These facts, fully supported by evidence,

reveal serious and systematic omissions,

inconsistencies, and distortions, creating a

record that misrepresents critical elements

of the case.

The re-enactment photo used with the blog heading illustrates

how the ripped top would appear when standing. A second re-

enactment photo, included at the bottom of this report, clearly

shows the ripped apart top and closely replicates the position

and condition of Elly’s body as captured in the original clear

photograph taken by the fisherman who first discovered Elly’s

body at 5am.

Note: This report provides a detailed account, supported by the verified evidence listed below, demonstrating the full extent to which information and evidence supplied by the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the DFAT Honorary Consul, and the Mozambique police contributed to misleading the Coroner’s Court. Taken together, these actions, exclusions, and representations including the cover-up by the Mozambique police produced a complex network that effectively concealed critical facts from the inquest, directly impacting Elly’s family and their ability to obtain clarity and justice.

Based on the burden-of-proof material obtained, it is deeply concerning the extent to which the AFP and the DFAT Honorary Consul presented information to the Coroner and the Coroner’s Court by not including vital evidence in their statements, resulting in submissions that were inaccurate, incomplete, or inconsistent with available evidence, both through sworn testimony and formal written statements. These deficiencies occurred alongside demonstrable failures by the Mozambique police to properly investigate, preserve, or disclose key evidence. Combined with deliberate or inadvertent exclusions of critical material from the coronial brief, these patterns reflect a systematic sequence of misleading conduct rather than isolated errors.

To expose this sequence of misleading conduct and exclusions, this analysis begins with the evidence given at the inquest on 23 August 2023 by the DFAT Honorary Consul. That testimony represents a pivotal moment in the proceedings.

The evidence highlights how misleading information came to be presented to the Court and why it was not corrected. In particular, it raises serious questions regarding the Honorary Consul’s position and circumstances at the time, including his ongoing residence in Mozambique, as outlined further below. When considered alongside the conduct of the Mozambique police and the exclusions of critical evidence from the coronial brief, these factors assume critical significance in the context of the inquest.

These combined actions and exclusions became a crucial turning point. They fundamentally altered the trajectory of the proceedings for Elly’s family and materially impaired the Coroner’s ability to assess the case on the basis of full, accurate, and transparent evidence.

During the Honorary Consul’s (H/C) visit to Tofo shortly after Elly’s death, a local fisherman informed him that he had taken a photograph of her body at approximately 5 a.m. The initial image was blurred due to the limitations of the fisherman’s phone. The H/C photographed the phone screen, but the resulting image remained unclear, showing only the outline of a body with her underwear around her knees. The fisherman and the H/C exchanged contact details, which were recorded in the H/C’s report. Relevant transcript pages from the inquest below where the H/C gave evidence are T116, T117, T122, T123, and T124.

While still in Tofo, the H/C sent the blurred photograph via WhatsApp to the Australian embassy staff in Pretoria before returning home to Vilankulos. Shortly thereafter, on 13 November 2016, the fisherman emailed a clear version of the photograph. The H/C having this clear photo would have been shocked to see that Elly’s top had been ripped apart, indicating a struggle that had not been reported during his initial visit. The H/C did not disclose the full implications of this evidence publicly at the time, concerned for his safety and that of his family in Mozambique, where individuals who criticized the police risked serious harm. Observations in 2018 by myself confirmed that the locals were intimidated by local police, some of whom openly carried AK-47 assault rifles.

The H/C subsequently forwarded the clear photograph to embassy staff in Pretoria. Official letters from DFAT and the AFP/Australian Government Solicitor (AGS) confirm that the H/C received the clear photograph and sent it to the embassy. He later admitted in November 2025 to having received the photograph from the fisherman and forwarding it. Despite this, the H/C’s official statement to the Coroner, dated 19 July 2023, excluded any mention of him receiving the clear photograph clearly showing the ripped-apart top indicating signs of a struggle had taken place, presenting his last involvement with the fisherman in Tofo without follow-up. In inquest testimony, he claimed he knew “nothing about a clear photo” (transcript pages T125, T128), contradicting the verified timeline.

Page 21 of the AFP action sheet the AFP Senior Liaison Officer (SLO) Superintendent had knowledge of the clear photograph approximately one week after Elly’s death. During my 2018 trip to Tofo with 60 Minutes, the Superintendent confirmed that the photograph I obtained was identical to the one the H/C had received in November 2016. Despite this, there is no mention in the coronial record of the clear photo exposing the ripped-apart top, even after review by the experienced AFP/SLO Superintendent in October 2018. To this day, neither the AFP nor the Mozambique police have acknowledged these crucial details. The SERNIC report dated 20 August 2020, despite documenting Elly death as a homicide, excludes the clear photo and therefore ripped apart T-shirt, although the photograph irrefutably shows its existence. This exclusion demonstrates a deliberate concealment of evidence and confirms the existence of a cover-up.

