from courier mail xmas day
RICK Thorburn threatened to kill his wife if she ever left, bragged about murdering someone in his youth and cried in front of a female relative to keep her quiet about his son having sex with 12-year-old Tiahleigh Palmer, court documents allege.
New details about the accused child murderer’s deteriorating relationship with his family have emerged after his son Trent made an unsuccessful application for bail.
All four members of Tiahleigh Palmer’s foster family were arrested in September — nearly a year after the schoolgirl’s body was found dumped on the banks of the Pimpama River.
Police had hauled the family into secret hearings before the Crime and Corruption Commission and bugged their Chambers Flat home before charging Tiahleigh’s foster father, Rick, with her murder.
Rick’s youngest son, Trent, was charged with incest, attempting to pervert the course of justice and perjury while his wife Julene and eldest son Josh were charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice and perjury.
Police have alleged Rick murdered Tiahleigh after discovering his son Trent — then aged 18 — had had sex with the young girl and was worried she might be pregnant.
Court documents say the family allegedly lied to police for months — including at CCC hearings — about Tiahleigh’s disappearance but Julene and Josh eventually gave a version of events around the time the family was arrested.
Rick Thorburn.
CTiahleigh Palmer.
Julene and Josh told police Rick had been home alone with Tiahleigh on the night of October 29 after Trent confessed he had had sex with Tiahleigh. When Julene and the boys arrived home around 10pm, Rick allegedly told them he had “taken care of” the problem and they shouldn’t “ask any questions”.
Statements from other family members claim Julene struggled to keep up the facade over the following months — but continued to lie to police and Tiahleigh’s grieving mother.
Dorothy Fayle, Julene’s mother, told police her daughter and grandson Josh came to stay with her after they were charged with covering for Rick.
“I do not feel like Rick is my husband,” Julene allegedly told her mother.
“It’s hard to relate to him and treat him how I have always done. I can’t treat him any different or he will pick up on it.
“Rick loved Tiah so much and if he can do that to Tiah, he could do it to any of us.”
Mrs Fayle told police Rick was not one of her “favourite people”, was an attention seeker and often told elaborate stories if he thought the person he was talking to was “not very knowledgeable”.
“I know Rick had threatened Julene, she told me Rick had threatened her a while ago that he would kill her if she ever took the boys away from him. Julene has just told me this in the past week,” she said in her statement to police.
Mrs Fayle said her daughter changed dramatically in the months following Tiah’s death and was “not the daughter I used to have”.
“She is very closed, did not talk to me the way she used to. Julene did not want to be around people. Julene has never been a fashionable person but this past 11 months she has deteriorated in how she presents herself, in the clothes she wears.
“She has let her hair go, never looks after it anymore. This is not like Julene as she always took pride in her appearance.”
Julene Thorburn leaving the her Chambers Flat home. Photographer: Liam Kidston
Mrs Fayle said she had not noticed any changes in Rick, Josh or Trent.
She said Julene had confided to her that she was worried if Rick discovered she had made a statement to police about Tiah’s murder, he would “start to turn the story around”.
Mrs Fayle did not believe her daughter had had any contact with Rick since his arrest.
In another statement, a female relative told police Trent had confessed to having had sex with Tiahleigh in a series of Facebook messages not long before the Thorburn family reported her missing.
Months later, in May, the relative received a call from Rick wanting to meet her at a park.
“Rick Thorburn started crying, before begging me to not say anything about the Facebook messages between Trent Thorburn and I,” she said.
Josh told police that after Tialeigh’s disappearance, he had been frightened of coming forward.
“I wouldn’t make it ten steps out the front door,” he said. “I believed Dad would do the same to me, as in kill me.
“I knew Dad had killed someone years ago when he was … a child in care. I think Dad wanted to assure us that he had killed before and didn’t get caught and that’s why he told us this story,’’ Josh told police.
“Dad kept reiterating that we had to keep to the story. This was said by Dad many times since Tiah was killed.”
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The depravity of that whole family. Gut wrenching they walked amoung us...
