- Dec 27, 2016
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Going back some time now to August, 1980 when 9 week old Azaria Chamberlain disappeared from the family's tent in a camping ground near Uluru.
Lindy her mother cried that a dingo had taken her baby. People were sceptical, rumours were flying around. The Chamberlains were weird, unsympathetic characters, they had a strange religion, the mother wasn't acting 'normal', she dressed the baby in black, Azaria meant 'sacrifice'.
At the first inquest it was found that a dingo did in fact take her baby, this was overturned. A second inquest made no finding but bound the Chamberlains over for trial. On faulty forensics evidence Lindy was found guilty of murder and her husband Michael guilty of concealing the crime. A heavily pregnant Lindy got life and went to jail delivering her fourth child, a daughter one month later having to give her up.
Lindy's conviction was eventually quashed and she was released in 1988 after a matinee jacket Lindy had always insisted Azaria was wearing at the time and prosecution accused her of lying, was found many miles away at the base of the rock. IMO no amount of money could ever compensate her for what our system put her through, she received $1.3 million for false imprisonment.
It wasn't until 2012 though, thirty plus years later when a fourth inquest determined a dingo (again) had taken Azaria and the public more generally appeared to reluctantly accept it but I still hear some people say they don't believe a wild dog would sneak into a tent and drag a baby out.
Azaria was an infant, just yesterday a dingo actually entered a family's campervan and dragged a toddler out by the neck. Not until the parents gave chase was he released. Poor little kid had a fractured skull and puncture marks all over his head. There's a pic in the link below, it's quite graphic and could be distressing so I won't post it.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/na...lls-fraser-island-attack-20190602-p51to5.html
There's been numerous books written about this and a movie with Meryl Streep playing Lindy who is now 71 years old, Michael Chamberlain died in 2017. Lots of reading.
Wiki
Dingo Trial
"The scientist shouldn't become too adventurous, too competitive. The trouble is, we're all so human. I've never seen a case more governed by human frailties."
--Dr. Tony Jones, government pathologist in the Chamberlain trial
Lindy her mother cried that a dingo had taken her baby. People were sceptical, rumours were flying around. The Chamberlains were weird, unsympathetic characters, they had a strange religion, the mother wasn't acting 'normal', she dressed the baby in black, Azaria meant 'sacrifice'.
At the first inquest it was found that a dingo did in fact take her baby, this was overturned. A second inquest made no finding but bound the Chamberlains over for trial. On faulty forensics evidence Lindy was found guilty of murder and her husband Michael guilty of concealing the crime. A heavily pregnant Lindy got life and went to jail delivering her fourth child, a daughter one month later having to give her up.
Lindy's conviction was eventually quashed and she was released in 1988 after a matinee jacket Lindy had always insisted Azaria was wearing at the time and prosecution accused her of lying, was found many miles away at the base of the rock. IMO no amount of money could ever compensate her for what our system put her through, she received $1.3 million for false imprisonment.
It wasn't until 2012 though, thirty plus years later when a fourth inquest determined a dingo (again) had taken Azaria and the public more generally appeared to reluctantly accept it but I still hear some people say they don't believe a wild dog would sneak into a tent and drag a baby out.
Azaria was an infant, just yesterday a dingo actually entered a family's campervan and dragged a toddler out by the neck. Not until the parents gave chase was he released. Poor little kid had a fractured skull and puncture marks all over his head. There's a pic in the link below, it's quite graphic and could be distressing so I won't post it.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/na...lls-fraser-island-attack-20190602-p51to5.html
There's been numerous books written about this and a movie with Meryl Streep playing Lindy who is now 71 years old, Michael Chamberlain died in 2017. Lots of reading.
Wiki
Dingo Trial
"The scientist shouldn't become too adventurous, too competitive. The trouble is, we're all so human. I've never seen a case more governed by human frailties."
--Dr. Tony Jones, government pathologist in the Chamberlain trial