The State Government has changed double jeopardy laws to allow persons previously acquitted of offences to be recharged for the same or similar offences if there is new and compelling evidence.
Although Queensland’s laws had previously been changed so that persons could face trial twice for the same or similar charge, these amendments only applied where persons were acquitted after 2007.
Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie has now introduced legislation which makes the changes entirely retrospective, allowing persons to be tried for the same crime, regardless of when they were acquitted.
The amendments to the law have fairly wide-reaching ramifications, particularly for some of the State’s well-known, historical murder investigations which are set to be re-opened in light of the changes. An example of one such well known case is that of Ipswich toddler Deidre Kennedy, who was abducted from her home on 13 April 1973. Deidre’s body was found on the roof of a toilet block 500 m from her home the day after she went missing.
Former RAAF recruit, Raymond Carroll (now aged 59) was convicted of Deidre Kennedy’s murder in 1985 but his conviction was later overturned on appeal.
Although Carroll maintains his innocence, he was sentenced to prison in 2000 after a jury convicted him for perjury, finding that he had lied during his trial when he denied murdering the toddler.
The Court of Appeal overturned Carroll’s conviction for perjury on the grounds that it was an abuse of process and that the verdict was unsafe.
The High Court then rejected a further appeal, this time by the State Government, finding that the conviction was in breach of Queensland’s double jeopardy laws, which at the time prevented a person being tried again for the same crime after acquittal.
Although the changes to the laws will likely be viewed as favourable by victims’ support groups, civil libertarians have warned that there is a risk that the State will abuse the power imbalance in its favour over lesser resourced defendants.
