A young woman who saw Gordon Copeland in the Gwydir River before he died has said she did not inform police, as she assumed he had been arrested.
The 22-year-old Gomeroi man was found drowned in the river 3 months after an incident with police, with the family criticising Moree Police over delays in the search for him.
Kowhai Roberts said in her evidence she was driving with her then boyfriend Jabour Clarke on July 10 2021 when she saw Mr Copleand, who was her cousin, walking alone.
Mr Copeland offered to pay for petrol in exchange for a lift.
The black sedan they were travelling in caught the attention of police when they arrived at a local intersection.
In yesterday’s evidence, Jabour Clarke denied he drove “fast” when he saw the marked police car begin to follow them.
The court has previously been told officers started following the car because it sped up to “80km/h” through a give-way sign.
Under questioning by the lawyer representing some of the officers, Anders Mykkeltvedt, Mr Clarke told the court he drove normally “until a copper chases me”.
“I’m going to avoid everything to get chased,” he said.
Mr Clarke said he didn’t stop for police, and still wouldn’t have stopped if police had their lights and sirens on.
Gordon Copeland is pictured with his first-born son. Mr Copeland died shortly before his second son was born. Source: Supplied
He also said he didn’t stop the car because he was scared officers would bash him.
“I was scared of coppers… they’ll lock you up, they bash you, especially [when you’re] out of town,” he said.
He said it had “100 per cent” happened to him before.
Mr Clarke was on parole at the time, driving an unregistered car without a licence.
'I was panicking'
Today Kowhai Roberts told the court that once the car they were in became bogged near the Gwydir River, she, Mr Copeland and Mr Clarke ran into the darkness and hid.
Eventually she and Mr Clarke split from Mr Copeland, holding hands and moving through an area near the river.
She then heard a splash and a few seconds later, she saw Mr Copeland’s head in the water.
“I didn’t realise what I seen until after,” she told the inquest.
“I was panicking and going along. We were walking along the sticks and trying to be quiet,” she said.
After a few minutes, when she was behind a tree with Mr Clarke, she said she saw Mr Copeland’s head shining in the light of a torch.
Later on, when she was resting in a separate car nearby, she saw two police paddy wagons drive by with a rear light on, and assumed Mr Copeland had been arrested.
A rally held after Mr Copeland's disappearance. Source: freelancer
The next day, she approached police and told them the story.
Ms Roberts agreed she should’ve told Mr Copeland's family earlier about what she had seen, as it could have prompted the search party to keep looking.
Today she told Mr Copeland’s family who were in the stand she was sorry and it was “fu**ed up what happened… if I could go back in time and change it, I would but I can’t."
She also told the police lawyer she was scared of the police.
“I had previous dealings with them, I don’t trust them”.
