Category Archives: Democracy and Justice

Keogh murder trial abandoned – as was justice

By Andrew L. Urban. South Australian DPP Adam Kimber has abandoned his attempt to re-try Henry Keogh for the 1994 murder of Keogh’s late girlfriend Anna-Jane Cheney, claiming his reason that a key witness is too ill. At first he … Continue reading

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Australia’s greatest forensic disaster

By Andrew L. Urban The chronic, long term failure of the South Australian legal system to ensure that its chief forensic pathologist was suitably qualified to give evidence was a ticking time bomb that is now about to explode, with … Continue reading

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DPPs “should be accountable” say SA barristers

On May 11, 2015, with exquisite timing, just days after the South Australian DPP Adam Kimber SC announced (to the surprise of many) he would retry Henry Keogh for murder in about a year’s time, The Adelaide Advertiser published the … Continue reading

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Henry Keogh retrial high bar to jump?

Writing in The ACT Bar Association Bar Bulletin, April/May 2015 edition*, Civil Liberties Australia’s Bill Rowlings explores decisions by various State DPPs, including South Australia’s Adam Kimber, who has announced a retrial of Henry Keogh for a murder which has been … Continue reading

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Henry Keogh and the stonewall of justice

By Andrew L. Urban. This is how it was reported in The Adeliade Advertiser: “In a Supreme Court hearing this morning (May 1, 2015) the highly controversial (Henry Keogh) case was listed for trial beginning on March 8, 2016. Director … Continue reading

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Criminal code amendment Bill almost there

Tasmanian Attorney General the Hon Vanessa Goodwin is making good on her promise to introduce legislation to amend and improve the Criminal Code to enable persons convicted of serious crimes further right to appeal their convictions. On the invitation of … Continue reading

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Sovereignty not a moral shield

By Andrew L. Urban. We must respect the sovereignity of other states as we expect them to respect ours, goes the argument against criticism of Indonesia’s death penalty for drug smugglers. Really? Is that like a blanket cone of silence … Continue reading

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Sue Neill-Fraser: murder by the prosecution – the evidence

By Andrew L. Urban.  First published in The Australian, 25/3/2015 as “Justice cast to the four winds” (p. 11) Sue Neill-Fraser was convicted of murder in 2010, after her partner of 18 years, Bob Chappell, disappeared from their jointly owned … Continue reading

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Death penalty or revenge killing?

By Andrew L. Urban With the death penalty hanging over two Australians (and a number of others) in Indonesia convicted of heroin smuggling as I write (12/3/2015), the state sanctioned killing of criminals has generated much debate and vitriol – … Continue reading

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A law unto their learned selves

Examples of senior legal practitioners disregarding the law and not being held accountable for it is evident in Australia’s criminal legal system writes Andrew L. Urban. The judges of the South Australian court of criminal appeal have accepted that Henry … Continue reading

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