Helen Colman

Stub — Helen Colman (née Rath) is Paul Rath’s sister. At the time of his death in June 1977, she was eighteen years old and living in a flat on Denison Street, Manly. She was the last known person to see Paul alive — he visited her flat on the evening of 15 June 1977 and told her he was going to meet someone, though the person had asked him to keep it confidential.

Despite this, she was never interviewed by police in 1977 or subsequently. She told her mother about the conversation but was told there was “no need to stir anything else up.”

In 2013, she contacted the family of another man who had died at a similar location in the 1980s and shared her concerns, including the name of a person known to her (referred to by the Inquiry as I266) who she suspected may have had some involvement. This information reached Strike Force Parrabell in 2015. Neither Parrabell nor the NSWPF ever contacted Helen.

The Sackar Inquiry held a conference with Helen on 14 December 2022. She gave a formal statement on 19 May 2023 (SCOI.82919) — forty-six years after her brother’s death. Sackar J treated her recollections with appropriate caution given the passage of time, while noting their significance.

Her evidence about the evening of 15 June 1977 — the meeting Paul had arranged with an unnamed person — is the most significant new material the Inquiry obtained in relation to this case.

Research needed:

• How to appropriately represent her testimony given her willingness to speak publicly
• Whether she has given any public interviews or made further statements since the SCOI