Proceedings towards re​​trial over killings of children in Bowraville to be completed urgently

Thomas Duroux (right), the father of teenager Clinton Duroux who was killed in Bowraville, NSW, speaks to Detective Inspector Gary Jubelin. A man previously tried and acquitted of the murders of two Aboriginal children in the early 1990s has again been charged with their murder. Photograph: Paul Miller/AAP

Proceedings that could pave the way for a man to be retried for the killing of two Indigenous children in Bowraville will be treated with urgency and completed “well and truly” within this year, a court has heard.

The children’s families and their supporters packed out the New South Wales court of criminal appeal on Thursday, where lawyers for the state attorney general, Mark Speakman, are attempting to secure a second trial of a man over the deaths of Evelyn Greenup, 4, and Clinton Duroux, 16.

Evelyn, Clinton, and a third child, Colleen Walker, 16, disappeared while staying on the same road in the small town of Bowraville, on NSW’s mid-north coast, within a five-month period between 1990 and 1991.

Colleen’s body was never found, and no charges were ever laid over her death. Her clothes were later found weighed down by rocks in the Nambucca river.

Evelyn and Clinton’s bodies were found dumped beside a dirt road outside of Bowraville, and a man, who cannot be identified, was tried and acquitted of their murders.

The NSW attorney general, represented by former South Australian director of public prosecutions, Wendy Abraham, needs to prove that enough fresh and compelling evidence has emerged to warrant a second trial of the man.

The case appeared briefly on Thursday morning before NSW’s highest court in Sydney, where parties discussed preliminary matters, including the significant volume of evidence involved and a likely timetable for proceedings.

Justice Clifton Hoeben told the court the matter would be treated with urgency, and that he expected it to be completed well within the current year. He adjourned the case until 31 March, to allow time for the man’s lawyers to consider the significant volume of evidence and submissions from the NSW attorney general.

The court was packed, and families and supporters were forced to stand due to the lack of seating.

The state’s double jeopardy laws were changed more than 10 years ago to allow for a person to be charged a second time, should fresh and compelling evidence emerge suggesting their guilt.