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The Murder of Sheree (Mandile) Beasley
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Written by Kalmar - The
Crime Web
Sheree
Beasley was born on February 25th 1985. Her short life ended
brutally on June 29th 1991 age six years.
Robert
Arthur Selby Lowe was born in England in 1937. His godfather was the
Minister of Edinburgh’s Presbyterian Church and fuure Chaplain to Queen
Elizabeth II. He attended boarding schools both in England and in New Zealand.
Robert Lowe was not only a
well –spoken, well -respected salesman, but a Presbyterian Church Elder,
Junior Cricket Coach and Sunday school Teacher. He was well liked and
admired among his peers, and by his family.
What was to be revealed,
not through a swift process by any means, was that Lowe was also a
Pathological Liar, Exhibitionist, Kidnapper, Paedophile, Rapist and
Murderer.
Looking back on Lowe’s
criminal history, it is clear to the observer that he was a human time
bomb destined to go off at some point. How the various courts both in
Australia and New Zealand failed to see this is beyond understanding.
Lowe's criminal "history"
- In 1956 Robert, then 19, stole a car in England and
tried to run down a policeman. He was fined 21 pounds.
- Between 1959 and 1965 Lowe was
arrested and charged in New Zealand on counts of Indecent Assault on a
male, and Theft. For these he received fines.
- Also between 1959 and 1965 he
faced two charges (three and a half years apart) in New Zealand with
wilful and obscene exposure for which he served a six month prison
sentence.
- In 1964, he was branded “rogue
and vagabond” by the courts of New Zealand.
- After moving to Australia, and more
peculiarly since he married, he had been interviewed on more than a
dozen occasions and has appeared in court on charges of indecent
behaviour, loitering for sexual purposes, wilful and obscene exposure
and theft.
Lowe’s wife Lorraine (nee Sangster) had herself, an extremely religious
upbringing, only escaping the confines of the “The Exclusive Brethren”
at twenty-nine. Alone and friendless, she prayed in 1970 for a friend
for Christmas. She met Robert Lowe after the service, and thought her
prayer had been answered. How could she possibly know that she had just
stepped into her worst nightmare? Lorraine knew little of her husband’s
activities, and nothing of his past, until the brutal murder of Sheree
Beasley made them so glaringly clear that she could ignore them no
longer. The most experienced detective on the working to find Sheree’s
killer said that he had never understood the concept of evil until he
met Robert Arthur Selby Lowe.
On June 29th 1991 a neighbour reported to Shane and Kerrie
Ludlow that she had found Kerrie’s daughter Sheree’s bicycle abandoned.
Sheree had been out several times that day on her bike to the local milk
bar, and to check to see if the mini golf was open. Shane ran out into
the street……… This was the beginning of a long haul for not only
Sheree’s family, but for Lorraine Lowe, her teenage sons Benjamin and
Jonathan, and a huge police contingent.
Neighbours and police alike suggested that perhaps Sheree had meandered
off to play with one of her friends. All were sure she’d bound through
the door at any moment. What in fact had happened (and what took
literally years to corroborate), was that Robert Arthur Selby Lowe had
forced Sheree into his Blue Toyota Corolla Hatchback (a company car),
and driven off. He first asked her if she wanted to go with him, but as
her response was "no way"; he got out and piled her into the car
himself. She was still wearing her pink "stack hat".
Because
Lowe was a habitual liar, it was difficult for the police to piece
together the course of events, which had led to the discovery of
Sheree’s badly decomposed body much later.
At first, Lowe denied any
involvement whatsoever. He went on several times to change his story and
to hypothesise on what the course of events could have been if he had
been involved.
On tape, Lowe described
how he had driven up and asked the girl if she wanted a ride home and
how she had come willingly with him. She appeared upset and incoherent
and told him he was going the wrong way when he tried to find where she
lived. Lowe said that Sheree became more upset when he said he couldn’t
get off the freeway and would have to drive a little further. He says he
pulled up on the side of the road and tried to calm her down, but she
started to choke. He says he tried to help her but he was unable to.
