Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Western Australia Police Review The Circumstances Leading To Virginia Robert's Death
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
- 0:03Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. We're getting reports out of Australia that the
- 0:09Speaker 1: Western Australia Police are going to reevaluate their interaction with
- 0:15Speaker 1: Virginia Roberts over the final few months before she passed away,
- 0:21Speaker 1: and they're trying to see if there was anything they
- 0:23Speaker 1: could have done differently to try and make the situation better,
- 0:27Speaker 1: maybe to try and make it more of a palatable
- 0:31Speaker 1: deal for Virginia, with the hope that if something like
- 0:35Speaker 1: this happens again, you know, somebody with the same circumstances,
- 0:39Speaker 1: they can behave differently and maybe offer them more help
- 0:44Speaker 1: and offer them some more resources to try and deal
- 0:47Speaker 1: with the trauma that they're going through. And I know
- 0:49Speaker 1: that we all look at Virginia as, you know, this
- 0:51Speaker 1: really brave person who was willing to take these people on,
- 0:55Speaker 1: but she was human and she had the same kind
- 1:00Speaker 1: of fears, the same kind of you know, hesitation as
- 1:03Speaker 1: everybody else. And what you think that when she went
- 1:08Speaker 1: to bed at night turned that light off, that all
- 1:10Speaker 1: of that just went away because she got a few bucks.
- 1:15Speaker 1: The trauma that Virginia had was serious, and it was
- 1:19Speaker 1: compounded obviously by the relationship with her husband later on
- 1:23Speaker 1: down the road. So the police in Australia are going
- 1:27Speaker 1: to review this response to see if they could have
- 1:29Speaker 1: responded any better. And look, I think that's a good idea,
- 1:34Speaker 1: and I have no idea what they're going to come
- 1:35Speaker 1: up with. And I'm certainly not pointing the finger at
- 1:39Speaker 1: the police or social services in Australia because we don't
- 1:43Speaker 1: have that kind of evidence and that would be just
- 1:46Speaker 1: ignoring all the trauma that she had previously. So with
- 1:49Speaker 1: that said, why don't we jump into this article from
- 1:51Speaker 1: the Guardian and let's see what they have to say.
- 1:54Speaker 1: This article was authored by Jordan Beasley, headline Western Australian
- 1:59Speaker 1: Police to review response to Virginia Roberts domestic violence dispute.
- 2:06Speaker 1: Police in Western Australia have agreed to review how they
- 2:09Speaker 1: interacted with Virginia Roberts, one of the most prominent victims
- 2:13Speaker 1: of the disgraced US financier Pedophile, in the lead up
- 2:17Speaker 1: to her death a year ago by suicide. Robert's brother
- 2:21Speaker 1: and sister in law, Sky and Amanda Roberts, told ABC
- 2:24Speaker 1: Radio on Wednesday morning that they had written to both
- 2:27Speaker 1: the State Coroner and police requesting an investigation into how
- 2:31Speaker 1: police handled a domestic violence dispute she was involved in
- 2:34Speaker 1: before she took her life on her Western Australian farm
- 2:38Speaker 1: last April at the age of forty one. Roberts, who
- 2:42Speaker 1: was American but had lived in Australia for years, was
- 2:46Speaker 1: involved in a dispute with a former partner. And you
- 2:49Speaker 1: have to think, with all of the trauma and all
- 2:52Speaker 1: of the baggage that Virginia had gone through, something like this,
- 2:56Speaker 1: especially if it was physical, that has to take a
- 2:58Speaker 1: serious toll, right obviously, not just on the relationship, but
- 3:03Speaker 1: on your mental health. And I'm talking about in the
- 3:05Speaker 1: best of times, people that have never suffered trauma before,
- 3:10Speaker 1: if they get into an abusive relationship, well they're suffering
- 3:13Speaker 1: trauma now. But if you're somebody who's suffered trauma their
- 3:17Speaker 1: whole life basically, and then you get into this relationship
- 3:20Speaker 1: with the guy that you know, you think is your savior,
- 3:23Speaker 1: and you build this loving relationship over the years, and
- 3:27Speaker 1: then that all switches up at some point and he
- 3:30Speaker 1: starts abusing you and beating you and you know, being
- 3:33Speaker 1: mentally abusive whatever, taking your kids, the whole thing. Yeah,
- 3:37Speaker 1: that has to weigh heavy on people, right, especially if
- 3:41Speaker 1: you're already dealing with trauma. And look, I'm not gonna
- 3:44Speaker 1: sit here and tell you that I'm some kind of
- 3:46Speaker 1: psychologist and I understand the human psyche. I don't, fuck
- 3:50Speaker 1: I hardly even understand my own mind speak. But what
- 3:53Speaker 1: I will tell you is this, the burden that was
- 3:56Speaker 1: placed on Virginia was a heavy one. And I know
- 3:59Speaker 1: that for a fact because I talked to her about it.