The AFP/SLO Superintendent exercised caution in handling the photograph. In statements and action sheets, he referred to it generically as the “Fisherman’s Photo,” without distinguishing between blurred and clear versions. References to the Mozambique police report were similarly vague, described as a “Mozambique Document” rather than explicitly identifying the official SERNIC homicide report from April 2017. This careful language suggests a deliberate effort to obscure critical evidence while maintaining procedural compliance, consistent with AFP obligations to support formal Mutual Assistance Requests without highlighting evidence that would elevate and raise further suspicions of a crime.

Official correspondence reinforces these facts. DFAT’s Assistant Secretary, Claire McComish, confirmed on 22 March 2019 that the AFP/SLO Superintendent passed the clear photograph to the Mozambique police on 8 December 2016. The AGS letter of 16 June 2023 confirms that the AFP received the clear photograph from DFAT on 25 November 2016. Yet the photograph was not entered into the coronial brief until my trip to Tofo in October 2018, when I personally provided it to the then-Coroner, Mr Bracken, via his assistant. Mr King Taylor, Mr Bracken’s assistant, confirmed that they had never seen the clear photograph prior to this.

The AFP, as Australia’s governing police authority for overseas crimes, had a clear duty to ensure the Coroner received the photograph. While DFAT is not responsible for reporting crime scene evidence, it is obliged to pass any critical evidence to the AFP. The failure of the AFP not to disclose the clear photograph, showing Elly’s ripped T-shirt and half-naked body, represents a serious non-disclosure of vital evidence. The AFP’s motive appears to have been to prevent raising suspicion that a crime had occurred, which could have necessitated a formal Mutual Assistance Request, while the H/C’s motive appears to have been personal, seeking to protect himself and his family by avoiding exposure of the Mozambique police cover-up.

This non-disclosure profoundly affected the inquest. The broken chain of evidence, created by the H/C’s incomplete testimony, prevented cross-examination of the AFP/SLO Superintendent regarding the clear photograph and the ripped-apart top. Despite being fully prepared with questions, we were constrained. Consequently, I addressed vital issues during my oral submissions to the Coroner, highlighting the critical evidence. These submissions were further supported by information from the Mozambique Chief Inspector in 2018, who confirmed in person that the sand found in Elly’s mouth did not match the sand at the location where her body was discovered, indicating the body had been moved.

Throughout the investigation, both AFP and DFAT misled the family and the Coroner, providing selective, incomplete information and concealing critical evidence. The systematic withholding of the clear photograph, coupled with the Mozambique police cover-up, obstructed Elly’s family’s pursuit of justice. The photograph, withheld for over two years, is irrefutable evidence of a struggle and of the mishandling and non-disclosure of vital crime scene evidence regarding the death of of our daughter Elly Rose Warren.

Conclusion

The facts demonstrate unequivocally that both the Australian Honorary Consul (H/C) and the AFP/SLO Superintendent were aware of the Mozambique police cover-up in November 2016. The H/C received a clear photograph from the fisherman shortly after leaving Tofo, which unmistakably revealed that Elly’s top had been ripped apart. This photograph, obtained only days after Elly’s murder on 9 November 2016, provides irrefutable evidence that the local police at the crime scene had actively concealed the circumstances of her death.

The H/C’s concern over the clear photograph, specifically the ripped-apart top which implicated the local Mozambique police, appears to have directly influenced his subsequent false testimony at the inquest in August 2023, likely motivated by the fact that he resides in Mozambique and feared repercussions.

The AFP/SLO Superintendent was officially provided the clear photograph by DFAT on 25 November 2016. He subsequently handed this vital evidence to the Mozambique Chief Inspector on 8 December 2016. Crucially, these actions and the existence of the clear photograph were never reflected in the AFP/SLO Superintendent’s official statement. As a result, the Victorian State Coroner and Elly’s family were denied access to this critical evidence in 2016/18, which clearly showed the ripped-apart T-shirt and the signs of a struggle. The Australian Federal Police, as the authority responsible for all overseas crime evidence involving Australian citizens, failed in their duty to disclose this evidence in 2016/18.

Furthermore, the AFP misled the Coroner, Mr Cain, claiming that no Mozambique police authority had classified the death as a homicide prior to May 2023. The AFP’s stated rationale appears linked to procedural considerations surrounding the Mutual Assistance Request (MAR), the official mechanism through which Australia offers investigative assistance to other countries. Mozambique’s government explicitly confirmed in a letter to the Coroner on 19 June 2023 that the MAR is the only official process they would recognize and respect. The AFP, however, never submitted this formal request, despite the clear requirements under the Mutual Assistance Act 1987, which exists to ensure transparency and cooperation between the two countries!!!

In summary, the verified facts conclusively demonstrate that both the H/C and the AFP/SLO failed to include the clear version of the crime scene photograph in their official statements. This deliberate non-disclosure prevented the Victorian State Coroner and Elly’s family from accessing vital evidence in 2016/18, obscuring the true circumstances of Elly Rose Warren’s death and impeding justice. The evidence of the ripped-apart T-shirt and the immediate post-mortem concealment by the Mozambique police, known to both the H/C and AFP within days of her death, underscores a systematic failure by Australian authorities to properly disclose and act upon critical evidence.