The 24-year-old was electrocuted while replacing wooden beams inside the roof of a property on Short Street in Carlton in February 2017.
Luke Bray with his mother,Diane Bray,and with his grandfather,John.Supplied
“He wasn’t even supposed to be there that day,” his mother,Diane Bray,toldThe Sydney Morning Herald.
“He was first up in there. He didn’t have a chance.”
In his wallet that day was a receipt for an engagement ring.
On Friday,seven years later,the police investigation into the 24-year-old’s death came before a Sydney court,where two people were committed to stand trial accused of lying to investigators.
Speaking from her home on the Sunshine Coast,which she and her husband Michael had hoped would one day belong to their son Luke and his partner,Diane Bray said there had been no instruction manual for the family to navigate their grief.
Luke Bray (right) with his father Michael and sister Alyssa.Supplied
“We made a conscious decision to honour Luke and his life and go on and live the best we can without him,” she said. “It’s not been easy. We do it for Luke,we get up every day.
“We know what happened to him was not right. We know that somebody did something that caused my son’s death.”
A 2020 inquest into Luke’s death heard allegations the cables in the roof of the home had previously been manipulated to bypass the meter and steal electricity from the grid,before the system was removed. Exposed wiring with insulation that had been ripped apart was allegedly left behind.
Luke was found with a frayed cable in his hand and could not be resuscitated.
His partner at the time,Jaime-Lee Digby,received a knock on the door that night by police,who told her Luke had died at work.
“He didn’t do it to himself,” Digby said. “He did everything right. He’s the one that has had to pay the ultimate price.”
She was handed her partner’s belongings,including the receipt for the ring.
“It was just kick in the guts after kick in the guts,” she said.
She said multiple lives had been destroyed,allegedly by someone “trying to save money on electricity”.
Jaime-Lee Digby and her late partner Luke Bray.Supplied
In August 2021,the coroner referred the matter to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions,an ODPP spokeswoman confirmed.
Diane Bray said the coroner “got a full picture” and shut the inquest down,sending it off for consideration of criminal charges,but then the family found themselves waiting again.
She said they were later told the matter would be considered a cold case.
That was until July 2023,when the home’s former tenant,Mariam Hamade,and her brother,Rabih Hamadi,were charged with intending to pervert the course of justice,accused of lying to police investigating Luke’s death.
Hamade and Hamadi faced Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Friday for arraignment. They each pleaded not guilty and were committed to stand trial.
The court heard Hamade allegedly lied to police in June 2017 “regarding her electricity bills and use of electricity at 16 Short Street,Carlton”,and spoke to her brother about the police interview and investigation.
Police allege the 42-year-old intended to pervert the investigation of the death of Luke Bray.
Hamade was a witness at the inquest and gave evidence about the decreasing cost of her power bills over a period in 2015 compared with 2014,which she put down to switching from electricity to gas.
Mariam Hamade leaves Downing Centre District Court with her lawyer Michael Blair (left).Edwina Pickles
Hamadi allegedly “took steps to remove any evidence of an electrical bypass” from his home in the nearby suburb of Bardwell Valley in June 2017,the court heard.
The 47-year-old is also alleged to have “told lies to investigating police” about the reason he had electrical work done at the premises.
Perverting the course of justice carries a maximum penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment if proven.
Judge Timothy Gartelmann listed the siblings’ three-week trial in April 2025.
Rabih Hamadi leaves court on Friday after his trial was set for April 2025.Edwina Pickles
No one has been charged with causing Luke’s death.
“It’s been seven years,and we’re still going,” Diane Bray said.
“We have no expectations that it will be open-shut and done. We can always hope,but we don’t hold our breath.
“We were asked early on to trust the justice system,and here we are,we’re still trusting.”
Reflecting on her son’s memory,Luke’s mother said he was a carefree,clever go-getter who loved waterskiing and camping. His tall,gangly frame earned him the nickname Pretzel.
“He was a good-looking rooster,” she said. “He had a really strong sense of right and wrong.”
She said he put himself into a carpentry apprenticeship at the age of 15,had completed a builder’s management licence course by 18,and had been lead guitarist in a “screamo” band with his friends who made it onto triple j Unearthed.
“By the time he was 20,he wanted a change,” Diane Bray said.
A plaque dedicated to Luke Bray at Point Cartwright on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.Supplied
Luke had wanted to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps in the army,but there was a wait to join,so he ended up in the navy.
His mother said the poverty and desperation her son witnessed while serving in the military stuck with him,and after a while he decided to return to his trade.
As Luke’s cousins and friends grow older,marry and have children,his memory is being honoured,including through Digby’s firstborn who has the middle name Luke.
“We know of at least four little people named after Luke,” Diane Bray said. “It’s beautiful to see.”
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