On at 6pm ACST, Wednesday 4 June, 2025, legal academic Bob Moles will be leading a three hour class on the materials he is using for the forthcoming book False Witness: The Disgraceful Dr Manock.
A central feature of the discussion will be a focus on the case of Derek Bromley – a proud aboriginal man of the Ngarrindjeri and Narrunga people from South Australia .
Wrongfully convicted, he served 40 years imprisonment before his recent release on parole. Eight of the country’s leading experts (including those retained by the prosecution) gave unequivocal and uncontroverted expert opinions stating that the evidence given at his trial was false and misleading. Despite that, the appeal court and the High Court of Australia, both refused him leave to appeal.
The reasoning of both courts was clearly inconsistent with well established legal principles governing criminal appeals. Two of the judges of the High Court stated that he had clearly been the victim of a substantial miscarriage of justice and should have been acquitted. Henry Keogh had only recently had his conviction for murder overturned on substantially similar evidence.
This is an unprecedented calamity for the Australian legal system. If it is not corrected, the ruling will present insurmountable obstacles to the use of expert witnesses in future criminal cases.
At a time of much talk about ‘reconciliation’ and ‘closing the gap’ we must not become silent witnesses to such egregious misuse of our legal system. You can join us in person or online – just follow the link below – and if you are outside South Australia, please check the time difference with your location. You will be provided with links to substantial online sources to support our discussion.
Dr Bob Moles
Registration is required :