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This podcast contains talk of suicide and suicidal ladiation. Listener discretion is advised for free counseling twenty four hours. In Australia, the number for Lifeline is thirteen eleven fourteen.
Softly pedals fall, the wind whispers in the tree. My lifeless body hangs, It hangs for all to see. A life's so very precious. Oh Lord, how could this be?
Evil?
That night lurked in Saint Helen's by the sea, and some don't care to find out what others did to me. My life was full and I was loved. I had so much to do, but evil one that fateful morn. It killed my family too. Why the hate and anger as key questions? They are posed, my family forced to suffer my suicide supposed I left the shed, and I did rome, but never took that rope from home. The fight for truth continues. The truth will always out the
cracks they are appearing, and fear is all about. Hope and love prevail justice she awaits. Those who choose to cover up will suffer at God's gate. My heart is all a flutter as I see you on the lawn. My soul is soaring upwards as I seek to be reborn. I am swimming with the dolphins in blue but Chili Sea. I love you and I thank you for what you've done for me.
Edie, Welcome back to a special episode of Our Little Lady. On the eighteenth of February twenty fifteen, fifteen year old Eden Westbrook was found hanging in the main street of Saint Helen's, the tiny seaside town in Tasmania. It's been ten years. The family have searched for answers, a botched police investigation, a pedophile cop, and so many unanswered questions
as where we are ten years later. To commemorate Eden's death today, there are two vigils happening in Tasmania, one in her hometown of Saint Helen's and the other on the lawns of Parliament House in Hobart. The poem you heard at the start of this episode was penned by an anonymous author who doesn't want to be recognized. However, they do want its sentiment to be echoed across Australia.
In this episode, we'll talk to Jason and Amanda, Eden's little sister Sky and her little brother Dante, who were both speaking at the vigil in Saint Helen's. We were able to speak to Sky and Donte before they actually got up and spoke today in Hobart, and we spoke to Jason just after they'd done their vigil in Saint Helen's. Jason, A big day today.
How are you feeling, oh, mate, it's been a massive day. We actually got up quite early, went down to.
The park and did our little vigil here for Eden, and then Amanda's had to go to work. So where it's going to slip up to Lonceston this afternoon and spend it with Bobby Lee and the grandchildren and take Justine so we're together because as you know, Skey and don have been at the vigil this morning in Hobart.
And so, first of all, you've obviously seen the speeches that both Sky and Donnie did today in Hobart. What was your feeling reading those, mate?
I felt privileged to have my children ring me up last week and just to read them out to me to see how I thought and what my thoughts were on their speeches. And I really don't know the word to use, because I've noticed in your podcast I use the word powerful a lot. Their speeches were more than powerful. They were so heartfelt. They brought me to tears, and I was just so proud of who they are and what they're about and who they're becoming as young adults.
Jay, there were two virtuals happening today, one in Saint Helen's and one in Hobart. The one in Saint Helen's, you and Amanda were at the Fisherman's Memorial. Who was there and.
Look pretty quiet and we didn't expect too many people. We expected like there was a few more obviously down at the hoe Bart.
However, there was a couple of people that came were in support of what we're doing. And the people were that came, we were only there a short time. Jay, It was just about being there, present at the time and paying respect to Eden's sudden death back ten years ago to the day.
Jason, what are you hoping ten years today that your daughter passed under mysterious circumstances. What are you hoping on the tenth as you know?
The truth? I just want the truth.
I want to know what happened to Eden on that night, and I don't want the rubber stamped report that we've been given and I don't want the lies to continue.
I want accountability.
I want to get us to move on with our life and put eating at rest, mate. And we're not going to be able to let eat and rest until this gets finalized.
And as you know us, our Jay, we're going to continue the fight. Mate. We're in our righteousness. We deserve to know.
Eaton deserves for us to find out what happened to her, because that girl didn't leave this home on that night.
To kill USLF. Something terrible went wrong and we want to.
Know exactly what went wrong so we can prevent it for the future, not just for our family, but for other people.
Dante was just nine years old when his big sister Eden was found. He spent the last ten years wondering what her life might have been. He's the speech that he did today on the lawns of Parliament House and Hobart.
I want each of you here today to look around you. Look at the people on the paths, the cars driving by. The community is full of life at this time. Most people are heading to work or school. Now I want you to think on this day, exactly ten years ago, there was a fifteen year old girl hanging by a rope from a tall tree that stood in a park near the center of Saint Helen's. This girl is my sister, Eden Jade Westbrook. On this day, my parents witnessed their
daughter's corpse hanging in a tree. But not only did members of my family have to see this, but also my community. I'm not just talking about police officers. I'm talking about children, retail workers, suicide survivors, and so much more, all people who are shocked to see that on the foot all day. We believe Eden died in the early hours in the morning. You would have expected police to have her body covered up or cut down as soon
as they could have. Instead, the police left Eden, my sister, hanging like she was put on shelf, with the whole world to see for hours and today, long enough for the school bus to go past the park and allow students to take photo of her lifeless body.
I knew Eden so well.
