Gus Lamont: SA Police Commissioner defends search for missing 4yo, says police will return to Yunta property

South Australia’s top cop has moved to defend the search efforts for missing four-year-old Gus Lamont, more than five weeks after he vanished from his family’s remote sheep station.

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said two reviews had found no flaws in the way the search had been conducted as he revealed police intended to conduct a fourth search of the property.

Gus vanished from his family’s Oak Park Station homestead on September 27. He was last seen by his grandmother playing outside on a mound of dirt and wearing a blue Minions shirt about 5pm. When she went looking for him half an hour later he was gone.

His disappearance sparked one of the longest and most intensive search efforts ever undertaken by South Australian police.

Last week, police returned to the property to drain 3.2 million litres of water from a dam to conduct a comprehensive visual search, particularly in areas obscured by underwater vegetation.

The dam, 600m from the family home and about 4.5m deep, had previously been searched by police divers.

Sadly, no clues were found and Gus’ heartbroken family were once again left without closure on his mystery disappearance.

Commissioner Stevens said police were still committed to recovering the four-year-old.

“We’ve done a minimum of two reviews in relation to the searching exercise from the moment we were advised that Gus had gone missing,” he told the The Advertiser.

“Peer-reviews by experts who have taken an objective view of whether or not things could have gone differently.

“Those reviews have identified opportunities to enhance what we’ve done but there’s been no criticism of the search effort.”

Mr Stevens confirmed police with Taskforce Horizon, set up to find Gus, would return to the property for a fourth time in the future, but could not say when. Instead, that would be “based on further analysis of data” and advice from experts.

“We’ve been acting on the advice of survivability experts, doctors, medical staff, in relation to how far Gus might travel and how long he would be able to survive without any support or assistance,” he said.

“That was a factor that dictated how far we would search and how long.

“We are continuing to go back because we are still committed to recovering Gus for the family, so everybody has some sense of closure in relation to what’s occurred up in Yunta.”