Australia ยท Northern Territory
Lindy Chamberlain (now Chamberlain-Creighton): wrongly convicted, exonerated
Convicted of Murder of her infant daughter near Uluru (Ayers Rock) in 1980.
Convicted29 October 1982
SentenceLife imprisonment with hard labour
Years in prison3
Exonerated15 September 1988
How the conviction was overturnedCourt of appeal quashed the convictions after a judicial inquiry found the evidence insubstantial, Northern Territory Court of Criminal Appeal, following the Morling inquiry1,2
What went wrong
- Forensic evidence that a judicial inquiry later found insubstantial
- A coroner in 2012 said a witch hunt had led to her conviction
From conviction to exoneration
- Convicted of murder by a jury, and her husband Michael Chamberlain was convicted as an accessory after the fact.1
- The High Court of Australia upheld the convictions by 3 votes to 2.1
- Released from prison after a baby's matinee jacket was found at Ayers Rock on 2 February 1986.1
- A judicial inquiry led by Justice Trevor Morling reported that the evidence against the Chamberlains was insubstantial.1
- The Northern Territory Court of Criminal Appeal unanimously quashed all convictions against both Chamberlains.1,2
- Granted compensation for wrongful imprisonment.1,3
- Coroner Elizabeth Morris found that a dingo took and killed the baby.2
Compensation
Granted in May 1992 for wrongful imprisonment. The Famous Trials chronology gives the amount as 1.3 million dollars.
Today
Convictions quashed in 1988, and a 2012 coronial finding attributed the death to a dingo.
Sources
- Famous Trials (Professor Douglas O. Linder), The Chamberlain (Dingo) Trial: A Chronology
- NPR (via KUNC), The Dingo Did Take The Baby (12 June 2012)
- Tampa Bay Times archive, Cry in the Dark mom wins compensation (26 May 1992)