Inquest will not give dad closure

April 25, 2008

STILL SEARCHING: Mick Peet reflects on the inquest into his daughter Lateesha Nolan.

Nikki Sorbello
IT has been more than three years since Lateesha Nolan disappeared from her New South Wales home and, while police are preparing a brief for the coroner, Lateesha's father Mick Peet is still no closer to closure. Mr Peet, who lives at Innes Park, said he was aware police were working on the brief, but had mixed feelings about the inquest, which he plans to attend. Lateesha was last seen in Dubbo on January 4, 2005, before leaving her four children with her mother, to return shortly. She has not been seen or heard from since, with police suspecting she became the second victim of Malcolm Naden. Naden, one of the most wanted men in New South Wales, is being hunted for the murder of Kristy Scholes, whose body was found under his bed in 2005, and in relation to Lateesha's disappearance. While Mr Peet does not believe his daughter is still alive, he spends most of his days scouring the internet for any news of her and the man he believed murdered her. Seeing Naden brought to justice is what he is fighting for now. "You just wish you could hear something," he said. Mr Peet believes Naden is still hiding out in dense bushland behind the Dubbo zoo, the last place with a confirmed siting of Naden. "I wish I had some sort of control to get the army in there and do a good sweep of the area," he said. A New South Wales Police spokeswoman said the briefing being prepared for the coroner was not unusual, but did not mean inquiries into Lateesha's disappearance had ended. "The investigation into Lateesha Nolan's disappearance in suspicious circumstances remains very active, with a team of homicide squad detectives continuing to pursue a number of lines of inquiry," she said. She said the missing person's case would remain open until Ms Nolan was found or new evidence came to light, regardless of the findings of the coroner.