- 4:03Speaker 1: The state's Police Commissioner, Colonel Blanche, confirmed in a parliamentary
- 4:07Speaker 1: hearing on Wednesday that the police had received a letter
- 4:10Speaker 1: from Robert's family and were conducting a review. And look,
- 4:15Speaker 1: you can't blame them. It's important to see what's what right, Okay,
- 4:19Speaker 1: this is this? That is that they investigated this, they
- 4:22Speaker 1: didn't look at that. You know, all of it matters.
- 4:27Speaker 1: And again I'm not looking to place blame on the
- 4:30Speaker 1: police in Australia, but I think it's a good idea
- 4:33Speaker 1: to figure out how this all came about and if
- 4:35Speaker 1: there's anything that the authorities can do moving forward that
- 4:38Speaker 1: can help perhaps prevent something like this happening in the future.
- 4:42Speaker 1: Is a good idea because we have to remember how
- 4:45Speaker 1: many other people in Australia are in abusive relationships. I'm
- 4:49Speaker 1: sure there are plenty. He said. He did not know
- 4:52Speaker 1: yet how police responded to Robert's case, noting police respond
- 4:56Speaker 1: to over one hundred thousand family violence incidents every year,
- 5:00Speaker 1: but had requested the review to find out. And that's
- 5:03Speaker 1: what I was just saying, one hundred thousand family violence
- 5:06Speaker 1: incidents a year. So obviously it's an issue that goes
- 5:10Speaker 1: deeper and further than just Virginia. So it helps the
- 5:14Speaker 1: whole entire society, right, everybody that's in Western Australia. Let's
- 5:19Speaker 1: get this review going and let's see where things stand,
- 5:22Speaker 1: and then maybe when Joane down the street is getting
- 5:25Speaker 1: the ever living shit kicked out of her by her husband,
- 5:28Speaker 1: there are some resources to help her. The coroner can
- 5:32Speaker 1: also choose to do an investigation, as could the ambudsman,
- 5:36Speaker 1: he said. Sky and Amanda Roberts said they were not
- 5:40Speaker 1: questioning the circumstances surrounding her death or disputing that she
- 5:44Speaker 1: died by suicide, but wanted to know if there were
- 5:47Speaker 1: any internal failings before her death. Look, we don't know, right,
- 5:52Speaker 1: we have no idea. We know what we've been told.
- 5:56Speaker 1: We know what the authorities have said, and we know
- 5:58Speaker 1: that Virginia certainly was dealing with a lot of trauma.
- 6:03Speaker 1: But an investigation is a good idea, and I know
- 6:06Speaker 1: if it was my loved one, I'd want an investigation,
- 6:09Speaker 1: especially considering the circumstances and considering the threats that Virginia
- 6:14Speaker 1: has faith throughout the years. We're really asking for a
- 6:18Speaker 1: thorough review of the process about what happened when Virginia
- 6:21Speaker 1: went to the police station on multiple occasions. Amanda said,
- 6:25Speaker 1: where are those are reports? And why the police did
- 6:27Speaker 1: not continue to follow up. There's a lot of things
- 6:30Speaker 1: that happened before Virginia ultimately made that decision, And look,
- 6:35Speaker 1: I'm sure there are I'm sure that Virginia was dealing
- 6:40Speaker 1: with a lot and who knows if intervention would have helped.