She would have never wanted that to be her last image. She would have never wanted to inflict horror to the children and adults who had to bear witness to such a tragedy. Eden and every other person standing here today would help that they are treated with dignity and respect in their death. This right was stripped from Eden, and it can never be returned. To this day, my parents are still plagued by the image.
Of their daughter, their little girl, hanging in the treat.
I can guarantee she would have wanted to be carefully taken down and treated like a rose cut from its stem. The rose was her favorite flower, and maybe blue her favorite color. Eden was so delicate and innocent. She was a child, and at the very least, a child deserves to be treated not as a hindrance for the police to deal with, but as a person. In case, a young girl who had just died in suspicious and tragic circumstances.
Oh Eden, wherever you are, if.
Anywhere at all, please let the world after your death to be filled with the warmth and light you didn't have that night. As it's been so long since I've had your voice. Because I still can't manage to bring myself to listen to videos I've been talking about it, reducing me down to tears. I've just been so long since I've given you a hug, since I never knew
that night would be the last chance. I've just been so long since you and all my other seven ones have gone to the beach together because since you died, this family has never been a whole and it never will be again. Being a nine year old going through such unimaginable grief as a very peculiar feeling. I mean, I didn't even know what to do, so mostly I did nothing. Because of this, I missed out on what
makes finally been ten such a big deal. I never got the hype of growing up as an adolescent because of the odd way I got. I realized Eden was so young with Shigain, and every year I got closer to turning fifteen. The night when Eden died, it didn't just change her life, change the lives of all those around her too. I will never get back the years that I spent tormented by grief, but what I can do is make the most an hour, whether that be treating myself to a day out or fighting for the
truth and justice to be certain in his name. I can't change the past, but with others, I can make the truth finally revealed and people hunt accountable for the emissions and wrongdoings they caused. In Eden's case, Eden will never truly rest until she has justice, and nor will we.
We'll finish this episode with Sky. Sky Westbrook is a pillar of strength throughout her family. You've already heard she's studying law in an effort to ensure that the tragedy that her family suffered doesn't happen to anyone else. Her tribute to her big sister is heartfelt and heartbreak.
Today marks ten years since the day my older sister's life was taken far too young. Eden was a smart, talented, and kind sister. But most of all, Eden was a person, a person who was supposed to be protected by the same institutions that she was neglected by. On the day of Eden's death, my family was not informed by police or an emergency service.
We were informed.
By a friend who had witnessed Eden's lifeless body hanging in the main street, just like many others did due to police who refused to cover a fifteen year old girl's hanging corpse. My mother and father begged for Eden's body to be covered. They begged for her last piece of dignity to be protected, but police refused. They let Eden hang for hours while they conducted a poor investigation
and minimal forensics, which led to no answers. I remember hearing the news about how my father had to witness his dead daughter's body despite him pleading with authorities he did not want, and I remember how my mother just wanted to hold her baby one last time. Since this day, my family have been plagued with grief while fighting an ongoing battle with a system that is supposed to ensure justice, a police force which is supposed to protect its community.
During this time of questioning and fighting, I have seen beautiful acts of courage and bravery by the people who were willing to challenge an unjust system rather than stand idly by and watch as neglects and fails members of our community. I have also seen acts of cowardice from the systems and institutions that were meant to stand as
pillars of strength for their people. I see this in the institutions that have withheld critical information from my family for ten years, in the evidence connected to Eden's case that disappeared or was never seized, in the state funeral they held for a non pedophile, senior Sergeant Paul Reynolds, who signed off Eden's case, And in this fact, they cannot bring themselves to take accountability even when they have
done unspeakable damage. If there is nothing to hide, why won't they release the autopsy photos to independent forensic pathologists. I was eleven years old when my sister died in the main street of my hometown, Saint Helen's. I am now twenty one years old, whereas Eden will remain fifteen for the rest of my life. My older sister is now and forever younger than I will ever be. Due
to what happened that tragic night. Eden's death and the actions of authorities involved change the course of my life. I now study law as an attempt to ensure the wrongdoing that happened to my family does not happen to anyone ever again. Even if it only saves one person from the grief my family have endured, it would be worth it.
I do this for Eden.
I do this for my mum and dad had the juggle being the courageous and loving parents they are, were haunted by visceral grief that will never leave them. I do this for my own closure, and most importantly, I do it for the people who have fortunately not experienced the heinous things the Tasmanian justice system has done to me, my family, and Eden. The approach has taken has been lacking in genuine compassion and respect. Surely we are entitled to the truth. Eden was capable of achieving so much
good in this world. I knew that even as a child she was robbed of so many opportunities, But even in depth, Eden's ability to create love, passion, and kindness has extended past her short and vibrant life. I know all these achievements will never be lived, but I am still proud of you. Eden. A high school from which you will never graduate. I'm still proud of you for the career which you will never pursue. I'm still proud
of you for a wedding you will never have. And I'm still so proud of you for all the kindness you would have shown in the world if you were still here today.
You've got so much strength. Tasmania and Australia will be blessed to have someone in law like you, to be able to represent the people when stuff like this happens.
And that's why I do it, because when anything like this happens to anyone, they're a person and they're entitled to justice and dignity and respect, no matter their status, no matter where they come from like everyone is entitled to basic, basic empathy,