JILL Brookes’ sister, perhaps subconsciously, often runs her fingers through her hair as she speaks. Her little sister’s head was caved in by an unknown assailant in the small Altona bookshop in which we sit.
On the afternoon of July 20, police believe a man entered West Side Stories in Harrington Square and bashed Ms Brookes in a “frenzied” attack.
She was left for dead in one of the store’s aisles before a fellow trader found her in a pool of blood.
Susan, who asked that her last name not be used, says her sister had just had a second ceramic plate put in her head after her body rejected the first.
“They [doctors] replaced the shattered bone with a plate back in January and they’ve had to take it out again because of infection and she’ll be on antibiotics for some time,” Susan says.
“She talks, but you can’t understand what she’s saying.” Jill will never be Jill again, she says, and will likely be in residential care for the rest of her life. In April, she turns 62.
Jill’s four sisters and husband take turns to visit her at the Heidelberg rehabilitation centre which has been home for seven months or at hospital where she is a frequent visitor.
Being a bookshop, covered in strangers’ fingerprints, the crime scene has been contaminated with too much DNA.
Susan believes there will be a development in the case . . . “whether it’s now or years hence when other information comes,” she says.
“We thought she was going to die at first and when she was in the intensive care they more or less said that she was going to die.
“In her mind, I know that she knows what’s going on and she knows everything; she just can’t express it.
“She just can’t get people to understand and that’s very frustrating for her.
“Physically, she might be debilitated, but mentally, she’s still Jill.
“She did make progress in the beginning when she was at Royal Talbot, when she first went there, like after a couple of months . . . she started drinking little sips of water and then she started eating solid foods.
“They still have to feed her through a stomach peg for the most of it.
“They expected her to be paralysed all down one side, but she’s up and walking . . .
“She knows something bad happened to her, and she knows that she was hit on the head, but I don’t think she remembers who did it or anything like that.”
Police are still seeking a man seen near the shop who was wearing khaki bib-and-brace overalls and a checkered shirt.
They also want to talk to the owner of a white tray truck seen in a rear laneway off Harrington Square.
Anyone with information is asked to phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit crimestoppers.com.au
■ Jill Brookes’ family has extended an offer to local charities and organisations to take remaining books from the store, which is closing.
