Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised the name and an image of a deceased person is included in this article.
The remains of a 40-year-old Aboriginal woman will finally be cremated after a family dispute left her body in ‘legal limbo’ in a mortuary for nearly four years.
The body of Central Coast woman Debbie-Lee Gill has been held at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle since she died in January 2021, due to a lengthy disagreement over her remains which came to a close in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday.
The NSW coroner found suicide to be the cause of death at the time.
A longstanding dispute over the treatment of Ms Gill’s remains followed her death, fought between her biological family and Leslie Speeding.
Mr Speeding claimed to have been Ms Gill’s ‘de facto spouse’ and ‘senior next of kin’, news.com.au reported.
Mr Speeding wanted to have the Wiradjuri woman buried, her family, however, wanted her cremated.
In typical circumstances, a NSW hospital will hold a body up to a maximum of 21 days, but makes provisions for exceptional circumstances.
The NSW Supreme Court ruled on the dispute last week, and ordered for Ms Gill’s body to be cremated.
Justice Geoff Lindsay said the argument had gone on for too long, handing down his decision.
‘[It’s] leaving the deceased’s body in cold storage, personal animosity on the boil and the public purse diminished by the costs of it all,’ he said.
He ruled in favour of the biological family as he found Mr Speeding did not have enough money to bury Ms Gill regardless of his wishes.
He said the family’s decision to move the dispute to the court at their own costs showed they would move quickly in having Ms Gill’s body cremated, as the logistics of the matter favoured them.
‘I’m not confident that (Mr Speeding) can reasonably be expected to have the resources, or will, to arrange for a burial, let alone a funeral,’ Justice Lindsay said.
He also ruled the family act quickly and have Ms Gill cremated within two months.
Ms Gill’s sister Cathy-May said the years following the death had been a troubling ordeal.
‘It takes a huge toll. My parents have aged like 100 years in the last bloody three years,’ she told the ABC.
‘We’ve just all been in autopilot going each day, a bit of the time.
‘She had her own daughter cremated, so it wasn’t like she was against cremation, and then we were all aware that that was what her wishes were, was to be put with Angel.’
Ms Gill’s fourth child Angel was still-born in 1999.
Ms Gill is survived by her son and two daughters.
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