Fresh evidence in the form of new DNA testing could be the key to solving a cold case murder in the first time double jeopardy provisions have been exercised in Queensland.
The Director of Public Prosecutions is asking the Court of Appeal to order a new trial for a man already acquitted of murder.
Under double jeopardy laws you cannot be tried for the same offence more than once but this case is the exception.
Court of Appeal President Walter Sofronoff told the hearing that this is a “very rare and very special kind of procedure”.
Because the man has already been found not guilty of the murder, the law protects him from publicity, so he cannot he identified.
Michael Byrne QC for the Director of Public Protections told the court that a woman was found dead in her home in the late 1980s. She had suffered numerous stab wounds to her chest and back eight days before she was found wrapped in bedding and a pillow.
“This was clearly a murder and a police investigation was launched”, Mr Byrne told the court.
The respondent in this matter was charged with murder at the time but acquitted after a trial a year later.
Mr Byrne said of significance to the current application was two areas of a sample from a bloodied pillowcase.
The court heard DNA testing of the sample was revisited in 2015 and 2016 where there had been a partial match with the respondent’s DNA.
Mr Byrne said “the focus of the evidence will be… on the scientific testing that occurred.”
The hearing will run for two days with a decision on whether a new trial is to be granted to be made in coming months.
© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019
