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Post by Big Lin on Jun 11, 2012 22:35:49 GMT
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-1840433011 June 2012 Last updated at 22:55 Australian dingo baby case: Final verdict due An Australian coroner is due to make a final ruling on whether a dingo dog killed baby Azaria Chamberlain in 1980. After the eight week-old baby went missing from their campsite, her parents were charged with her disappearance, and mother Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton with her murder. She was later released when evidence was found to corroborate the dingo story, but doubts have lingered. Azaria's parents recently presented new evidence to the coroner. They have long argued that the open verdict recorded after an earlier review of the case left room for doubt about Ms Chamberlain-Creighton's innocence. Famous case Earlier this year, the Chamberlains gave evidence to a coroner in Darwin recording a series of other attacks by dingos on humans, and on Tuesday the coroner will make a final verdict on whether a wild dingo dog was responsible for the baby's disappearance. Azaria Chamberlain case 17 Aug 1980: Baby Azaria Chamberlain disappears from a campsite near Uluru (Ayers Rock) - her parents say she was taken by a dingo 1982: Mother Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton convicted of murder; father Michael Chamberlain found guilty of being an accessory 1986: Police find a piece of the baby's clothing in area of dingo lairs - case reopened 15 Sep 1988: Both Lindy and Michael Chamberlain cleared of charges 1995: Open verdict recorded following another inquest 24 Feb 2012: Fourth inquest opened Virtually ever since Azaria vanished from her tent near Uluru (Ayers Rock) in 1980, Australia has been engrossed by the question of whether she was taken by a dingo. In 1982, Ms Chamberlain-Creighton was found guilty of her baby's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, while Mr Chamberlain was found guilty of being an accessory. Both were later exonerated on all charges, after the chance discovery of a fragment of Azaria's clothing in an area dotted with dingo lairs. It was a case that divided Australians and was even turned into the film A Cry In The Dark, starring Meryl Streep. Three previous coroner's inquests proved inconclusive, but Azaria's parents are hoping that this time they will finally and officially be proven innocent.
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Post by trubble on Jun 11, 2012 22:40:11 GMT
Amazing that it is still raging on, isn't it. This family, this mother, suffered the most tragic loss and then went on to endure punishment after punishment. It seems so cruel that they still have to fight on.
I was reading about them making their case again earlier this year. I think this inquest really could declare the death to be by dingo, there is so much more evidence available now.
Besides, to do anything else at this stage would be inhumane.
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Post by Big Lin on Jun 11, 2012 22:41:55 GMT
I think we all hope that she didn't do it and that the inquest will prove it, Trubble.
Tragic to lose your kid anyway; if you're wrongly suspected of murder it's even worse.
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Post by trubble on Jun 11, 2012 22:55:14 GMT
Hope?
You don't think there's a chance she killed her baby, do you? Do you!!? I'm shocked.
Have you read ''A Cry in the Dark" - the book the film was based on? It's written by a journalist covering the case at the time and it spells out the witch hunt quite clearly, and it goes into the evidence in some detail. She's 100% innocent. I'd stake my life on it.
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Post by Big Lin on Jun 11, 2012 23:02:17 GMT
I think she's probably innocent, yes. But let's be honest - mothers DO kill their kids.
What I hope for more than anything else is a definitive judgement that will resolve the case.
I think that in the unlikely event the coroner finds any killer other than a dingo it's inconceivable that Lindy Chamberlain would be re-arrested for Azaria's death.
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Post by trubble on Jun 11, 2012 23:59:47 GMT
In public? Or in a matter of the couple of minutes when she wasn't in public? (Minutes that included cleaning up the evidence so well that there was no evidence...plus planting dingo evidence?) Certainly they won't re-arrest her. That's because there's no evidence. None at all. All they ever had was a very convoluted story with nothing to support it except bloodsplash in the car. The blood was later found to be a chemical spray used in the manufacture of the car, and other models had exactly the same ''splashes''. So, yep, no evidence whatsoever.
