Maria James and her son Adam pictured six months before her murder. Photo / news.com.au
Maria James and her son Adam pictured six months before her murder. Photo / news.com.au
The heartbroken son of a woman brutally killed in 1980 wants justice after his mum was "killed by the priests", he told a court.
A coronial inquest is revisiting Maria James' murder on June 17, 1980, in an attempt to provide answers to a 41-year mystery: who stabbed her 68 times and left her body in the bedroom behind her Thornbury bookshop?
Adam James, who has cerebral palsy and Tourette's syndrome, told his mother when he was boy aged 11 that he had been abused by assistant parish priest Father Anthony Bongiorno.
Mrs James planned to confront the parish, he says.
Mr James told the Coroners Court of Victoria on Wednesday his "mum was a decent woman who loved me and my brother very much".
"She did everything in her power to make sure no harm would come to me or my brother," he said.
Adam and Mark James are hoping a coronial inquest will finally provide answers on what happened to their beloved mother. Photo / NCA NewsWire/Ian Currie
"It's not right – my mum didn't deserve to be killed by the priests."
There are six persons of interest in the inquest, including Bongiorno, who died in 2002.
In his statement to the court, Mrs James's eldest son Mark James laid into shocking police mistakes in the investigation, which included key evidence such as the clothes Mrs James was wearing going missing, and evidence from an unrelated homicide investigation being added to the case which was then DNA tested and used to falsely exonerate Bongiorno.
"I do believe that my mum was killed by those priests and somehow they got away with it," he said.
"I am deeply concerned with the deficiencies in the police investigation … given the number of errors, it's very hard to accept.
"I think a miscarriage of justice may have occurred. If these exhibits weren't lost, we'd probably know who the killer was over a decade ago, and I think that's disgusting and I think there needs to be some accountability."
Earlier on Wednesday, the court heard a second person may have seen the alleged paedophile priest covered in blood on the day of the murder.
Father Anthony Bongiorno. Photo / news.com.au
Victoria Police cold case detective Leigh Prados, who is the lead investigator revisiting the killing of the 38-year-old, told the court they were trying to track down a nun who may be able to provide crucial information.
Bongiorno was seen by electrician Allan Hircoe covered in blood at the Thornbury presbytery on the day of the killing, Hircoe has told the court.
Prados said a different man also recalled a nun telling a story in 1982 of Bongiorno with blood on him, decades before the electrician came forward with his account.
"The nun was of the belief that someone had seen Bongiorno with blood on his person on the day of the murder," Prados said.
