Double Jeopardy

A hearing is underway this week in the Criminal Court of Appeal in Sydney as to whether or not a man should be re-tried for murdering three people in the New South Wales suburb of Bowraville in the early 1990s.
The man in question has been the number one suspect in relation to the murders of Evelyn Greenup (4), Clinton Speedy-Duroux (16) and Colleen Walker (16) which occurred between 1990 and 1991. He was acquitted of the murder of Speedy-Duroux in 1994 and later acquitted of the murder of Greenup in 2006. He has never been tried for the murder of Colleen Walker.
The case is an important legal precedent as it puts New South Wales double jeopardy laws to the test.
Generally, double jeopardy laws prevent someone from being tried for the same crime twice.
Double jeopardy laws in New South Wales changed in 2006 allowing a suspect to be re-tried for a crime if “fresh and compelling” evidence was discovered. In other words, solid evidence that did not form part of the original trial.
Since these changes the Bowraville murders have been the symbolic centrepiece surrounding how these laws should apply in New South Wales. In 2007, following the law reforms, the then Director of the DPP, Nicholas Chowdhury rejected calls for the suspect to be re-tried on the basis that the DPP did not have enough evidence to support a retrial.
Similar setbacks occurred in 2010 and 2013 when the then Attorney-General rejected applications for the suspect to be re-tried for the murders of Speedy-Duroux and Greenup.
In May last year however, Attorney General Gabriel Upton referred Bowraville murders to the Court of Criminal Appeal to determine whether or not the matter should be re-tried.
In February this year the suspect in question was once again charged with the murders of Greenup and Speedy-Duroux in the Newcastle Local Court.
It has been reported that should the Court find that a re-trial is appropriate that the suspect will then be formally charged with the murder of Colleen Walker and that the matters will be heard together.
Some of the evidence being relied upon by the solicitors and barristers arguing in favour of a re-trial are accusations that the suspect tried to pressure Colleen Walker into having sex with him shortly before her disappearance. The argument is also being presented that all three alleged murders should be heard together and in conjunction with each other as they are intrinsically linked, as opposed to being heard as separate matters that do not take into account the pattern of these murders which all occurred in the same location, in a very short period of time.
The Court of Criminal Appeal is yet to determine whether or not a re-trial will go ahead however, the result of this case will be a landmark legal decision in the State of New South Wales.