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In November 2016, 20-year-old Elly Warren was found dead in Mozambique. She was face down behind a toilet block in the coastal town of Tofo.
An aspiring marine biologist, she was two days away from coming home to Melbourne, after volunteering for conservation program.
The original report from Mozambique described her death as violent.
Almost seven years later, police there have finally ruled it a homicide.
It’s news that Elly’s father Paul has been waiting for, but receiving it came with mixed emotions.
“They have suspects,” Mr Warren told 9News.
“We’re hopeful now, we’re probably more hopeful than we’ve ever been that somebody might be charged.”
The finding came after a Victorian coroner told the Australian Federal Police to “move heaven and earth to do what you can to try and get this family answers”.
That was in February this year, and since then officers have travelled to East Africa.
Mr Warren is grateful for the coroner’s direction and the movement it generated, but he doesn’t feel the AFP has done enough. Instead he feels Elly’s family has been left to find answers themselves.
While police have ruled Elly was killed, it’s yet to pass the final step of a judge looking through the evidence in Mozambique.
Mr Warren hopes a judge in the country will agree there’s enough evidence to continue the investigation, with police yet to find enough to charge someone. He also wants Australia to send an assistance request asking for the case file to be handed over.
Mr Warren travelled to the small village to conduct his own investigations. He wants the AFP to change how it operates overseas to better support families who lose loved ones in suspicious circumstances.
This week a three-day hearing will be held in the Victorian coroner’s court to examine Elly’s death. Her family believes there is enough evidence for the corner to find she was murdered.
“It’s important from an Australian perspective that we also agree with Mozambique, and it’s just not swept under the carpet,” Mr Warren said.
Retired homicide detective Charlie Bezzina has spent years supporting Paul and looking over the case. Sand was found deep in Elly’s lungs indicating she’d choked and there were injuries to her neck and face.
An examination in Melbourne couldn’t determine her cause of death, but the veteran investigator has no doubt she was killed.
“This is a murder. This was a homicide that needs to be investigated appropriately with the federal police looking over the shoulder of the Mozambique authorities,” he said.
Bezzina has written a report for the corner, taking in the evidence from crime scene photos, reports, witnesses and autopsies. He believes the acceptance of Mozambique that Elly was murdered will carry weight in the inquest.
He hopes along with a homicide finding there will be recommendations to change the AFP’s operating procedures. For Australian authorities to be on the ground and use experienced homicide investigators.
“Controlling the crime scene, controlling the deceased, what happens to the deceased, post mortems … that is the role of the Federal Police to step up,” Bezzina said.
The three-day inquest begins on Tuesday in Melbourne in front of State Coroner Judge John Cain.
Mr Warren hopes the hearing will be filled with loved ones showing their support for Elly.
Explaining how he’ll keep fighting for answers and assistance from Australia’s authorities, he said: “It’s important that I do this for her because I know damn well that she would do it for me.”
Following the inquest the corner will deliver his findings, which may take several months.