- 6:48Speaker 1: Because sometimes when you've had enough, you've had enough, right
- 6:51Speaker 1: and nothing's going to change it, especially if you get
- 6:54Speaker 1: to a point where you have some kind of mental
- 6:56Speaker 1: break forget it, you're not thinking rationally, you're not thinking about,
- 7:01Speaker 1: you know, the long term. And in Virginia's case, she
- 7:04Speaker 1: had everything taken from her, her kids were gone, you know,
- 7:08Speaker 1: that's her whole life. So in her mind. She had
- 7:12Speaker 1: all this trauma and then you heap this on top
- 7:15Speaker 1: of it, talk about tea and up a gigantic disaster. Right,
- 7:19Speaker 1: you have all this other stuff going on, and now
- 7:21Speaker 1: you can't see your kids. Amanda said the Coroner's Court
- 7:27Speaker 1: had responded with condolences to their request for an investigation,
- 7:31Speaker 1: but had not yet committed to a formal review. A
- 7:34Speaker 1: number of researchers and practitioners from Australian university and family
- 7:38Speaker 1: violence organizations have supported the family's plea and also wrote
- 7:43Speaker 1: to the coroner asking for an inquest, arguing that the
- 7:46Speaker 1: case raises broader issues around domestic and family violence. And
- 7:50Speaker 1: that's what I was saying. This is obviously an issue
- 7:54Speaker 1: in Australia, obviously something they're dealing with. One hundred thousand,
- 8:01Speaker 1: so that's a significant amount of calls. And how big
- 8:05Speaker 1: is the population? Not very big? Right? What is there
- 8:09Speaker 1: like twenty five million Australians in general, roughly something like that,
- 8:13Speaker 1: So how many are there over in Western Australia And
- 8:16Speaker 1: then you have one hundred thousand calls a year due
- 8:18Speaker 1: to family violence? Seems like kind of a problem. No,
- 8:23Speaker 1: So if anything good can come of this, then I
- 8:26Speaker 1: think that's certainly a positive. Sky said he appreciated the
- 8:33Speaker 1: group's efforts and their recognition that this is entirely way
- 8:37Speaker 1: too common and such an investigation could help thousands. Look,
- 8:41Speaker 1: I'll never understand people that beat on their girls, like
- 8:45Speaker 1: what are you doing now? Look, I'm not saying somebody
- 8:48Speaker 1: shouldn't defend themselves. You know someone's going crazy, grab them,
- 8:52Speaker 1: hold them, call the police, whatever. But I just never
- 8:55Speaker 1: understood the whole hit women shit. Maybe it's just how
- 8:58Speaker 1: I grew up, and maybe it's just the fact that
- 9:01Speaker 1: I never seen that in my life. My family, my father,
- 9:06Speaker 1: my uncle's never ever So maybe it's just foreign to me.
