Andrew L. Urban
There seem to be two schools of thought on how to try and overturn Sue Neill-Fraser’s murder conviction by those who believe, as we do, that it is plainly wrongful. One school holds that the best way forward is to press for an independent inquiry, the other urges a new appeal via the courts.
The scandalous truth is that Tasmania’s establishment has erected roadblocks against ANY such attempts. Attorneys General over the years have blocked all calls for an independent review, whether from interested parties or from legal practitioners. Hardly an invitation to try again … The appeal court 2:1 (Escourt J dissenting) has disgraced itself by dismissing Neill-Fraser’s appeal not by valid legal reasoning but false and improper argument. Hardly an invitation to try again…
Her first appeal in 2012 was also shrugged off in cavalier fashion, as we show. Notably, the appeal court accepted the prosecution’s claim that Neill-Fraser touched the winches on the Four Winds while showing police the irregularities on board. It could not possibly be construed as ‘laying a false trail’ as the prosecution suggested, except to injure her character in the eyes of the jury. That’s not to mention the absurdity of the proposition that she was ‘laying a false trail’ of her DNA …. to incriminate herself? As co-owner of the yacht, her DNA would inevitably be found everywhere.
We have published extensively on these attempts in the wake of detailing the egregious errors (and malpractice) at trial. The latest news is the tabling in Tasmanian Parliament of a new report by Barbara Etter APM and Hugh Selby.
The only reason such stringent efforts are made to avoid scrutiny of the case is the desire to protect the conviction. The only reason to protect the conviction is that beneath its protective shell lies the rotten truth: the conviction is an affront to justice. In my well-informed opinion, those responsible for it, and for protecting it, are guilty of egregious manipulation and distortion of the truth. They are protecting their own reputations and malpractice.
It really is up to the Tasmanian public now to demand the legal and political establishments to finally face the music. I suggest the music be Richard Wagner’s The Ride of the Valkyries performed here by the Vienna Philharmonic in the open air. The Valkyries’ task is to recover heroes fallen in battle and bring them to Valhalla.