Coroner Sarah Linton is this week holding an inquest in Broome into the death the boy, who drowned in coastal mangroves in 2013 after wandering away from the bush block where he was being looked after.
The courts heard he died from submersion, but his body was then mauled by either a crocodile or a shark, and had his foot chewed off.
The inquest is looking at whether the level of care provided was adequate, particularly in relation to managing the teenager’s FASD and habit of inhaling solvents.
The teenager had a history of running away, and on the day he went missing had told another boy he was planning to walk to the town of Derby, 65 kilometres east across the vast King Sound waterway.
Sergeant Jamie Raper said the search was treated as an urgent matter from the moment the teenager was reported missing.
“We were very concerned … it is a very hostile environment,” he said.
“Very thick mangroves, extreme heat, and the tides and the crocodiles … it was by far the most difficult search that I’ve done.”
He said communications were “a nightmare”.
The next morning, after an extensive search involving helicopters, Indigenous rangers and dozens of volunteers, the teenager’s body was found in mangroves.
