objections of Hampel’s barrister, who
said there was no basis for believing
she had been murdered. Natalie raised
about $50,000, including money from
donations and her own savings, to cover
her family’s legal costs.
Hampel told the inquest that the
night before her death, Phoebe was in
“recovery mode” from a heavy drinking
session. She was still in bed when he left
for work the next morning, he says. The
last time Phoebe was seen alive in public
was just before midday, on the lobby’s
CCTV cameras, during a fire evacuation.
She was stumbling slightly as she held
Antony’s bull terrier Yoshi on a leash.
The coroner subsequently ruled that
she entered the chute sometime between
12.03pm and about 7pm, only minutes
before her body was found by the
concierge. When Hampel returned
home that night just after 6pm, he told
the inquest that the apartment was
empty. He said he found Phoebe’s bag,
keys and wallet on the kitchen counter,
and broken glass on the floor. There
was blood on the mouse and keyboard of
the computer they shared.
“I was becoming very concerned
at that point,” he said. He used the
computer, had a beer and ordered take-
away. When the deliveryman arrived, he
mentioned there were police in the
downstairs foyer. Hampel went down-
stairs and was told that a body had been
found. When asked at the inquest
whether he had any involvement in
Phoebe’s death, he said: “Absolutely not.”
Coroner Peter White agreed. On
December 10, 2014, four years and eight
days after Phoebe died, he found she
had climbed unassisted into the rubbish
chute while in a “sleepwalking state” and
fell down feet first, due to consumption
of alcohol and Stilnox. Her “penchant
for climbing” likely caused her to enter
the chute without having any intention
to cause herself harm, he said. He ruledout suicide or the involvement of any
third party and complied with a request
from Hampel’s lawyer to exonerate his
client. Police have never regarded
Hampel as a suspect and marie claire
does not suggest he was involved in
Phoebe’s death. Bowles says Hampel
is now married and has moved out of the
Balancea apartment block. Hampel
declined to comment for this article.
The outcome of the inquest was a
blow to Phoebe’s family, especially as the
coroner ignored submissions from his
assisting counsel, Deborah Siemensma,
a copy of which was obtained by The
Sunday Age. Siemensma felt the combi-
nation of evidence – including unex-
plained bruises to Phoebe’s upper arms,
the blood in the apartment and the lack
of fingerprints on the chute – and the
inadequacies of the initial police investi-
gation did “not enable a positive finding
to be made on the balance of probabili-
ties as to the involvement of Mr Hampel”
or another third party.
Siemensma continued, “That is not
to say he had any involvement, but
rather, there is an inabil-
ity to ‘exculpate’ on the
balance of probabilities,”
adding “aspects of Mr
Hampel’s evidence that
were unsatisfactory”.
Phoebe’s family
hoped to take their case
to the Supreme Court,
but ran out of money.
They also received legal
advice that any appeal of the coroner’s
finding was unlikely to succeed, as
Victorian law only allows such appeals
on errors of law not fact.
Natalie says the legal system has
failed those who need it most. “Natural
justice is now the only thing we’re
going to get out of this. Karma will
come to whoever has been involved,
we just have to be patient.”In the meantime, she mourns
the loss of her Tiger Cub at her home at
Mallacoota, East Gippsland, a place
much visited by her family before she
moved there to escape Melbourne and
its painful memories. Phoebe’s artwork
and photographs cover the walls. “I don’t
think I have properly accepted that she
is not here,” she says. “Every now and
then I will watch a lovely exchange
between a mother and daughter or get
news that one of Phoebe’s friends is
pregnant, and it makes it all fresh again.”
A short walk from Natalie’s cottage
is a seat with an ocean view, where she
often discussed her daughter’s future
with her. Phoebe planned to move to
Mallacoota to work and save for a trip to
India. She wanted to do aid work.
Natalie now sits there alone,
pondering why her daughter died.
Perhaps Phoebe got in a fight with
a visitor to the apartment, she says.
“I think she may have said something to
upset someone, I don’t know who but
I think that she’s been injured and
whoever was involved has panicked and
tried to get rid of her.”
Watching a kite
hovering in the sky
above reminds her of
Phoebe. “I have got a
piece of her artwork
with the words ‘Let. Me.
Fly’, and I just hope she’s
flying,” she says. “She
just wanted to be loved
and to help people. I
hope that she’s at peace and getting
ready for her next journey.”
Campbell still hopes that someone
will come forward with the truth. He
thinks his granddaughter’s death may be
related to Melbourne’s drugs trade.
Maybe Phoebe knew too much or
offended the wrong people, he muses.
“I’m hopeful something shakes out of
this eventually. It is such a waste of life.”He believes his
8 C2?552F89E6C\D
death may be
related to
# 6 =3@FC?6\D:==: 4 :E
drugs trade60 marieclaire.com.au
BODY OF EVIDENCE
Far left: A replica of the
entrance of the garbage
disposal chute into which
Phoebe is said to have
lowered herself. Left: a friend
of Phoebe’s in a safety
harness attempts to emulate
the alleged scenario and only
succeeds with great difficulty.