Warning: This story contains the name and images of a deceased Indigenous person.

Mark Haines’ siblings have spent every day of the last 37 years desperately missing their beloved older brother.

A senior police officer, Chief Superintendent Alan Donnelly, openly dismissed him when they spoke at a Tamworth betting shop, Craigie said.

“He said to me ‘Don, you never know what a 17-year-old boy would do, you never know what a 17-year-old Aboriginal boy would do’,” he said.

Matthew Varley, the attorney for NSW Police, presented Craigie with a collection of newspaper articles where investigators called for additional information in the years following Mark’s death.

Police also interviewed several people over the following decade, pursuing leads Craigie gave them, according to documents before the inquest.

But Craigie said police have treated deaths of non-Indigenous people very differently.

“I’ve seen a few deaths around Tamworth and they’ve pulled out all the stops,” Craigie said.

“And then there was others they did not pay too much attention to.

“We want to know how our boy died.”

The inquest, which opened in April 2024, was due to conclude, but further hearings have been scheduled before Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame.

Support is available by calling 13YARN 13 92 76 or Lifeline 13 11 14.