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Post by trubble on Jun 12, 2012 9:23:36 GMT
A dingo took Azaria. A Darwin coroner has ruled that Azaria Chamberlain was likely killed by a dingo, bringing a close to a three-decade long mystery.
LINDY Chamberlain-Creighton is relieved the 32-year saga surrounding her daughter Azaria's death is over.
An emotional Ms Chamberlain-Creighton addressed the media in Darwin on Tuesday following the release of the coroner's finding that a dingo was responsible for the death of Azaria Chamberlain in 1980.
"We are relieved and delighted to come to the end of this saga," she said.
"No longer will Australia be able to say that dingoes are not dangerous and will only attack if provoked.
"We live in a beautiful country but it is dangerous and we'd ask all Australians to be aware of this and take appropriate precautions."
Coroner Elizabeth Morris earlier told a packed courtroom a dingo was to blame for the attack at Uluru, which resulted initially in Ms Chamberlain-Creighton jailed for murder and her husband Michael given a suspended sentence for being an accessory after the fact.
Both were later exonerated after a royal commission in 1987.
Ms Chamberlain-Creighton said she would have more to say on the Nine Network on Tuesday night.
Ms Morris said scientific evidence that was previously misrepresented, combined with subsequent evidence about other unprovoked dingo attacks on children, led to the new finding.
Standing outside the court with their son Aidan, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton and Michael Chamberlain addressed the media, saying they had finally received justice.
Michael Chamberlain, Azaria's father said the long battle for justice had been difficult, but eventually worthwhile.
"Today I heard coroner Morris speak for the dead on behalf of the living,” Mr Chamberlain said.
"You can get justice even when you think that all is lost but you must have truth on your side.
"This has been a terrifying battle… but now some healing and a chance to put our daughter’s spirit to rest.”
He thanked the "courageous and independent” coroner, saying he was told he would never get justice in the Northern Territory.
“We have fought a justice system that left one senior justice officer telling me ‘you will never get justice in a Northern Territory jurisdiction’,” he said.
“Well, now the truth is out.”
In delivering her findings, Ms Morris' voice wavered as she held back tears, extending her sympathies to the Chamberlains over the loss of their daughter.
"Please accept my sincere sympathy on the loss and death of your special and loved daughter and sister, Azaria," she said.
"I'm so sorry for your loss. Time does not remove the pain and sadness of the death of a child."
In an emotion-charged court room, Ms Morris said that, based on the balance of probabilities, new evidence relating to dingo attacks "excludes all other reasonable possibilities".
"Azaria Chamberlain died at Uluru on 17 August 1980 and the cause of her death was as the result of being taken by a dingo," Ms Morris said.
Supporters congratulated the teary-eyed and relieved Chamberlains, who sat in the front row of the court room.
In responding to an appeal from the Chamberlains to change the cause of death listed on Azaria's death certificate from "unknown", Ms Morris said the cause of her death would be recorded as being consistent with the coronial findings.
She invited the Chamberlains to visit the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages adjacent to the Darwin Magistrates Court to collect an amended certificate of death reflecting that Azaria was taken by a dingo.
In the minutes leading up to the delivery of the findings, an anxious Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton was comforted by her husband, Rick, who sat with his arm around her in the court room.
Azaria's father, Michael Chamberlain, sat to her other side.
Azaria would have turned 32 yesterday.
In February, the Mr Tipple told the inquest there were 239 recorded instances of dingoes attacking people in Queensland from 1990 to 2011, with many of those attacks occurring on Fraser Island.
Based on that new evidence, Mr Tipple asked the coroner to find, on balance of probabilities, the cause of Azaria's death was a "mechanical action by a dingo"..
In October 1982, a heavily pregnant Mrs Creighton-Chamberlain was found guilty of Azaria's murder and sentenced to life in jail with hard labour.
Dr Chamberlain received an 18-month suspended sentence after he was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact.
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