Justice for Evander Bronson Tuala

Hello. My name is Claudia and I am the mother of Evander Bronson Tuala, also affectionately known as “Woody”. In the early hours of 9 April 2022, Evander was the victim of a fatal assault during a brawl outside a Sydney Hotel. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and was pronounced dead later that day, his life support was switched off two days later. He was just 23 years old.

To date nobody has been charged over Evander’s death and a coronial inquest into his death is to be held on 25 – 29 August 2025. To ensure Evander’s voice is heard and that his rights are protected, we have decided to have our own legal representation at the coronial inquest. I am reaching out to ask for your support in helping us cover the legal costs. This is something we did not plan for. We never imagined we would be waiting so long for justice for Evander or that as the family of the victim we would need to have legal representation.

Following Evander’s death, five men were charged with affray in relation to the brawl. One of the men was also charged with the initial assault that led to the brawl. These matters were not finalised until September 2023, and to our disappointment the offenders only received community corrections orders as punishment. While these matters were before the court, and because of the ongoing criminal investigation into Evander’s death, police were limited in what they could tell us about Evander’s final moments.

In August 2023, we were informed a coronial investigation into Evander’s death was being conducted and in December 2023 a coronial inquest was confirmed. The inquest was originally scheduled to be held on 18 - 22 November 2024 but because of delays and circumstances out of our control, this had to be rescheduled to 25 – 29 August 2025.

We have now waited more than 3 years for answers about Evander’s death and for justice for Evander. In this time, we have had to deal with a complex and unfamiliar legal system. This has been overwhelming and to help us with this we engaged a solicitor, which we have self-funded.

We are now at a point where we think our best chance to secure the answers we want and to get some sort of justice for Evander is to be legally represented at the coronial inquest. But this legal representation is expensive, it is estimated that it could cost up to $38,000, and unfortunately Evander’s death does not fit the criteria for Legal Aid representation.

For this reason, I am asking for your support. We will continue to self-fund as much as we can, but any support, no matter how small, will help ease the cost for us. If you cannot donate, sharing this will also be of great value. All funds raised will be used to pay legal fees.

Evander was a much-loved young man who touched many lives. He went out one night and never came home. He was robbed of his life and we have been sentenced to a life without him. We are hoping this coronial inquest will give us the answers we have waited so long for but more than anything, we are hoping it will give Evander the justice he deserves.

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