Lucas Craig still remembers the day his sister went missing almost 26 years ago.
He was only eight at the time.
“I still remember everything like it was yesterday,” Craig told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“We went out and looked for her because my mother wasn’t getting help from the police or anyone.”
He said his family would band together to look for her in the desperate hope their combined efforts would shed light on the disappearance.
“As a family, we used to search for her in bushland, we used to do doorknocks and ask if anyone had seen her. It is something we will never forget,” he said.
“I remember crying a lot with my mum because I couldn’t help her.”
His sister, Colleen Walker-Craig, was just 16 when she became one of three New South Wales children to disappear in the town of Bowraville over a five months between 1990 and 1991.
Evelyn Greenup, 4, and Clinton Speedy-Duroux, 16 also disappeared without a trace.
All three children were Aboriginal.
Craig also recounted the horrific treatment his mother encountered when she first brought her daughter’s disappearance to the attention of police.
“Having the police judge my mother and doubt her and say she went walkabout and not take a statement from my mother until three months later…” he said.
“It makes you question the justice system.”
The families are speaking out after a recent push to have the killings return to the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal.
The move has the full support of police, but there are doubts the Government will be so open to consideration.
Supporters and family members marched down Macquarie Street on Thursday demanding the case be retried.
The main suspect, Jay Hart, was tried and acquitted of the murder of 16-year-old Speedy-Duroux in 1993 and of four-year-old Greenup in 2006. Hart has since changed his name.
The families and detectives involved in the case say that significant leads were not explored at the time and are yet to be heard by the court.
The families are demanding that double jeopardy laws are changed in order to retry the man acquitted.
The march on Thursday coincided with the debate of a Greens private member’s bill aimed at reforming the double jeopardy laws.
The bill was voted down 25 – 8.
Current laws allow for a retrial if new evidence emerges.
Two former attorneys-general have chosen not to pursue a retrial as they argue an acquitted person can only face a second trial if the evidence is fresh, compelling and has not already already been ‘adduced’ – or cited in court.
It is understood NSW Police hope to have a new application for the cases to be heard submitted to NSW Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton next week.