Andrew L. Urban.
Book him now. He’s moving south. Queensland last year, ACT this year…Tasmania next year? Walter Sofronoff KC will be available to chair a Commission of Inquiry into the case of Sue Neill-Fraser. Excuses by the Attorney-General to avoid one are indefensible. Continue reading
The new book by investigative journalist, Andrew L. Urban, THE EXONERATION PAPERS – SUE NEILL-FRASER, disputes the Tasmanian Attorney-General’s justification for refusing the many requests for an inquiry into the controversial 2010 murder conviction. Urban also cites lawyers who present a dozen appealable grounds that have not been considered by the courts. Continue reading
In the wake of ACT’s DPP Shane Drumgold’s public shaming for his handling of the Brittany Higgins rape allegation, Victoria’s DPP, Kerri Judd KC, is mauled for her refusal to lay charges in the (expensive) Lawyer X scandal. GERARD HENDERSON (in The Weekend Australian, July 1, 2023) reveals the troubling background that might explain why. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
June 29, 2023: Investigating a third NSW Premier, the Independent Commission Against Corruption has found former Premier Gladys Berejiklian engaged in ‘serious corrupt conduct’. But not corrupt enough to recommend the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions. It’s the corruption finding you have when you don’t have a corruption finding – a bit like Clayton’s, the non alcoholic drink you have when you are not having a drink, perhaps. Continue reading
Professor David Hamer and Dr Andrew Dyer from Sydney Law School explain why Kathleen Folbigg’s pardon points to the need for a Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) in Australia. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
At the murder trial of Kathleen Folbigg in 2003, prosecutor Mark Tedeschi compared the likelihood of four children in the same family dying of natural causes to pigs flying. It was the Crown’s alternative to relying on the discredited and inadmissible Meadows’ Law, a statistical formulation claiming that three or more such deaths must be regarded as murder. But Tedeschi’s pigs do fly, as demonstrated in the comprehensive 2021 submission by Folbigg’s barrister Dr Robert Cavanagh and solicitor Rhanee Rego – as confirmed by the results of the 2023 inquiry that exonerated Folbigg. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
Are the gatekeepers of reader comments on The Australian – the moderators – in ideological conflict with the editors? Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
Is justice served when a false accusation of sexual abuse is supported by another false accusation of sexual abuse and the court accepts the second accusation as tendency evidence proving wrongdoing? A preliminary assessment of his case suggests that is what happened to retired public servant Noel Greenaway, now 85, sentenced to 20 years jail just over three years ago. With a writing pad on his knees, he rages against his injustice from his cell. Our investigation continues. Continue reading
“Walter Sofronoff is an extraordinary man, and an extraordinary judge, one whose empathy other judges should seek to emulate,” writes legal columnist HUGH SELBY in Canberra City News, as he reveals how often the legal profession falls short of that quality, in PART 1 of three consecutive columns in early June 2023. Selby quotes the treatment of Meaghan Vass in the Sue Neill-Fraser appeal as an example of a failure of empathy. In PART 2 he argues that her courage still matters and in PART 3 he suggests that Walter Sofronoff KC would be ideal to lead a wide ranging public inquiry into the case of Sue Neill-Fraser. Continue reading
Yet another front page of The Australian (Weekend, June 10/11, 2023) devoted almost entirely to the disastrous fallout from Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations and subsequent abandoned trial, reveals how staffer Fiona Brown’s good deeds didn’t go unpunished… Continue reading