New South Wales’ top prosecutor has initiated a formal review into the controversial discontinuation of a murder case concerning the 1970 disappearance of three-year-old Cheryl Grimmer. Director of Public Prosecutions Sally Dowling SC confirmed the review in a February 16 correspondence with the Grimmer family, acknowledging their persistent quest for justice spanning over five decades.
The case dates to January 12, 1970, when Cheryl vanished from outside shower facilities at Fairy Meadow Beach in Wollongong, south of Sydney. Despite multiple police investigations and a 2011 coronial inquest concluding the toddler was likely deceased, the case remained unresolved until 2017 when an individual, pseudonymously referred to as Mercury, faced murder charges.
Prosecutors subsequently dropped the case in 2019 when the NSW Supreme Court deemed Mercury’s 1971 confession inadmissible. Critical to this ruling was the absence of a parent, adult, or legal representative during the teenage suspect’s police interview—a procedural failure that ultimately undermined the judicial process.
The upcoming review will operate under the ODPP’s Victim Right of Review policy, which enables victims to request reassessment when prosecutors discontinue proceedings. However, the ODPP emphasized that the evaluation will be constrained to evidence available during the original decision-making process, as the office lacks independent investigative authority. Director Dowling has consequently inquired whether the Grimmer family possesses new information that NSW Police might examine prior to the review.
Rick Nash, Cheryl’s brother who witnessed the abduction as a child, described the development as the most promising news in years. He emphasized that Mercury was interviewed at a boys’ shelter surrounded by carers, questioning whether this environment constituted appropriate support. Nash called for inter-agency collaboration, transparency, and the removal of institutional barriers that have historically impeded justice.
Last year, NSW MLC Jeremy Buckingham utilized parliamentary privilege to identify Mercury publicly, recounting detailed confession excerpts from the 1971 police interview. Despite this revelation, media outlets have refrained from publishing the individual’s identity due to legal protections afforded by his juvenile status at the time of the incident.