Face of Nation : A NSW upper house inquiry into a proposal to change the state’s double jeopardy law has found the bill should not proceed in its current form, but alternative legal models may prove more successful.
At present, a person can only be tried for the same crime for which they’ve previously been acquitted if there’s fresh and compelling evidence.The Standing Committee on Law and Justice in July probed Greens MLC David Shoebridge’s bill to change the laws which were last revised in 2006.
Mr Shoebridge sought to amend the law to facilitate a retrial of the suspected killer of three Aboriginal children in Bowraville in the early 1990s.
The committee on Friday said Mr Shoebridge’s bill would impact on too many unrelated parts of the criminal justice system and should not proceed.
However, they argued a separate proposal by UTS’ Jumbunna Institute of Indigenous Education and Research – reflecting the current English and Welsh approach – should be considered. That approach gave the court greater freedom to consider the interests of justice in its decision to grant a retrial.
“On the basis of the evidence gathered during this inquiry from a range of legal stakeholders, we have come to recognise that this is a highly complex area of criminal law,” committee chair Niall Blair MLC said in a statement.
Mr Shoebridge on Friday said he would amend his current bill to reflect that of the Jumbunna proposal if the government did not present a reform bill.
He said it would provide a second chance for the Bowraville children – Colleen, Evelyn Greenup and Clinton Speedy-Duroux – to receive justice.
“This is the start of a new stage in the struggle for justice for the Bowraville families, with the ball firmly back in the Attorney General’s (Mark Speakman) court,” Mr Shoebridge said in a statement.
Evelyn, 4, Clinton, 16, and Colleen, 16, disappeared from the northern NSW town over a five-month period from September 1990.
