"Mrs Cain, a mother of two, became known as the crying juror when she burst into tears as Mrs Chamberlain examined Azaria's bloodied jumpsuit during the trial.
She is the only member of the Chamberlain jury to come forward and be identified. She did so in late 1985, saying she was ashamed at having sent to jail a person she believed to be innocent.
Three months later, she cried with relief when Mrs Chamberlain was released from jail after Azaria's matinee jacket, which the police and prosecution had denied existed, was found at Ayers Rock.
Her action forged a bizarre friendship between the juror and the woman she convicted after they were introduced via a TV current affairs show. The evidence that swayed it for Mrs Cain was when the jury went down into the court basement, where the Chamberlains' tent had been set up with lighting conditions supposedly similar to the night Azaria was taken.
They were unable to see whether the baby would have been inside or not, as Mrs Chamberlain had claimed she could."
REPORTERS JANET FIFE-YEOMANS AND PAUL TOOHEY: HERALD SUN;
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BACKGROUND: WIKIPEDIA): Michael and Lindy Chamberlain's first daughter, Azaria, was born on June 11, 1980. When Azaria was two months old, Michael and Lindy Chamberlain took their three children on a camping trip to Ayers Rock, arriving on August 16, 1980. On the night of August 17, Chamberlain reported that the child had been taken from her tent by a dingo. A massive search was organised, but all that was found were remains of some of the bloody clothes, which confirmed the death of baby Azaria. Her body has never been discovered. Although the initial coronal inquiry supported the Chamberlains' account of Azaria's disappearance, Lindy Chamberlain was later prosecuted for the murder of her child on the basis of the finding of the baby's jumpsuit and of tests that appeared to indicate the presence of blood found in the Chamberlains' car. This forensic gathering convicted her of murder on October 29, 1982, and sentenced her to life imprisonment; the theory was that she slit the child's throat and hid the body. Michael Chamberlain was convicted as an accessory to murder. Shortly after her conviction, Lindy Chamberlain gave birth to her fourth child, Kahlia, on November 17, 1982, in prison. An appeal against her conviction was rejected by the High Court in February, 1984. New evidence emerged on February 2, 1986 when a remaining item of Azaria's clothing was found partially buried near Uluru in an isolated location, adjacent to a dingo lair. This was the matinee jacket which the police had maintained for years did not exist. Five days later, Chamberlain was released. The Northern Territory Government publicly said it was because "she had suffered enough." In view of inconsistencies in the earlier blood testing which gave rise to potential reasonable doubts about the propriety of her conviction and as DNA testing was not as advanced in the early 1980s it emerged that the 'baby blood' found in her car could have been any substance, Lindy Chamberlain's life sentence was remitted by the Northern Territory Government and a Royal Commission began to investigate the matter in 1987. Chamberlain's conviction was overturned in September, 1988 and another inquest in 1995 returned an open verdict. In recent years there have been fatal dingo attacks on children, one famous instance being at the holiday resort at Fraser Island.
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"WHEN Yvonne Cain's son, Michael, was a toddler, he was savaged by a dingo in the family's back yard," the story by reporters Janet Fife-Yeomans and Paul Toohey published on August 9, 2010 begins, under the heading, "Lindy Chamberlain juror Yvonne Cain regret lingers."
"Seven years later, she was on one of the world's most famous juries, sitting in judgment on a woman who claimed a dingo killed her child," the story continues.
"But Mrs Cain still convicted Lindy Chamberlain of murder, a decision she says she has regretted ever since.
"I thought she was innocent all the way through the trial," said Mrs Cain, an office worker.
"All the witnesses made everything look like she was guilty. I kept waiting for someone to come in and tell us that she wasn't guilty, but it didn't happen.
"I wanted someone to come in and say 'Here's the dingo that did it and here's the baby in its stomach'."
Mrs Cain, a mother of two, became known as the crying juror when she burst into tears as Mrs Chamberlain examined Azaria's bloodied jumpsuit during the trial.
She is the only member of the Chamberlain jury to come forward and be identified. She did so in late 1985, saying she was ashamed at having sent to jail a person she believed to be innocent.
Three months later, she cried with relief when Mrs Chamberlain was released from jail after Azaria's matinee jacket, which the police and prosecution had denied existed, was found at Ayers Rock.
Her action forged a bizarre friendship between the juror and the woman she convicted after they were introduced via a TV current affairs show. The evidence that swayed it for Mrs Cain was when the jury went down into the court basement, where the Chamberlains' tent had been set up with lighting conditions supposedly similar to the night Azaria was taken.
They were unable to see whether the baby would have been inside or not, as Mrs Chamberlain had claimed she could.
Mrs Cain's thoughts have now returned to her own experience with one of the wild dogs while the family were living on the outskirts of Alice Springs.
"(Son) Michael was chewing on a crust of bread and Vegemite -- I think the dingo initially went for that. Michael was grazed down the cheek and under the neck from the dingo's teeth," she said.
"I grabbed Michael from the dingo. It then went for me, biting my leg, but ended up ripping my jeans."
The story can be found at:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/lindy-chamberlain-juror-yvonne-cain-regret-lingers/story-e6frf7l6-1225902902922
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VIDEO INTERVIEW:
http://www.triplem.com.au/adelaide/shows/kymalianddzelde/blog/chamberlain-30-years-on/20100810-9hlk.html
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-feature-cases-issues-and_15.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;