Then, he said, in a state of panic, he ruled out taking her to the
hospital, as they would undoubtedly need to know the circumstances under
which she arrived there. Sheree died. He knew he had no time to "muck
around", so he drove to the back of "Arthur’s Seat", near Rosebud where
he and his wife had gone pineconing recently, and laid poor little
Sheree to rest in a filthy drain. Her helmet and clothing he removed as
he said he could not fit her in without doing so. "I tried to see if she
would fit there and it looked very tight. I had her clothes off and I
said a prayer. I put her there gently…. Very gently, slid her in, pushed
her with my hands. Pushed her in a bit further then covered the whole
drain."
Much of Lowe’s story was
proven to be fiction. Sheree’s friend, with whom she was riding,
testified that a man had forced her into the car. She had not gone
willingly.
Although Lowe had said he
had left Sheree wearing her underwear, she was found without underpants
on.
Lowe had confessed to two
other prisoners that he had abducted Sheree. He told them that Sheree’s
pink tracksuit had been dumped in a rubbish bin at the Mt Waverley
Shopping Centre as it had been covered in sperm. The clothing was never
found.
Fellow prisoner, Peter
Reid said Lowe had proudly boasted that he had cleaned the driveway
under the car after cleaning up Sheree’s blood. He said also that he had
learned his lesson this time, and next time he would use Valium.
Reid
also testified, that Lowe had told him that Sheree had in fact choked
while being forced to perform oral sex on him. He avoided these words
however, calling them "dirty acts".
In court, Lorraine Lowe testified
that her husband was obsessed with the details of the Karmein Chan
murder, and had prayed for her both at church and at home. He was
similarly obsessed with the Azaria Chaimberlain case and had often
claimed the police were “always going after good church-going people”.
It was later discovered that Lowe had in fact written to Michael
Chaimberlain, who in turn wrote to Lowe’s Psychologist Margaret Hobbs
and asked her to advise her client not to write again. He also tried to
visit the Chaimberlains while on a trip, but found them not home.
Robert Lowe had been in "therapy" with Margaret Hobbs, Psychotherapist,
for several years. Margaret had been successful in treating
exhibitionists who displayed similar traits to those that Lowe had been
unable to suppress most of his life. Margaret suggested at one point to
Lowe himself, that he had modelled "this" on the Chaimberlain case. She
said he had the missing child, the missing clothes and the religious
background. Lowe’s response to this was "yeah but Michael and Lindy
stuck together".
Against her
ethical status, she felt compelled to assist the police in bringing Lowe
to justice. (Her ethics were in fact questioned several times throughout
Lowe’s trial). She had seen or spoken with the police at least once a
month since being approached en agosto de 1991. She had made an
anonymous phone call to Crimestoppers after a discussion with Robert
that made her think he was involved in Sheree’s murder.
It
was Margaret who finally gave the police what they had been after.
Robert had left with her a copy of his "confession". She did not believe
she had a choice in handing over the written document. However her need
to do so was circumvented, when Lowe was caught the same day,
shoplifting a packet of M&M’s with his copy of the document in his
possession.
The trial of Robert Arthur Selby Lowe
On the last day of his committal
hearing, Robert Arthur Selby Lowe pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping
and murder of Sheree Beasley. He was committed to stand trial. On
October 27th, 1994, three years and four months after Sheree
was murdered, six men and six women were empanelled to sit in Judgement
of him.
On November 30th 1994,
the jury brought in a unanimous verdict. Lowe was found guilty of
kidnapping Sheree and was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment. He
was then charged guilty with the murder of Sheree Beazley (Mandile) and
was sentenced to life imprisonment, his files were marked never to be
released, the harshest penalty available in Australia.
The judge passed the sentences
with the emphatic statement “and Mr Lowe, Life means life!”
Robert Arthur Selby Lowe
Robert Arthur Selby Lowe
(centre) is escorted to a a prison transport van.
Source: HWT Image Library |