Australian civil libertarians were yesterday calling for evidence in the murder trial of British backpacker Peter Falconio to be reexamined following concerns over the DNA testing method used.
Low copy number DNA testing has been drawn into question after a judge last week criticized the DNA evidence when he acquitted a man charged with murder over the deadly 1998 Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland.
The technique was used to help convict Bradley Murdoch of murdering Falconio, a British backpacker who disappeared while on a road trip through the central Australian desert in 2001.
Murdoch was also convicted of abducting and assaulting Falconio's girlfriend and travelling companion Joanne Lees before she was able to escape from the ordeal near Barrow Creek, 300km north of Alice Springs.
The Australian Council for Civil Liberties said the British case meant that evidence used against Murdoch must be reviewed.
"Mr Murdoch should be immediately given a special grant of legal aid with a special component to examine the forensic evidence," council president Terry O'Gorman said.
"If there's a serious question mark over it, it should go back to the Court of Appeal and the Court of Appeal should reconsider whether his conviction is safe," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
O'Gorman said the technique, a relatively new and sensitive form of testing which allows a small number of human cells to be analysed, should be suspended here ahead of a British review.
"This is not any special call for sympathy for Murdoch," O'Gorman said. "The reality is it's absolutely imperative that forensic evidence used in criminal cases be highly reliable."
O'Gorman said the DNA samples used in the Falconio case were those said to have been found on the ties used to tie up Lees and a microscopic sample of blood on Murdoch's clothing.
Murdoch was sentenced to life in jail in December 2005 after he was found guilty of shooting 28-year-old Falconio to death beside a remote outback highway. Falconio's body has never been found.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
RSS