Azaria's story takes bizarre new turn
July 5, 2004
Could Azaria's body really be buried in a Melbourne backyard? Ellen Connolly reports.
Up until the day he died, coroner Denis Barritt never departed from what he believed happened to Azaria Chamberlain. A dingo had taken the baby, her body was disposed of "by person or persons unknown" but that Michael and Lindy were innocent, Mr Barritt found in the 1981 inquest.
Twenty-three years on, and an elderly Melbourne man claims he is that unknown person and says he wants to set the record straight before he dies.
Frank Cole, 78, claims Azaria's body may be buried in a Melbourne backyard, but yesterday some of his claims were already being contradicted.
He detailed how he and his three mates found the infant in the jaws of a dingo he shot near Uluru in 1980. It had four puncture holes in its head and one of its ears was missing.
Fearing they would be punished for shooting illegally in a national park, they did not take the body to police immediately.
Instead they agreed to tell the authorities they had hit the dingo on the road and then found the baby in its jaws. They never did. Mr Cole believes two of the men brought it back to Melbourne and buried it.
Northern Territory police said last night they would hold discussions with Victorian police this week about the claim. Detectives will interview Mr Cole before deciding whether to reopen the investigation. What could prove crucial is Mr Cole's version of what Azaria was wearing. According to Mr Cole, one of his mates started cutting the clothing with a knife, but another one told him to undo the buttons. "We had some trouble with the buttons on the jacket, so I took a pair of small tin snips out of my tool box and cut the buttons off," Mr Cole said.
But Barry Boettcher, the eminent forensic biologist whose expert evidence helped lead to Mrs Chamberlain's pardon, said there was evidence that the buttons on the jacket were easy to undo.
"Lindy told police that the button holes were a bit loose and that if Azaria wriggled a bit in bed they would undo themselves," he said. "So if he is speaking of a jacket then it just doesn't march."
However, Professor Boettcher said he would not discount Mr Cole's claims and said there may be "some inaccuracies due to the passage of time".
"Why would a 78-year-old man who has nothing to gain come out with something like this if he didn't think it was correct? I think he should be accorded some credence and police should look at his claims."
In 1987 a textiles expert found that damage to Azaria's jumpsuit, singlet and matinee jacket had probably been produced by a single knife stroke.
Azaria's jumpsuit and matinee jacket are stored in a secure room at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine.
Mr Cole's son, Don, told a Melbourne newspaper yesterday his father told him the story for the first time about 14 months ago. "He wanted to know what he should have done. My interpretation of it is that it was playing on his mind and he wanted to get it off his chest," he said.
In 1982 Mrs Chamberlain was sentenced to life in prison after a jury found her guilty of killing her baby. She was released in 1986.
Her husband Michael was found guilty of being an accessory, but was given a suspended sentence. In 1988 the convictions against the couple were quashed.
The pair received
Originally posted by escargot
The subject of dingo attacks on humans interests me, partly because I read all about the famous 'Dingo Baby' trial in the early 1980s. (And, it seems, unconsciously chose the name of a baby from that family for my own next offspring! How's that for faith in Lindy's innocence!)
A relation who now lives in Oz told me that the problem of dingo attacks was exacerbated by the tourists' practice of feeding them, and that many people believe that the Chamberlain baby was taken by a park ranger's 'pet' dingo which had become too bold. The baby clothes which mysteriously turned up much later were, it is said, planted to try to exonerate Mrs Chamberlain.
Some weirdness related to that case:
Azaria's story takes bizarre new turn
July 5, 2004
Could Azaria's body really be buried in a Melbourne backyard? Ellen Connolly reports.
Up until the day he died, coroner Denis Barritt never departed from what he believed happened to Azaria Chamberlain. A dingo had taken the baby, her body was disposed of "by person or persons unknown" but that Michael and Lindy were innocent, Mr Barritt found in the 1981 inquest.