- 9:12Speaker 1: But the idea of raising my hand to a woman,
- 9:16Speaker 1: I've never even thought about it. No matter how vile
- 9:20Speaker 1: the women have been, no matter the things they've said,
- 9:22Speaker 1: no matter how many times I've had a drink thrown
- 9:24Speaker 1: on me, the thoughts never even crossed my mind. So
- 9:29Speaker 1: I just don't understand. I can't wrap my mind around it,
- 9:33Speaker 1: and I can't wrap my mind around people who think
- 9:35Speaker 1: it's okay. That's what Virginia would want a thorough investigation
- 9:39Speaker 1: into the systemic failures in Australia. Here in the United
- 9:42Speaker 1: States across the UK, Sky said, and I can agree
- 9:46Speaker 1: with that, and I can concur with that. I know
- 9:48Speaker 1: that's what Virginia wanted. She wanted sweeping changes, and she
- 9:54Speaker 1: wanted an investigation, a real investigation, because she knew it
- 9:58Speaker 1: would prove everything she said was true. I wholeheartedly believe
- 10:03Speaker 1: that if the police had done a thorough investigation, that
- 10:05Speaker 1: Virginia would still be here. Roberts was one of the
- 10:10Speaker 1: most vocal victims of Epstein. She alleged that she had
- 10:13Speaker 1: been groomed and sexually abused by him and his longtime
- 10:16Speaker 1: associate Glenn Maxwell, beginning in her teens. She also alleged
- 10:20Speaker 1: that she had been sexually trafficked to Prince Andrew. In
- 10:24Speaker 1: a two thousand and nine civil suit against Epstein under
- 10:27Speaker 1: the pseudonym Jane do one O two, she alleged that
- 10:30Speaker 1: her duties included being sexually exploited by Epstein's adult male peers,
- 10:35Speaker 1: including Royalty. Roberts reached the settlement with Epstein in that
- 10:39Speaker 1: case before it went to trial. Of course, that's how
- 10:42Speaker 1: Epstein killed all of this, and then he also was
- 10:46Speaker 1: able to label them cold diggers. Oh, they got paid,
- 10:49Speaker 1: so it's okay. In twenty twenty one, Roberts filed a
- 10:54Speaker 1: civil suit against Prince Andrew and the federal Court in
- 10:57Speaker 1: New York, alleging he had sexually assaulted her on three
- 11:00Speaker 1: occasions when she was seventeen. Andrew has repeatedly and strongly
- 11:04Speaker 1: denied the accusations. In twenty twenty two, Andrew and Roberts
- 11:08Speaker 1: agreed to an out of court settlement for an undisclosed sum. Maxwell,
- 11:13Speaker 1: who has maintained her innocence, was sentenced to twenty years
- 11:16Speaker 1: in prison in twenty twenty two for sex trafficking. An
- 11:20Speaker 1: interim administrator was appointed to oversee Robert's estate after she
- 11:24Speaker 1: died without a valid will, triggering competing claims by her sons,
- 11:29Speaker 1: Christian nineteen and Noah eighteen. She sh that has to
- 11:34Speaker 1: just be horrible. Your mom passes away and then the
- 11:38Speaker 1: battles on for the estate, and it always comes down
- 11:41Speaker 1: to that, right, rotten ass, garbage ass money. That's what
- 11:45Speaker 1: it always comes down to. And you see how it
- 11:49Speaker 1: tears people apart. Terry's family is apart, and that's why
- 11:52Speaker 1: it's important just to veer off here for a second,
- 11:55Speaker 1: to have a will. I'm certainly not in the business
- 11:59Speaker 1: of giving anyone life advice, but I think that if
- 12:03Speaker 1: you have kids, especially, probably a good idea to have
- 12:05Speaker 1: something down on paper, because you don't want to get
- 12:08Speaker 1: into a situation where some court or some stranger is
- 12:12Speaker 1: dictating where the money ends up. So I would suggest
- 12:16Speaker 1: having a will. And as far as this investigation goes,
- 12:20Speaker 1: I hope that Australia does it, and I hope that
- 12:22Speaker 1: they take a real look at what happened and if
- 12:25Speaker 1: there are some issues along the way, hopefully they fix
- 12:28Speaker 1: them and hopefully the next time around there are more
- 12:32Speaker 1: resources for somebody who is going through the same thing.
- 12:36Speaker 1: So we'll definitely keep an eye on this one as well,
- 12:38Speaker 1: and we'll see what the Australians come up with when
- 12:41Speaker 1: it comes to a commission or an investigation into the
- 12:46Speaker 1: events that led to Virginia Roberts passing away. All the
- 12:50Speaker 1: information that goes with this episode can be found in
- 12:54Speaker 1: the description box.