Why did it take two months? Concerns raised over alert for missing Ballina woman
A high-profile Ballina community advocate and charity helper has raised serious concerns about delays in the search for missing local woman Cicily Spiers, questioning why key steps were not taken sooner.
Mark Ross, who is well known for his welfare efforts in Ballina says he was contacted by Ms Spiers’ partner shortly after she went missing and feared critical time was lost in the early days.
His comments come as police issued their first public appeal last night, almost two months after Ms Spiers was last seen.
In that statement, police said Ms Spiers, aged 51, was last seen in Ballina about 4pm on Saturday, October 18.
Officers attached to the Richmond Police District were notified and commenced inquiries into her whereabouts.
Police said they and Ms Spiers’ family hold concerns for her welfare.
Ms Spiers is described as being of Caucasian appearance, about 165 to 175 centimetres tall, of thin build, with light brown hair.
Police said she is known to frequent the Ballina, Yamba and Tweed areas and may be travelling in a silver Honda CR-V with NSW registration AZ56MC (pictured).
Anyone with information has been urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
However, Mr Ross says his concerns date back to the first days after Ms Spiers disappeared.
He said the family wanted help alerting the public and seeking CCTV footage from South Ballina, particularly around the Riverside Drive boat ramp area, but were told those requests had to be handled by police.
Mr Ross said he put a call out himself.
“Straight away I had people calling me saying, ‘Yeah, I’ve got cameras,’” he said.
He said one resident reported seeing a vehicle at the Riverside Drive boat ramp in the early hours of the morning Ms Spiers was last heard from, although registration details could not be identified.
Mr Ross said the timing aligned with what he understands was Ms Spiers’ final phone contact with her partner at about 4am.
Mark Ross
Further concern followed, he said, when Ms Spiers’ wallet was found near the river later that day, followed days later by her passport being located floating downstream.
“To me, that screamed one thing,” Mr Ross said.
“That car’s in the river.”
Mr Ross said he contacted Marine Rescue contacts directly, who he claims also believed the circumstances strongly suggested the vehicle may have entered the water.
He said requests for specialist Water Police resources were initially declined.
“I got a call from Water Police in Sydney and they said, ‘We’re not coming all the way up there without solid proof,’” Mr Ross said.
Mr Ross said Marine Rescue later conducted a sweep of several boat ramps during what he described as a training exercise, and that a police drone was deployed weeks later.
By then, he believes, valuable time had already been lost.
“If the missing person appeal had gone out straight away, she had no wallet, no money, no cards,” he said.
“She couldn’t have gone very far.”
Mr Ross claims he later spoke with a senior police officer who acknowledged the investigation should have progressed faster.
“He said, ‘It’s all been handled wrong. We should have been onto it sooner,’” Mr Ross said.
Ballina News Daily has sought further comment from NSW Police in response to the concerns raised.