Twenty-three years on, and an elderly Melbourne man claims he is that unknown person and says he wants to set the record straight before he dies.
Frank Cole, 78, claims Azaria's body may be buried in a Melbourne backyard, but yesterday some of his claims were already being contradicted.
He detailed how he and his three mates found the infant in the jaws of a dingo he shot near Uluru in 1980. It had four puncture holes in its head and one of its ears was missing.
Fearing they would be punished for shooting illegally in a national park, they did not take the body to police immediately.
Instead they agreed to tell the authorities they had hit the dingo on the road and then found the baby in its jaws. They never did. Mr Cole believes two of the men brought it back to Melbourne and buried it.
Northern Territory police said last night they would hold discussions with Victorian police this week about the claim. Detectives will interview Mr Cole before deciding whether to reopen the investigation. What could prove crucial is Mr Cole's version of what Azaria was wearing. According to Mr Cole, one of his mates started cutting the clothing with a knife, but another one told him to undo the buttons. "We had some trouble with the buttons on the jacket, so I took a pair of small tin snips out of my tool box and cut the buttons off," Mr Cole said.
But Barry Boettcher, the eminent forensic biologist whose expert evidence helped lead to Mrs Chamberlain's pardon, said there was evidence that the buttons on the jacket were easy to undo.
"Lindy told police that the button holes were a bit loose and that if Azaria wriggled a bit in bed they would undo themselves," he said. "So if he is speaking of a jacket then it just doesn't march."
However, Professor Boettcher said he would not discount Mr Cole's claims and said there may be "some inaccuracies due to the passage of time".
"Why would a 78-year-old man who has nothing to gain come out with something like this if he didn't think it was correct? I think he should be accorded some credence and police should look at his claims."
In 1987 a textiles expert found that damage to Azaria's jumpsuit, singlet and matinee jacket had probably been produced by a single knife stroke.
Azaria's jumpsuit and matinee jacket are stored in a secure room at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine.
Mr Cole's son, Don, told a Melbourne newspaper yesterday his father told him the story for the first time about 14 months ago. "He wanted to know what he should have done. My interpretation of it is that it was playing on his mind and he wanted to get it off his chest," he said.
In 1982 Mrs Chamberlain was sentenced to life in prison after a jury found her guilty of killing her baby. She was released in 1986.
Her husband Michael was found guilty of being an accessory, but was given a suspended sentence. In 1988 the convictions against the couple were quashed.
The pair received $1.3 million in compensation for wrongful conviction.
Mr Cole said he felt bad as he watched the Chamberlains go through their ordeal, but he had agreed to keep quiet.
He claimed he told Azaria's mother - now Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton - of his story during a phone conversation about a year ago. But, he alleged, she told him not to do anything about his story until a Channel Seven telemovie, based on her autobiography, was complete.
Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton said through a spokeswoman yesterday that she knew of Mr Cole's claims, but denied telling him not to go to the police.
Graeme Charlwood, the police officer who headed initial investigations into the disappearance of Azaria, said yesterday the new claims seemed far-fetched. "It seems to me a little odd and far-fetched to say that one of the other people took the body to Melbourne and buried it in a backyard," he said. "The whole thing is out of the ordinary."
.3 million in compensation for wrongful conviction.
Mr Cole said he felt bad as he watched the Chamberlains go through their ordeal, but he had agreed to keep quiet.
He claimed he told Azaria's mother - now Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton - of his story during a phone conversation about a year ago. But, he alleged, she told him not to do anything about his story until a Channel Seven telemovie, based on her autobiography, was complete.
Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton said through a spokeswoman yesterday that she knew of Mr Cole's claims, but denied telling him not to go to the police.
Graeme Charlwood, the police officer who headed initial investigations into the disappearance of Azaria, said yesterday the new claims seemed far-fetched. "It seems to me a little odd and far-fetched to say that one of the other people took the body to Melbourne and buried it in a backyard," he said. "The whole thing is out of the ordinary."
