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.
Murder
The Difference Between Murder & Manslaughter
In a sensational decision handed down in the Queensland Court of Appeal, the murder conviction of Gerard Baden-Clay in relation to the death of his wife Allison has been downgraded to manslaughter.
The case of Baden-Clay, who was accused of murdering his wife in a domestic dispute and later reporting her missing, has made national headlines over the past few years. After being convicted of murder in July 2014, this conviction has now been set aside, meaning that Baden-Clay must be re-sentenced in relation to the offence.
This is not an uncommon scenario in criminal proceedings, whereby Prosecutors have difficulty proving murder, which requires an intent to kill, as opposed to manslaughter, which does not require the same intent.
This article examines the differences between manslaughter and murder under New South Wales law.
A conviction of murder is a conviction for killing a person with the intent to kill and malice a forethought. This means that to be convicted for murder, a person must have intended to end the victim’s life at the time that they took the actions that resulted in their death. The maximum penalty for a murder charge in New South Wales is life imprisonment. The average sentence for murder cases in the mid-range of seriousness is approximately 20 years.
Possible defences to a murder conviction are self-defence, where the action resulting in the death of the person were necessary to defend oneself; duress, where a threat is made to the offender’s life or the offender’s family to the extent that the act of killing would be considered reasonable, or in some cases “necessity”.
The offence of manslaughter can be defined as a homicide without the intent to kill, or a homicide without reckless indifference to human life. This means that while a person may have performed the acts that resulted in a death, it cannot be proven that they intended to do so. The maximum penalty for the charge of manslaughter in New South Wales is 25 years’ imprisonment. Other penalties include fines, bonds, suspended sentences, or smaller prison sentences. The average sentence for a manslaughter charge in the mid-range of seriousness is approximately seven years.
