Reasonable Doubt by Xanthé Mallett

Author:Xanthé Mallett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Published: 2020-08-16T16:00:00+00:00

IN THE END . . .

It was a long road to justice for Mallard. Had it not been for the Corruption and Crime Commission’s reinvestigation, pushed for by Andrew’s supporters, Mallard would in the eyes of the DPP and the public have remained a murderer at large.

This fight for justice for Andrew Mallard placed a massive strain on him and his family.

But also mixed up in this was Pamela Lawrence’s family, who for many years felt as though no one cared about them and their loss. From the outside, it appeared as if a group of influential people was trying to free Pamela’s murderer from prison. Her family believed in the reliability of the justice system, as high profile people from the WA police and the prosecutor’s office were still telling them they had the right man behind bars.

It wasn’t until years later, when Simon Rochford was identified as Pamela’s likely murderer, and members of the original investigative team were found to have been guilty of misconduct, that the family realised just how badly the system had let them all down.

The pain for them goes on, and was greatly exacerbated by the legal battles that lasted years, a constant reminder of the brutal way Pamela died.

And all totally unnecessary.

If the police had simply analysed the evidence in front of them, the palm print and eyewitness testimony could have led them to the offender. Instead, they focused on a vulnerable man, coercing a false confession and withholding evidence. Together with the actions of the DPP, policing at its worst led to Andrew losing 12 years of his life and another young woman dying at the hands of Pamela’s killer.

But there’s a little light in all of this dark.

In 2019, the Criminal Appeals Amendment Bill 2019 was passed, giving those found guilty of a crime a second chance of redress through the State’s highest court, where new and compelling evidence has been discovered since the original trial. This change largely transpired because of John Quigley’s involvement with Andrew’s fight for justice, after Mallard’s case was initially rejected by the Court of Appeal. In Andrew’s case, a second appeal was only possible following an application being made directly to the Attorney General.

Sadly, when the final touches were being put to the Bill in April 2019, Andrew was killed by a teenage hit-and-run driver in Los Angeles, so he never saw the legal changes that may help others in the future come to fruition. But this is, nonetheless, a positive legacy for a man who suffered so much at the hands of the Australian criminal justice system.

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