Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Henry Keogh: South Australia; His challenge - the first to be filed under a historic change to South Australian law - rests on statements made by forensic pathologist Colin Mannock after the trial concluded. Adelaide Now.


STORY: "Henry Keogh launches new challenge against conviction for murdering his fiance, Anna-Jane Cheney, by Chief Court Reporter Sean Fewster, published by Adelaide Now  on July 10, 2013.

GIST: In the Supreme Court today, lawyers for Henry Keogh outlined their client's latest challenge to his conviction - the first to be filed under a historic change to South Australian law. Keogh, who has twice been found guilty of the 1994 crime and has lost numerous appeals, wants the Full Court of the Supreme Court to quash his conviction. His challenge arises from new laws allowing the court to hear an appeal, even after all appeal rights have been exhausted, if "fresh and compelling evidence" emerges. During Keogh's second trial, prosecutors alleged he drowned Ms Cheney in her bathtub by grabbing her legs and lifting them up over her head. Jurors were also told Ms Cheney's leg featured a small bruise consistent with such an act. Today, Marie Shaw, QC, for Keogh, said her client would contest those two issues based on statements made by forensic pathologist Colin Manock after the trial concluded. She said there was no pathological evidence supporting the existence of any bruise on Ms Cheney's leg. "This was a prosecution scenario, or hypothesis, as to the cause of death and, since the trial, Dr Manock has acknowledged that," she said. "He has since acknowledged that was an assumption that the prosecution asked him to make, and so that entire scenario has been undermined by admissions Dr Manock has made.""

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/henry-keogh-launches-new-challenge-against-conviction-for-murdering-his-fiance-annajane-cheney/story-fni6uo1m-1226677049470

See Wikipedia account: "Manock, when photographing the body, saw what he believed to be a four bruises on the calf of Cheney, caused by what he believed to be a grip mark. When a sample was taken of the thumb bruise and examined for bruising, the result was negative.  Despite this, this apparent bruise was used in Manock's proposed theory that Keogh had gripped Cheney's legs to hold her underwater in the bath, drowning her. When asked about the age of the bruises during the trial, he responded: "I could find no evidence of white blood-cell migration into the areas and therefore, I felt they were peri-mortem. In other words, they’d occurred close to the time of death. I felt that was probably within 4 hours."  The Prosecution stated during the trial: "But there are two things, you might think, that are crucial to this case. If those four bruises on her lower left leg were inflicted at the same time, and that time was just before she died in the bath, there is no other explanation for them, other than a grip. If it was a grip, it must have been the grip of the accused. If it was the grip of the accused, it must have been part of the act of murder." Manock has since stated that the bruise could have occurred up to a number of days prior to Cheney's death."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Keogh 

     

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

Dear reader: Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following developments relating to this case;

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

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 found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.