Azaria: Revisited

[Bart]

Michael Chamberlain, the father of Azaria, has requested the NT coroner to reopen the case of Azaria Chamberlain who "disappeared", some believed murdered whilst others claim she was attacked by a dingo 31 years ago.
Wonder what Lindy thinks and will she "co-operate" with the inquiry this time and not focus on her wardrobe.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-n ... 6225214065

MICHAEL Chamberlain has welcomed a new coronial inquest into the death of his daughter Azaria at Uluru in 1980.

Dr Chamberlain's legal team asked the Northern Territory Coroner to again look into whether dingoes could kill children.

They presented the case of a boy, 9, who was mauled to death on Fraser Island in 2001 as evidence to reopen an inquiry.

This will be the fourth coronial inquest into what happened the night Azaria disappeared in August 1980 - the third inquest had an open finding.

Three decades on, is there a need to re-examine the infamous case? Tell us below

Dr Chamberlain said he hoped he would finally get answers from the latest inquiry, which begins on February 24.

"I'm really just pleasantly surprised about this," he told ABC Radio.

"It's been 31 years now and I just hope, well I'm sure this time it will be the ultimate verdict which we've been looking for."

The case made headlines around the world after Lindy Chamberlain claimed a dingo had taken her nine-week-old baby.

Ms Chamberlain, who later remarried and is now Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, was convicted of Azaria's murder in 1982 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Dr Chamberlain was convicted as an accessory and given a suspended sentence.

Both those convictions were later quashed by a 1987 royal commission that exonerated both parents.

Northern Territory barrister John Lawrence, SC, said the new inquest would have evidence to consider not known at the time Azaria disappeared in 1980.

"What we have now is several instances, tragically, of dingoes attacking people and in one instance killing a child," he said.

"The defence (in the murder trial) called various experts to say that damage to the same clothing could have been caused by canine teeth.

"There was no evidence then of dingoes having attacked other people. Now there is." Northern Territory Coroner Elizabeth Morris will lead the inquest.

Ms Chamberlain-Creighton is living in Western Australia. The couple stayed together during Ms Chamberlain-Creighton's imprisonment, but separated in 1990.

[mellie]

Why wont they use DNA testing, surely testing the babies clothing for 'canine' saliva, is better than an 'expert panel' scratching their heads 30 odd years ago wondering if canine teeth could have caused the damage to her clothing or not.



If we can grow human ears off the back of rats, then surely, we can put this mystery to bed once and for all?

Science has come so far since 1980.

But the chamberlains don't seem to want to know about it.


A simple DNA test should solve the mystery, no need to go to the expense of trying to prove they were innocent, again, particularly when they could have undergone this sort of testing years ago.
See, rather than do this, they have decided to use some other poor kids genuine misfortune of having been mauled to death by a cross-dingo, (not pure bred) to try and substantiate their 'innocence'.

If they want another coronal inquest, it should include extensive forensic DNA analysis of the child's clothing.

Sorry, but I don't feel this coronal inquest is justified if all they plan to do is confirm another child was in fact mauled by a different cross-bred dingo some 30 years later.

If they want a coronal inquest, then it should include full DNA forensic analysis of the child's clothing, otherwise, what's the point?

So, each time some kid or adult gets mauled by a dog that vaguely resembles a timid dingo, the Chamberlains get a coronal inquest to allow them to substantiate how this has happened to others so may have happened to them too?

Circumstantial!!

Nothing more.

[mellie]

Scientists dispute the notion that all Frazer Islands dingos are in fact pure-bred dingos, despite what the tourist brochure says.

Another attack occurred early this year, this time a 3 year old girl on Frazer Island.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ralia.html


_______________________

DNA testing should solve the Cumberland case once and for all.
If it were my child, and I was accused of having committed such a heinous crime, I would have demanded DNA testing of her garments long before now.

[mantra]

It seems like yesterday when Azaria disappeared and 30 years down the track the case is still being revisited. I believed at first Azaria had been murdered. I couldn't understand why parents would take their new born baby on a camping trip into the outback and leave her in a tent.

Still Lindy has been proved innocent and all this time later the stigma is still attached to the Chamberlains. In retrospect they suffered terribly through this ordeal - something neither of them will ever get over.

In regard to DNA testing - back then the NT was real redneck territory and even when they eventually found the jacket - the original DNA would have worn off after being exposed to the elements for so long.

We have to take the Chamberlain's word that a dingo took Azaria . After seeing how stoically Lindy Chamberlain has coped over the years - let the coronial inquest finally declare them innocent without any further hoopla from the media.

[skippy]

Yea I saw this last night on the news, I wonder why he would bother now, though I suppose he wants some sort of closure.

[mellie]

It seems like yesterday when Azaria disappeared and 30 years down the track the case is still being revisited. I believed at first Azaria had been murdered. I couldn't understand why parents would take their new born baby on a camping trip into the outback and leave her in a tent.

Still Lindy has been proved innocent and all this time later the stigma is still attached to the Chamberlains. In retrospect they suffered terribly through this ordeal - something neither of them will ever get over.

In regard to DNA testing - back then the NT was real redneck territory and even when they eventually found the jacket - the original DNA would have worn off after being exposed to the elements for so long.

We have to take the Chamberlain's word that a dingo took Azaria . After seeing how stoically Lindy Chamberlain has coped over the years - let the coronial inquest finally declare them innocent without any further hoopla from the media.

If they can retrieve 3000 year old DNA from Egyptian sarcophagus's to determine familial lineage, then they should be able to determine some 30 year old dog saliva on a babies woollen jacket with relative ease.

I think inside, we all know this.

And so do the Chamberlains which is why they continue grabbing at straws.

Times are tough, perhaps they want some more media attention, they have been well compensated for their tragedy over the years.

I am inclined to agree with you Mantra, re- why on earth would they take a young infant camping in the middle of the desert to begin with.

I have no idea what happened out there, but I don't believe the Chamberlains should be wasting the coroners time and public taxes opening a 30 year old case just to discuss the possibility of another case's relevancy (Frazer Island incident re- 9 year old boy) to their own, when it's clear, they have no intentions of moving beyond this and allowing forensics re-examine the child's clothing.

[Mattus]

If we can grow human ears off the back of rats, then surely, we can put this mystery to bed once and for all?

This is a mouse, son. Not a rat.



You are, of course, aware that it is not a human ear.

But the chamberlains don't seem to want to know about it.

If science had sent me to prison for half a decade when it mistook some spilt milkshake for blood because it contained proteins, then I'd be a bit skeptical of using it as conclusive proof of whether I had murdered my child too.

Double so if I was a regilious nutbag who thought Jesus rode a dinosaur to work.


That said, a finding of "insufficient evidence to convict" 30 years after the event is no finding at all.

[mellie]

In other words, the Chamberlains need to find some other way of forgiving themselves and or paying their Xmas electrical bill.


Ie, It's Pointless.




I find it incredible they are still chasing the press, long after the press stopped chasing them.

[Bart]

In other words, the Chamberlains need to find some other way of forgiving themselves and or paying their Xmas electrical bill.


Ie, It's Pointless.




I find it incredible they are still chasing the press, long after the press stopped chasing them.

I wonder why they divorced about 5 years after Lindy was released from prison.
Guess Lindy was able to fool the judiciary and media, but she didn't fool Michael.

[Mattus]

I wonder why they divorced.

Before:
After: