Elly Warren was likely killed by a stranger, according to information provided to an inquest, therefore Elly Warren’s father thinks her body was moved close to a restroom block to confuse investigators.
In November 2016, the 20-year-old Melbourne lady was discovered dead outside a restroom building in the beach town of Tofo, Mozambique.
Tuesday marked the start of a three-day inquest into her death in Melbourne’s Coroners Court, where one of the final individuals to have seen Warren alive showed up as a witness.
Jade O’Shea and Warren became friends while O’Shea was employed by Casa Barry, a well-known diving resort in Tofo, while Warren provided testimony remotely from New Zealand.
She claimed that Warren was among a group of pals who visited Victor’s Bar before making cocktails at the home of another buddy.
The cocktails ran out after one or two hours, and Warren went to return to Victor’s Bar since she was bored.
She was absolutely sober and coherent, O’Shea assured the court, and there was no question she wasn’t intoxicated.
Victor’s Bar was packed when Sarah and the others arrived, and Warren wasn’t there, so the group sat in front of the bar and drank beer.
Warren indicated to the group as she rounded the corner that she was going to buy a beverage from the bar and join them.
At after 11 p.m. on November 8, O’Shea last saw her pal.
She thought Warren had gone back to her backpackers to sleep when she set out after midnight to head back to Casa Barry.
However, she learned the next morning that Warren’s body had been discovered at the restroom block, close to where O’Shea had last seen her.
She thinks “an unknown person” hurt Warren that evening.
According to O’Shea, “I am positive that she was killed by someone else and that nothing she did caused it to happen.”
John Cain, the state coroner, is looking into Warren’s physical condition and the circumstances of her passing.
After she passed away, her body underwent three autopsies: one in Mozambique, one in South Africa, and one in Australia.
Her medical and legal causes of death were determined by suffocation on sand in Mozambique to be homicide.
However, the Australian autopsy was unable to identify the cause of death.
O’Shea reported that there was thick sand close to where her body was discovered.
Paul Warren, Warren’s father, claimed outside of court that “there’s no way” that much heavy sand could have penetrated into her lungs.
She was unquestionably killed on the main beach, and then her body was transported there, he claimed.
“Now I believe it’s to sort of derail everyone and to raise questions,”
He believed that the inquest would provide his family with answers after seven years of waiting.
Warren remarked, “I had to conduct my own investigation for seven years; the AFP didn’t assist us.”
“I had to go over there twice to try and find out as much evidence as I could, and it’s difficult.”
Warren expressed his hope that federal police will draw lessons from the incident and provide better support to families of loved ones who have perished abroad.
He believes that the AFP would become more prompt when requesting mutual help from developing nations like Mozambique.
