NSW: Coroner "satisfied" missing Sydney girl dead= 2

AAP General News (Australia)
02-15-2006
NSW: Coroner "satisfied" missing Sydney girl dead= 2

Ms Lane, now 30, kept Tegan's birth and those of two other children secret from her
family and friends.

The two other children were legally adopted out but when Tegan's birth was discovered
by authorities in 1999 she initially denied the baby's existence then offered inconsistent
versions of events.

In her latest account, she gave the newborn to Tegan's natural father, a man named
Andrew Norris, with whom she had had an affair.

Mr Norris, his de facto girlfriend Mel, and his mother collected the newborn from Auburn
Hospital, Ms Lane told police.

But nationwide searches have failed to find any trace of him or the child.

Mr Abernethy today said without the untruths and half truths Ms Lane had told police,
adoption agencies and social workers, her version of what happened to Tegan was "possible,
though unlikely".

"With those untruths ... I am completely unable to accept the final version given by
Keli Lane," he said.

Mr Abernethy said he found it "inherently unlikely that a man with whom (Ms Lane) was
having an affair, who already had a partner, who initially at least was incredibly angry
on learning she was pregnant, nevertheless was happy to take the child".

"This is all the more unlikely because that man's cuckolded partner also agreed."

Earlier this week, Ms Lane exercised her legal right to silence when called to give
evidence at the inquest.

While Mr Abernethy acknowledged her right not to incriminate herself, he said "the
position is that without Keli Lane's evidence this court is unable to ... make a final
meaningful assessment as to whether this inherently unlikely version of events may be
true".

AAP ka/dmc/tam/cdh/sd

KEYWORD: LANE 2 SYDNEY (REOPENS)

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