Dubbo man Gordon Tremain does not have a case to answer in relation to the disappearance of Maxwell George, despite police allegations he was responsible for Mr George’s death, an inquest has found.
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Mr Tremain’s wife, Audrey, yesterday finished giving evidence during the final day of the week-long inquest held at Dubbo Coroner’s Court, but Mr Tremain himself did not take the stand.
Deputy State Coroner Paul MacMahon said the evidence presented to him this week suggested Mr and Mrs Tremain had taken advantage of their alleged business partner Maxwell George “in a financial sense” prior to his death.
Furthermore, he said the evidence suggested the Tremains “acted to take advantage” of Mr George after his death.
However, deputy State Coroner MacMahon said it was not for him to make any formal findings on the issue.
When handing down his findings, Deputy State Coroner MacMahon said Mr George was stranded at Mr Tremain’s property ‘Salvation’, near Brewarrina, when he went missing in March 2000.
The area experienced heavy rainfall at that time and the property was waterlogged, making it inaccessible to vehicles, the court heard.
The inquest also heard that Mr George, a paranoid schizophrenic, had missed one of his fortnightly injectable medications, which could have contributed to his death.
Mr Tremain drove to ‘Salvation’ on March 25 and reported Mr George missing to police the next day.
Mr MacMahon said Mr Tremain knew Mr George was stranded.
He found that Mr Tremain could have contacted the State Emergency Service (SES) to check on the then-48-year-old earlier, when the property experienced heavy rain.
However, he said there was no basis to suggest Mr Tremain’s failure to contact the SES was a “proximate cause” of his death.
The last known contact with Mr George was on March 17.
The coroner found that he died some time after that date.
“There is no evidence which physically ties the disappearance of Mr George to Mr Tremain,” deputy State Coroner MacMahon said.
“What caused his death? We do not know.
“There are a number of possibilities.”
He said it was possible Mr George experienced delusions when he was stranded at ‘Salvation’ and “did something that resulted in his death”.
Mr George was killed trying to walk out of the property, or had a work-related accident.
Mr and Mrs Tremain declined to comment yesterday after the coroner announced his findings.
