The Case Of Lindy Chamberlain

SOURCE:

Author: Lindsay Murdoch

The Age

“Lindy Chamberlain sentenced to life imprisonment”

Published: 30th of October 1982

Republished: October 28 2021

Sydney Morning Herald

Date accessed: 16th of March 2023 (-- removed HTML --)

DETAILS AND CONTENT:

This source was written the day after Lindy Chamberlain had a life sentence handed down with hard labour for the murder of her daughter Azaria. It’s detailed, Lindy and Michael had both been found guilty for the murder of Azaria Chamberlain. Lindy was sentenced by acting Chief Justice of the Northern Territory Mr Justice Muirhead after the jury had stated the decision of a unanimous verdict for both Michael and Lindy. It recounts, Lindy stood in the dock and Justice Muirhead passed the sentence.

It outlines the fact that Lindy Chamberlain was convicted in the Northern Territory Supreme Court of murdering her baby Azaria at a campground in Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock on the 17th of August 1980. With her husband Michael convicted of being an accessory after the fact to murder. The source continues how public perceptions and opinions started to differ once the jacket that Lindy described Azaria to have been wearing on the night was found a short distance away from the campground. Lindy had stated that Azaria was wearing a matinee jacket, the discovery of the clothing was thought to add further complexities to the decision of her guilt. This then led to the Northern Territory Attorney General to conduct an inquiry into the weight of the finding of the jacket held in the case. Lindy then was remitted and released from prison to allow her to have access to her legal advisors during the inquiry. The source states that due to an absence of suitable legislation meaning there wasn’t an established system for an inquiry to be conducted, a Bill was developed which established a Commission of Inquiry into the convictions of Lindy and Michael. The Bill outlined the terms of reference for the commission and the designated powers and functions of the commissioner. The commissioner had to be a judge or former judge in any state or territory or the High Court of Australia. This was due to a judge

The source examines the impact of victims being wrongfully convicted and imprisoned, and the international approach to the issue. Australia has signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) signed by the Australian government in 1972, which states once a person has been wrongfully convicted and they have received a punishment, by law they are entitled to compensation unless its proved there is an unknown fact which has arisen. However, this was never adopted into Australian law, as a result any individual wrongfully convicted and imprisoned isn’t entitled to any compensation under Australian law. Australia’s commitments to signing this is that all states and territories must meet their obligations under article 14 (6) which are incorporation of the domestic article into domestic legislation to ensure a legal right to compensation. Though a state or territory government does have the ability to make an ex gratia payment to a wrongfully convicted individual through a request or their own doing. An ex gratia is a payment made out of grace, not due to any legal compulsion. However, the ACT incorporated a reworded version of article 14(6), under section 23 of the Human Rights Act 2004, it states that an individual who has been wrongfully convicted is entitled the right to seek compensation. In the instance of the Chamberlain case the Northern Territory government wasn’t required