnings's son to see her from time to time.
A friend of Ms Munnings, Allan Munday, told the inquest that she had a turbulent relationship with her mother and with Mr Taylor.
``I can see how being with a man twice her age would cause problems with her mother,'' he said.
``They broke up (Ms Munnings and Mr Taylor), he moved on but he was playing with her head a bit, stringing her along, using her a bit.
``She would go and meet him sometimes . . . being a lot older, he had the edge on her.''
Mr Munday said he and Ms Munnings had discussed suicide in the past but said it was not something she would have ever done.
``She loved her son too much,'' he said.
``She loved having him around. That was when she'd forget about a lot of her troubles.''
Ms Payne said her granddaughter was naive and gullible and having difficulties with life.
But she denied suicide was an option for Ms Munnings.
``She loved her son, she looked after him and was proud of him,'' she said.
``She wasn't suicidal but she would get upset a lot.''
A psychiatric report was conducted after Ms Munnings disappeared with Dr Ian Sale concluding that suicide was a ``significant possibility''.
His report was based almost entirely on a police interview with Mr Taylor.
However, a Burnie general practitioner told the inquest Ms Munnings suffered from ``moderate depression'' but was not suicidal.
``She was able to communicate well and maintained good eye contact,'' Dr Olowole Olomola said.
He said she felt isolated because of a separation with her boyfriend, not being on good terms with her mother and not knowing her father.
She went back to see Dr Olomola two weeks later and he told the inquest she was brighter that time. The inquest last week also heard of speculation Ms Munnings could have left the state to start over.
Detective Sergeant Richard Chugg was the main police investigator in the case.
Counsel representing Mr Taylor and his family, Stephen Wright, questioned the detective sergeant about a phone call from a woman at a Darwin home that was reported to police by Judy Taylor, Adam Taylor's mother.
Police phoned the number and found it to be the home of Tony Munnings, Ms Munnings's uncle.
However, local police did not ask their counterparts in the Northern Territory to investigate the call until last week, the inquest heard.
Detective Sergeant Chugg said he was satisfied the original call made by police in Tasmania was enough.
``. . . based on other facts, Helen wasn't in Darwin with her uncle Tony,'' he said.
He said it would be difficult for a person of her young age and limited means to have changed her identity and started over in another part of the country.
